PARIS (Reuters) – France will ensure that a decision by health and safety agency ANSES to ban the use of a pesticide in direct contact with grains does not hamper its exports outside the European Union, trade minister Olivier Becht told Parliament on Monday.
In late October ANSES cleared the use of phosphine tablets used for killing pests though fumigation, but said they could not be “in direct contact with cereals”, thereby threatening exports to markets that require the process, including Algeria, Egypt and Morocco.
“There is nothing to worry about exports, these will continue. It’s good for our exporters, it’s good for food security of these (importing) countries,” Becht said.
France intends to refer to an EU regulation that says that maximum residue limits for pesticides do not apply to non-EU country exports if it is possible to demonstrate that the treatments are required or accepted, Becht said.
If inhaled in large doses, phosphine can cause respiratory, neurological and gastrointestinal disorders.
(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide and Gus Trompiz; Editing by David Goodman)
