Glyphosate: seller sentenced to a year’s imprisonment in France

22 June 2023

The 45-year-old man who illegally sold glyphosate, a controversial herbicide, to private individuals in the Centre-Val de Loire region was sentenced to one year’s imprisonment by the Tours Criminal Court on Thursday 15 June.

A man was convicted of illegally selling more than 9,000 litres of glyphosate to private individuals in French departments, Indre-et-Loire, Loiret and Loir-et-Cher. This herbicide has been banned from sale to private individuals in France since 2019.

This former sports coach sold the herbicide over the internet between January 2020 and December 2022, cashing in €170,000 in the process, “enough to burn vegetation on the equivalent of 1,000 to 1,400 football fields“, the judge emphasised.

Some people regretted that the direct sales platforms were not called to appear. “If you type ‘glyphosate eBay‘ on the Internet, you’ll still find offers,” deplored the lawyer for the Générations Futures association.

An international arrest warrant has been issued for the man, who is currently living in Thailand and was absent from the trial.