A new French law allows drones to spray low-risk pesticides on hard-to-reach vineyards and banana crops, reviving aerial pesticide use banned across Europe since 2009.
Stéphane Foucart reports for Le Monde.
In short:
- France’s Parliament approved drone pesticide spraying on steep slopes and banana plantations, permitting only biocontrol or EU-classified “low-risk” substances, with a focus on safety and reduced worker exposure.
- The policy is a response to long-standing requests from banana growers in Guadeloupe and Martinique, where top-of-canopy diseases previously treated by helicopters have gone largely unmanaged since aerial spraying bans.
- The studies by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety confirm drones lower applicator exposure but found variable effects on pesticide drift depending on environmental conditions and equipment used.
Key quote:
"There is no question of using drones to spread such toxic and dangerous products."
— Henri Cabanel, Socialist lawmaker and bill rapporteur in the Sénat
Why this matters:
The return of aerial pesticide spraying, even under strict limits, reopens a debate in France over pesticide use, worker safety, and environmental contamination. Guadeloupe and Martinique are still reeling from widespread exposure to chlordecone, a carcinogenic and endocrine-disrupting insecticide banned decades ago but still contaminating soil, water, and food chains today. Allowing drone use for so-called “low-risk” pesticides aims to protect workers from difficult manual spraying on steep or tall crops. But even these chemicals can drift, settle on nearby land, and reach unintended populations. The loosening of aerial spraying rules, even for biocontrol substances, underscores the difficulty of balancing agricultural productivity, public health, and environmental integrity.
Related: Residents in rural France link child cancer to pesticide exposure
