French NGO says pesticide use rose again, with PFAS-family chemicals up sharply

France’s pesticide use rose again in 2024, according to new calculations by the French NGO Générations Futures, with the biggest increase coming from a group of PFAS-family chemicals that can break down into persistent compounds such as trifluoroacetic acid, or TFA.

The NGO said France’s pesticide-use indicator, known as NODU, rose by about 6% from 2023 to 2024, reaching a five-year high. Générations Futures also said pesticide use was more than 10% higher than in 2019, suggesting that the country remains far from its long-running reduction goals.

The figures are the latest flashpoint in a wider French debate over how pesticide use is measured, how much progress the government can credibly claim, and whether regulators are doing enough to track chemicals that persist in water and soil.

A renewed rise

Générations Futures said the rebound in 2024 was broad enough to reverse some of the momentum that had been claimed in earlier years. The group’s calculation points to a country that is still heavily dependent on pesticides, despite repeated political pledges to cut use.

Glyphosate use also increased in the NGO’s figures, from 6,752 tonnes in 2023 to 8,268 tonnes in 2024. That jump adds another concrete sign that the overall decline some policymakers have hoped for has not materialized in the latest data.

The report’s significance lies not only in the year-on-year increase, but in the longer view. A 6% rise in one year leaves France more than 10% above 2019 levels, which is why the NGO is describing the new numbers as a five-year high rather than a temporary fluctuation.

PFAS-family pesticides

The sharpest movement in the data was in PFAS-family pesticides. Générations Futures said use of those products rose by nearly 50% between 2019 and 2024.

PFAS are often referred to as “forever chemicals” because they do not easily break down. In the pesticide context, the concern is not only the active substances themselves, but also the metabolites they can generate after use.

One of those metabolites is TFA, which has become a major point of attention in France’s environmental health debate. The issue matters because compounds that persist in the environment can spread through water systems long after the original product application.

That makes the NGO’s figures about PFAS-family pesticides more than a narrow usage statistic. They connect pesticide policy to a broader contamination problem that regulators are still struggling to address.

Why the indicator matters

The data also sits inside a dispute over how France measures pesticide reduction. The country’s Ecophyto plans originally aimed to cut pesticide use by 50% over a decade.

But in 2024, the French government shifted to the EU HRI-1 indicator as its main measure, while critics argued that NODU gives a clearer picture of actual pesticide use. Générations Futures is using NODU to argue that the underlying level of pesticide dependence remains high even if official framing changes.

That distinction is politically important. If officials highlight one indicator while environmental groups emphasize another, both sides can claim a degree of progress or failure without agreeing on the same baseline.

For Générations Futures, the NODU numbers are intended to show that France’s reduction strategy has not delivered durable change in practice.

PFAS pressure builds

The pesticide figures arrive as France is already under pressure over PFAS contamination more broadly. According to the reporting, France’s national health and environment agency, ANSES, found TFA in 92% of drinking-water samples in a nationwide study.

That finding has sharpened concern over how widely TFA may already be circulating in water systems. It also raises the question of whether pesticide approvals should be reconsidered when a metabolite is so widespread in the environment.

The European Chemicals Agency added to that pressure on June 10, when it classified TFA as suspected of reproductive toxicity, according to the reporting. That classification is likely to intensify scrutiny of the chemicals that can produce TFA in the first place.

In practice, the pesticide discussion is no longer just about agricultural use. It is now tied to drinking water, public health, and the long-term persistence of industrial and agricultural chemistry in the environment.

Political response

The issue has also reached the political level. On June 12, Green lawmaker Nicolas Thierry wrote to Agriculture Minister Annie Genevard asking for the list of authorized pesticides that can degrade into TFA, according to the reporting.

That request reflects a basic transparency question: which approved products are contributing to a contaminant now drawing regulatory concern?

Le Monde reported that the Agriculture Ministry had not responded to questions about the matter. The lack of a public answer leaves open whether the government plans to publish more detail on the pesticides at issue, or whether the information will remain fragmented across agencies and studies.

That silence matters because the debate is no longer abstract. France has been facing growing legal and political pressure over PFAS, including criticism that its enforcement of PFAS rules is moving too slowly.

What comes next

The immediate question is whether the Agriculture Ministry will publish the list of pesticides that can form TFA. That would give the public and researchers a clearer sense of which products are driving the contamination concern.

Another question is whether French or European regulators will respond to the ECHA classification by revisiting approvals, monitoring, or restrictions for PFAS-family pesticides and related compounds.

A third unresolved issue is the choice of indicator. If France keeps publishing only HRI-1 in official communications while NGOs continue to cite NODU, the argument over whether pesticide use is rising or falling will remain politically charged.

For now, Générations Futures’ new calculations add a fresh and measurable point to an already contentious file: pesticide use is rising again, PFAS-linked products are increasing sharply, and the policy response is still unsettled.