France was left deflated yesterday after it was announced that the bloc had voted in favour of renewing the licence for the controversial chemical – used in weed killer Roundup – for another five years.
In total 18 member states backed the use of the chemical while nine voted against and one country abstained.
France, which tried in vain to convince its European partners to renew the licence for only three years, voted against.
Britain voted to keep the chemical in use after experts from Oxford Economics estimated it would cost UK farming industry nearly £1billion.
The vote followed a heated and ongoing debate over whether glyphosate – a key ingredient in Monsanto Co’s best-selling herbicide Roundup – causes cancer.
Mr Macron tweeted: “I have asked the government to take the necessary measures for the use of glyphosate to be banned in France as soon as alternatives are found, and at the latest in three years. #MakeOurPlanetGreatAgain.”
French prime minister Edouard Philippe, said in a statement France “regretted” the EU’s decision to vote in favour of the chemical’s licence renewal; while environment minister Nicolas Hulot told RTL radio a five year licence was “too long”.
He said: “Three years seems to be the reasonable timeframe to get everyone on board.”
France’s biggest farm union, the FNSEA hailed the EU’s “pragmatic” decision to extend the chemical’s licence, and deplored France’s decision to “isolate” itself from the rest of the bloc.
Farmers have relied on glyphosate for more than 40 years, but its use was called into question in 2015 after the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer said that it was “probably carcinogenic.”
However, the European Chemical Agency said earlier this year that there was no evidence linking the herbicide to cancer in humans.
And British campaigners said UK councils would need to spend tens of millions of pounds to kill off menaces such as knotweed, hogweed, bindweed and black grass.
Sarah Mukherjee, of Britain’s Crop Protection Association, said in October: “Every independent scientific study into glyphosate has found it is safe for consumers, including the EU’s own European Chemicals Agency and European Food Safety Authority.
“Banning the use of glyphosate would be contrary to the science and cause particular problems for older gardeners who rely on this safe and effective tool to help them create and maintain a beautiful garden, simply because of political pressure from activists.”