Paris, January 15, 2019: The Lyon Administrative Court today ruled in favour of the CRIIGEN association, represented by Corinne Lepage, lawyer in Huglo Lepage law firm and Chair of Justice Pesticides, in the case filed on 27 April 2017 against the authorisation by ANSES (Agence nationale de sécurité sanitaire, de l’alimentation, de l’environnement et du travail) of the glyphosate-based herbicide Roundup Pro 360 (Case N° 1704067).

By its order of 15 January, the 6th Chamber of the TA of Lyon annulled the decision of 6 March 2017 by which the Director General of ANSES authorised the placing on the market of Roundup Pro 360.

The Court acknowledges that Roundup is probably carcinogenic and that the decision to authorise the placing on the market of Roundup Pro 360 does not respect the precautionary principle and represents a clear error of assessment on the part of the agency. He considers that there is not even any need to refer the matter to the Court of Justice of the European Union to assess whether CRIIGEN is entitled to request the cancellation of the marketing authorisation.

Joël Spiroux de Vendômois, President of CRIIGEN, said: “This is a huge victory for public health and also for CRIIGEN. This decision represents a real disavowal for ANSES, which should have only one goal, the protection of the population.”

Justice Pesticides considers this decision to be a fantastic victory for the protection of human health and the environment and for all groups that fight against the use of poorly evaluated toxic pesticides. It is also a wonderful encouragement for all victims of pesticides who are in legal proceedings following diseases caused by the use of these products, such as Dewayne Johnson and thousands of others in the United States or the Grataloup family in France.

For CRIIGEN, the court’s arguments should undoubtedly apply to all glyphosate-based herbicides placed on the market and the NGO will take the necessary initiatives towards the authorities to ban them as soon as possible and protect the environment and human health of these products, whose dangerousness it has denounced for nearly 20 years.