France 3 Brittany and glyphosate: shame!
France 3 Brittany broadcast on February 24, 2023 a 2-minute sequence taken on the internet under the title: “ Health: a former landscape designer warns of the risks of pesticides ».
We can only sympathize with the person concerned, who has obviously suffered from serious health problems.
But the onus is on the media to check the facts and exercise caution, with elementary caution.
It is expressed by a conditional (ha! ha! ha!) in the chapô:
« On the morning of Friday February 24, a rally took place in front of the administrative court of Rennes to support a former landscaper. For more than twenty years, he used glyphosate to weed gardens, which is believed to be the cause of his lymphoma and the loss of his legs. »
A word of caution thrown to the wind in the first paragraph:
« This 51-year-old landscaper lost the use of his legs following neurological disorders and loss of balance. After a medical wandering of several months, a lymphoma is diagnosed. A devastating blood cancer, caused by exposure to glyphosate, a herbicide he used for twenty years. »
We’ve already taken a step back from the title: it’s glyphosate, not ” [l]es pesticides “, which is incriminated.
We are also set back from the chapô: it is no longer the loss of the legs, but of their use.
It is also and above all an incredible presumption to affirm that, in the case of a given patient, the cancer was caused by a particular causal factor – except in cases such as asbestos. And this, especially since the role of glyphosate in the occurrence of lymphomas is not proven – and even highly contested.
In addition, the report also blames glyphosate for neurological disorders and even makes an implicit link between these disorders and lymphoma, which is medically surprising. However, there is no evidence to support such associations.
In short, these two minutes are a monument of misinformation.
France info has a ” code of ethics » :
« Information from France info reflects accurate, balanced, complete and unbiased news coverage. The exercise of rigorous, honest journalism, without prejudices or preferences, respectful of human dignity, as defined by the charters of professional ethics – and in particular, those of France Televisions et radiofrance – conditions this commitment. […] »
It is off the mark.
Let us add that according to the person concerned, there were no masks or gloves 20 years ago. If we can understand his dismay, we can not understand that the editorial staff of a media accepts without hesitation such an affirmation and diffuses it.
The sequence and the text end with:
« He hopes for a ban on glyphosate from Bayer-Monsanto. The European Commission has however extended its authorization until 2023. »
Media manipulation is consummated.
This is not the first time that the audiovisual public service has engaged in this exercise. On December 7, 2022, there was an article, with almost the same allegations, “ TESTIMONY. “I underwent twelve chemotherapies”. Victim of glyphosate, a landscaper warns of the dangers of the herbicide ».
We should also add that the recognition of an affection as an occupational disease is not proof that this affection is of occupational origin. It is an administrative decision which grants certain rights when the conditions for granting these rights are met.