How Nestlé and the French government tried to conceal the Perrier water scandal
The French government's susceptibility to pressure from Nestlé, all the way up to the Elysée Palace, has triggered a scandal that continues to spread: These are the damning conclusions of the Sénat investigative commission charged with looking into fraud involving natural mineral waters (namely, the use of prohibited filters to purify water contaminated by pesticides and fecal bacteria) revealed in January 2024 by Le Monde and Radio France. After six months of work, the parliamentary investigative commission, chaired by Laurent Burgoa, a conservative senator from the southern Gard region where the Perrier plant is located, presented its conclusions on Monday, May 19. Le Monde and Franceinfo had access to the report.
A new episode revealed by the investigative commission illustrates what rapporteur Alexandre Ouizille called "the dangerous liaisons between the government and Nestlé," and how the government folded to the lobbying of the agro-food giant to the detriment of consumer protection. The commission shows how a report from the regional health agency (ARS) of the southwest Occitanie region was toned down at the request of the world's number one bottled water company, following exchanges between the office of the junior minister for health (at the time Agnès Firmin Le Bodo), the director general of the ARS and the prefect of Gard to remove certain mentions of contamination of Perrier sources by banned pesticides and bacteria.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
an hour ago
- Euronews
UN urges countries to ratify landmark High Seas Treaty
A landmark international treaty to protect the high seas is on the brink of receiving the 60 ratifications needed to become binding international law, according to French President Emmanuel Macron. In his opening remarks at the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), Macron claimed that the agreement has gained enough support to come into force. He told attendees that 50 countries had now ratified the treaty, and another 15 have "formally committed" to joining them. This "allows us to say that the High Seas Treaty will soon be implemented," Macron added, though he didn't give a specific time frame. Despite the French President's comments, the United Nations website still lists the total at 32 official ratifications - too few for the treaty to come into force. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to ratify the treaty, warning that fishing, plastic pollution and rising sea temperatures were destroying ocean ecosystems. 'The ocean is the ultimate shared resource. But we are failing it,' he said. Ahead of UNOC, the EU and six of its member states announced their ratificationof the treaty. Spain and France already did so earlier this year. At the opening of the summit on Monday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the EU had pledged €40 million in funding for the Global Ocean programme to 'bring the High Seas Treaty to life'. This money will go towards supporting African, Caribbean and Pacific nations in their efforts to ratify and implement the agreement. 'We all know the Treaty is a crucial instrument to protect our Ocean beyond borders,' she said. 'And indeed, we made it – the Treaty was agreed and adopted. And today, we are inches away from the 60 signatures for ratification.' The High Seas Treaty - also referred to as the Biodiversity Beyond National Borders agreement (BBNJ) - will allow nations to establish marine protected areas in international waters for the first time. These areas cover around two-thirds of the world's oceans but are largely ungoverned. They are managed through a patchwork of regional fisheries agreements, shipping conventions and scattered marine protected areas. The agreement is intended to support the protection of these bodies of water that are outside of international jurisdictions. Officially adopted in 2023 after nearly two decades of negotiations, 60 ratifications are needed for the treaty to become binding international law - something France was hoping would happen before UNOC. The agreement will enter into force 120 days after the 60th ratification. Conservationists are celebrating a proposal from the UK government to ban bottom trawling in dozens more marine protected areas (MPAs). MPAs are sections of the ocean that a country aims to protect because they are of particular ecological importance. Bottom trawling - a destructive type of fishing that drags weighted nets across the seafloor - is allowed in many of these sensitive areas. Currently, only four of the UK's 377 MPAs are fully protected from bottom-towed fishing gear - an area covering 18,000 square kilometres. A new proposal announced at the start of the third United Nations Oceans Conference (UNOC) in Nice would see an additional 30,000km2 protected, with the ban extended to 41 MPAs. Size wise, that's roughly half of English MPAs. 