French President Emmanuel Macron has signed a law that permanently bans the reintroduction of the pesticide acetamiprid, blamed for a mass bee die-off. The law was made official after a decision by the Constitutional Council overturned a controversial provision to return the drug.

The court ruled that neonicotinoids, which include acetamiprid, pose risks to human health and violate the right to live in a balanced and healthy environment, guaranteed by the French Ecological Charter, France 24 reported.

Acetamiprid has been banned in France since 2018 but is permitted in the European Union. Its supporters say French farmers need it to be competitive with their European counterparts. The main farmers' union has strongly criticized the court's decision.

A petition initiated by students and signed by more than two million people has called for a permanent ban on the drug. According to some of its supporters, the dissatisfaction is not only due to the environmental risks, but also due to the feeling of political impasse in the conditions of a divided parliament.

Macron said he would sign the law without further debate, and Health Minister Yannick Néder called for a new European assessment of the impact of acetamiprid on human health. | BGNES