4:44 pm – Investigation opened after the discovery of glyphosate in honey

After the discovery of glyphosate in honey, the Lyon public prosecutor's office opened a preliminary inquiry into the "administration of harmful substances", a "first" greeted by beekeepers.

Sylvère Obry is an amateur beekeeper in the Aisne . This 78-year-old former farm worker has 90 hives and usually sells his surplus to the family Famille Michaud Apiculteurs, the biggest honey actor in France ("Honeymoon" brand).

But in February, the group refuses him three barrels of honey all flowers, that is 900 kilos, because of the presence of glyphosate, herbicide qualified as "probable carcinogen" by the World Organization of the health (WHO).

The beekeeping union of l Aisne, which brings together 200 beekeepers, most of them amateurs, then decides in early June to file a complaint against Bayer, at the Lyon public prosecutor's office, where the French headquarters of the German agrochemical giant, which has just acquired Monsanto, creator of controversial herbicide.

As a result of this complaint, the prosecutor's office decided to open a preliminary investigation for "administration of harmful substances" without specifically targeting Bayer, it was reported Wednesday close source file.

The parquet is p Moreover, in connection with the Public Health Pole of the Tribunal de Grande Instance of Marseilles on this file, according to this source.

"It's a good thing for me but also for all the other beekeepers who live on that. Something must be done, a lot of hives are falling, "reacted to AFP Sylvère Obry

And if necessary for the investigation, his three barrels of honey are still stored" in the barn ".

"I am delighted that we are taking this matter very seriously and that we are tackling the problem of honey in France (…) To my knowledge, this is a first", said the lawyer from the beekeeping union, Me Emmanuel Ludot

"This is a first," confirms the National Union of Beekeepers of France (Unaf). "It proves that unfortunately, there is glyphosate everywhere in nature. There is no escaping it, nor the bees ", continues Gilles Lanio, president of the Unaf and beekeeper in the Morbihan.

Bayer for his part indicates simply having learned the information" by way of press "and specifies n still not informed of a complaint

– "unsaid" about honey? –

This is the first complaint filed against a Monsanto product since Bayer bought the US agrochemical giant, which remains subject to the final approval of the US antitrust authorities

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in France, developed by Monsanto, which marketed under the markup Roundup, it is now produced and marketed under many other brands.

Its license was renewed in the European Union for five years in November.For France, glyphosate will be banned "in its main uses "by 2021, and" for all uses "within 5 years, promised the government."

Interviewed in early June by AFP, Family Michaud Apiculturists had indicated that "exogenous substances including glyphosate" were regularly detected in honey. On the last harvest for example: 12% of batches supplied in France to the group had glyphosate above the 10 ppb threshold and seven beekeepers had to resume their deliveries.

Obry's refused honeys presented a contamination up to 16 ppb, added the group, however, a level below the maximum threshold of 50 ppb allowed by the European regulation.

"Today there are many unsaid.Honey is a special case ( ?) because it is the only food product made by an animal that escapes all control: the bee flees within a radius of 3.5 km around the hive ", explained then Vincent Michaud, CEO of the group.

En In 2015, a criminal investigation into the marketing by the Bayer Group of Gaucho Insecticide and its consequences for bees resulted in a dismissal. Unaf denounced "the utter powerlessness of French criminal jurisdictions to provide an effective response to environmental offenses."