A first step, to put an end to a French exception: the National Assembly largely adopted on Wednesday an environmentalist bill aimed at limiting the population’s exposure to cadmium, a toxic heavy metal.
The text, adopted at first reading by 144 votes to 22, provides an ambitious trajectory for reducing the authorized levels of cadmium in phosphate fertilizers, which are a source of accumulation of this metal in agricultural soils, subsequently contaminating food.
The bill was adopted against the advice of the government, which defended a slower decline trajectory, highlighting a risk for the competitiveness of French agriculture. But the text was supported by the entire left, as well as the MoDem, Horizons, and Renaissance groups. The National Rally voted against it.
“Thank you to all the scientists who enlightened us (…). Thank you to the NGO activists who helped us to alert public opinion,” declared in the chamber the environmentalist deputy Benoît Biteau, author of this highly publicized text, which will still have to be registered in the Senate.
“It’s a very nice victory (…) we were all a little moved,” reacted environmental activist Camille Etienne, present in the gallery during the debates. She was pleased: “citizen mobilization worked”.
The Minister for Ecological Transition, Mathieu Lefèvre, acknowledged to the deputies an “over-impregnation of the French population with cadmium compared to our European neighbors”, and assured that he shared the objective of reducing exposure.
But “the rate of decline, as voted for today by the national representation, is not realistic”, he declared, and risks “undermining our food sovereignty” and “weakening our sectors. »
Carcinogenic
In France, food is the primary source of exposure to cadmium, according to the national health security agency (ANSES), for example via cereals (wheat, rice), which are widely consumed. However, in the event of prolonged exposure, cadmium is recognized as carcinogenic, toxic for reproduction, and can lead to “kidney damage” or even bone fragility.
In 2025, almost half of the French population had exposure to cadmium exceeding the health reference values, according to ANSES. The agency recommends lowering the maximum authorized limits of cadmium in phosphate fertilizers to 20 milligrams per kilo – compared to 60 mg/kg in Europe, and 90 mg/kg currently for France, which benefits from an exemption.
A government decree, awaited for years, is currently the subject of a public consultation. The executive is considering a very gradual reduction: to 60 mg/kg in 2027, 40 mg/kg in 2030, and 20 mg/kg by 2038. The bill, also supported by Clémentine Autain (l’After), provides for a more rapid reduction: to 40 mg/kg from 2027, then to 20 mg/kg from 2030.
This trajectory corresponds to the “health emergency”, insisted Clémentine Autain on Wednesday. Saying, however, that she was “worried” that the text would not come to fruition, she called on the government to issue decrees “as early as tomorrow” allowing “the decision of the national representation to be implemented.” »
“Decadmation”
In a spirit of compromise, the text had been rewritten compared to a first version, which advocated a total ban. The debates on Wednesday revolved around the question of the pace to impose for the decline. The MoDem tried in vain to limit it to 60 mg/kg, to align with the European standard.
An amendment presented by Horizons, which attempted to soften the trajectory proposed by the text, by reaching the same targets but later, was also rejected. More surprising: Renaissance MP Jean-Luc Fugit, who made an amendment identical to Horizons, finally withdrew it, saying he was “choosing appeasement”.
A turnaround on the part of Gabriel Attal’s group, while Jean-Luc Fugit had earlier warned of the risks of “supply tensions” in fertilizer. “Phosphates naturally low in cadmium” are “concentrated in a limited number of countries”, and existing “decadmization” processes could lead to “significant additional costs” on the price of fertilizers, he warned.
MP Eddy Casterman (RN group) accused Renaissance of having “given in to the demands of the environmental left”. During the debates, Benoît Biteau insisted that the additional cost for farmers of a “decadmization” carried out by fertilizer producers would be minimal.
Which “would allow us to continue to obtain supplies from the main world deposit” in Morocco, rich in cadmium, he maintained. The Moroccan giant of the sector, OCP, ensures that all its phosphate fertilizers marketed in the EU already contain cadmium at “less than 20 mg/kg”.
