2023-05-17 09:33:57
With the recent appointment of its new communications advisor, Sophie Lonascothe Ministry of Agriculture gives grain to grind to those who reproach him its recurring alignment with industrial interests. Indeed, until a few days ago, Sophie Lonascu was communications director of l’Ania (National Association of Food Industries), one of the main French lobbies for the food industry.
This appointment comes at a time when major debates are taking place at European level on the regulations concerning NBTs (new genomic selection techniques) considered by many environmental associations, including Greenpeace France, as new types of OMG. The Minister of AgricultureMarc Fesneaumade no secret of his support for NBTs on April 25, 2023, on the sidelines of the meeting of European Union Agriculture Ministers, arguing that « THE NBT are very hopeful techniques, especially in the transition of our agricultural model ». A position that probably does not displease the Ania which, from 2012, slammed the door ofu Economic, ethical and social committee of the Haut Conseil des biotechnologies on which she sat with other bodies, on the pretext that the committee agreed to give voice to associations opposed to the coexistence on cultivable plots of GMO and non-GMO crops.
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It is certainly not the first time that industry is playing musical chairs with the Department of Agriculture. In 2022, Éléonore Leprettre, former director of the cabinet of Minister Marc Fesneau, joined Phyteis (formerly Union of Plant Protection Industries), a lobby representing agrochemical companies. A year later, the Minister of Agriculture announced its intention to reconsider the procedure for banning S-metolachlor, a pesticide recently withdrawn from the market by ANSES (National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety) against the advice of the ministry and certain trade unions in the sector, including the FNSEA. Yet S-metolachlor is classified as potentially carcinogenic and, according to the agency: derivatives of this pesticide have recently been detected above authorized limits in groundwater ».
Questioned on May 9 by France Info on the appointment of Sophie Lonascu and possible conflicts of interest posed by the arrival of a spokesperson for industry at the heart of the ministry, Marc Fesneau did not hide his annoyance . He argued his competence on the subjects to be dealt with, and recalled the green light given to this appointment by the High Authority for Transparency in Public Lifeon the condition, however, that the person in charge of communication “ does not get in touch with his previous employer “. We bet that after six years of loyal service to Ania, phone calls and emails will probably not prove necessary to make known and highlight the interests of agro-industries in future debates.
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Pollutants everywhere, justice nowhere!
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