A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #374 - Ecology - Agribusiness: Stop pesticides: denouncing a global problem (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

On October 3, 2026, the collectives Cancer Anger, the Western Pesticide 
Victims Support Collective, Earth Uprisings, and the Confédération 
Paysanne are calling for a massive mobilization as part of their 
campaign against the pesticide industry. The demonstration will target a 
Syngenta production site in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne in the Eure 
department (27), between Rouen and Paris. Mobilization against these 
deadly industries with their neo-colonial practices is more urgent and 
crucial than ever !

On October 3, 2026, the collectives Cancer Anger, the Western Pesticide 
Victims Support Collective, Earth Uprisings, and the Confédération 
Paysanne are calling for a massive mobilization as part of their 
campaign against the pesticide industry. The demonstration will target a 
Syngenta production site in Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne in the Eure 
department (27), between Rouen and Paris. Mobilization against these 
deadly industries with their neo-colonial practices is more urgent and 
crucial than ever !

Recent events have been marked by renewed attacks from the political 
class against the regulation of chemical inputs, heeding the whispers of 
agribusiness representatives. In July, the emergency agricultural law 
was passed by the National Assembly. Supported by a right-wing/far-right 
alliance, this law promotes, among other things, intensive livestock 
farming and water-grabbing schemes (such as mega-reservoirs). But it 
also provides for the reintroduction of banned pesticides, notably 
acetimiprid, which had galvanized opposition to the Duplomb law last year.

It is in this context of repeated attacks against the moderation of 
hazardous products over several years that the mobilization of pesticide 
victims is gradually taking shape. Groups like Cancer Anger are now 
joining forces with the Western France Pesticide Victims Support 
Collective (CSVPO) to politicize the issue and highlight a serious 
public health problem. Indeed, according to data from Public Health 
France, the number of cancers doubled between 1990 and 2020. Increased 
life expectancy alone is insufficient to explain this, if we consider 
the surge in certain pediatric cancers (with inadequate treatments). For 
researchers, the most compelling hypothesis is linked to the environment 
and necessarily implicates pesticides as contributing factors to poisoning.

The number of cancer patients in France doubled between 1990 and 2023 
according to Public Health France.
Credits: Laura Arias
This coordination work is now part of a broader campaign, joined by the 
Confédération Paysanne (Peasant Confederation) and the Soulèvements de 
la Terre (Earth Uprisings), which seeks to move beyond the divide 
between farmers as "  guilty  " and civil society as "  victim  ." Even 
though the subject is still sometimes taboo for farmers, they and their 
families are among the populations most exposed to poisoning from 
agricultural inputs. They are caught in a vice between, on the one hand, 
the health risks posed by these inputs and, on the other, the pressure 
to use them to remain competitive in a globalized market. The issue of 
pesticides thus reveals the full extent of the pressure exerted by 
capital on the agricultural class. The capitalist predation on peasant 
agriculture that preceded it has gradually imposed a rational model 
whose main consequences are soil depletion and crop vulnerability 
(particularly due to monoculture). To maintain ever-increasing 
productivity gains, capital has driven agricultural production to 
industrialize, thus necessitating mechanization and the introduction of 
chemical products. Agribusiness is now entirely dependent on inputs to 
function, and chemical input production companies are powerful players 
within the agricultural capitalist class. Their influence is 
considerable: lobbying, and their connections with key representatives 
of the FNSEA (National Federation of Farmers' Unions), for example. For 
all these reasons, the strategy of this campaign is to establish a 
balance of power against chemical companies. This unified strategy aims 
to rally the agricultural class and civil society as broadly as possible.

Why mobilize on October 3rd ?
On October 3rd, the target was a production site belonging to Syngenta, 
one of the world's most powerful pesticide manufacturers. Syngenta 
embodies the predatory capitalism that weakens small-scale farming and 
perpetuates a structural dependence on chemical inputs. It operates in 
over 90 countries, where it practices a predatory and colonial logic, 
ruthlessly poisoning countries in the Global South, such as Brazil. In 
these countries, Syngenta uses mafia-like tactics and unprecedented 
violence: the assassination of dissenting farmers by a private militia 
in Brazil, union repression, and unfair dismissals. This colonialism is 
characteristic of an industry that massively produces goods in Europe 
destined for the Global South, even though these goods are prohibited 
from being sold or produced on European soil. The 
Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne site, belonging to Syngenta, produced the 
necessary components for Thiamemoxam (a neonicotinoid insecticide banned 
in France since 2018) until 2023 and exported it to South America, 
exploiting a loophole in the EGALIM law (a European restriction). Since 
its acquisition by the ChemChina conglomerate, Syngenta has also been 
associated with ADAMA, an Israeli pesticide company that supplied 
products to the Zionist regime for its colonial war. For all these 
reasons, international coordination has been initiated, and actions will 
take place on October 3rd in about ten other countries.

The targeted site in the Eure region is no exception when it comes to 
its treatment of employees . Half of the 150 employees at the 
Saint-Pierre-la-Garenne site have taken the company to court. The issue 
is that the company now refuses to pay for shower time after shifts 
(which is mandatory for safety reasons) as working time. Syngenta, like 
the others, is the true enemy of our entire class. Designating them as 
such allows us to build a common struggle between farmers, factory 
workers, and sick civilians . Last November, during the action against 
BASF, a rapprochement with some unionized workers at the site led to 
support from Sud Chimie. The federation, deeply involved in this issue, 
should call for support for the October mobilization. For revolutionary 
activists, it is more than necessary to support all initiatives aimed at 
building a dialogue with chemical workers. This initiative can only 
strengthen the balance of power initiated by the fight against 
pesticides, because only a challenge to the power of capital over 
agriculture can initiate a change of model.

Ground (UCL Caen)

Demonstration on October 3rd in Saint Pierre la Garenne. Departure at 
12:00 from Gaillon. Accommodation available the night before and that 
evening. More information at: Stop-syngenta3oct.com

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Agro-industrie-Stop-pesticides-denoncer-un-probleme-global
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