'Bottom trawling is damaging our precious marine wildlife and habitats. Without urgent action, our oceans will be irreversibly destroyed - depriving us, and generations to come, of the sea life on which we all enjoy,' Environment Secretary Steve Reed said in a statement this morning. 'The government is taking decisive action to ban destructive bottom trawling where appropriate.' Its first step is a consultation, launching today (9 June) until 1 September, which will invite marine and fisheries stakeholders to share their views and give evidence about the proposed ban. If adopted, the measures would protect marine habitats ranging from subtidal sandbanks to gravels to muds, and support important marine species such as lobster, clams, soft corals and langoustines, the government says. 'Destructive bottom trawling has no place in marine protected areas. These proposals provide a golden opportunity to safeguard these vital marine sanctuaries from the most damaging fishing practices,' says Hugo Tagholm, Executive Director of the ocean advocacy group Oceana UK. 'If these whole-site bans are fully implemented, this could provide an invaluable and urgently needed lifeline for England's seas, which are so crucial for wildlife and climate resilience.' Joan Edwards, Director of Policy and Public Affairs at The Wildlife Trusts, also emphasises that properly protecting MPAs is 'a win-win for both nature and the climate.' 'Removing this pressure is a great step forward towards protecting not only the wildlife and fish stocks within those sites, but also the carbon stored in the seabed muds beneath,' she says. Still, conservationists are anxious to ensure promising words are backed by action, even after the spotlight of UNOC3 has dimmed. 'The government should now strengthen the ban to cover all parts of our marine protected areas, and other types of destructive industrial fishing like supertrawlers and fly-shooters. Only this will ensure our marine ecosystems are protected in reality - not only on paper,' comments Ariana Densham, Head of Oceans at Greenpeace UK. Clare Brook, CEO of Blue Marine Foundation, calls the announcement 'highly encouraging and very welcome. If delivered (and remember this is a consultation) it will mean that England's offshore MPAs are at last given the protection they claim.' The ocean conservation charity is making waves with the release of its satirical short film featuring Stephen Fry and White Lotus star Theo James. The Bottom Line takes place in a fine dining restaurant, where James's character is presented with the gruesome bycatch behind his 'sustainable' hake order. 'As a keen diver, I've long been captivated by the ocean and been horrified by the impact humans are having on it. Having had a load of bycatch dumped on me, it really drove home just how grotesque and devastating the practice of bottom trawling is,' said James, who is an ambassador for the charity alongside Fry. "Conservation policy is awash with shiny new announcements and impressive sounding targets whereas what is needed is actual delivery,' Jonny Hughes, Senior Policy Manager at Blue Marine Foundation, said of today's news. 'This, at first glance, seems to be about delivering conservation. We need to see the full details but initial reading is positive." France's stance on bottom trawling is also under review. The co-host of UNOC has announced strict protection measures for 4 per cent of its mainland waters (15,000 square kilometres), banning harmful human activities including bottom trawling. But the announcement falls short of implementing a comprehensive ban on bottom trawling across all MPAs, environmental lawyers note. 'This is an important turning point,' ClientEarth CEO Laura Clarke said of the UK and French updates. 'We welcome these pledges at UNOC - and we would like to see more of them. We also need to see these bans effectively enforced.' Last year, Greece became the first European country to announce a ban on bottom trawling in its protected areas, starting with its three national marine parks by 2026. Sweden has gone a step further by promising to ban the damaging practice in all its territorial waters as of next month. The EU's 2023 Marie Action Plan calls on member states to phase out bottom trawling in all MPAs by 2030. But recent research from NGOs Oceana, Seas At Risk and ClientEarth revealed that no EU country currently has a comprehensive plan in place to phase out destructive fishing practices in these protected areas. As momentum builds, environmental organisations are pressuring all European countries to follow suit. ClientEarth, Oceana, Danish NGO Danmarks Naturfredningsforening and the Seas at Risk coalition last week threatened legal action against Denmark, the Netherlands and Spain for allowing widespread bottom trawling in its MPAs.
Euronews
2 hours ago
- Euronews
'Adolescence' to be shown in French schools says Minister of Education
Following UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcoming plans to air Netflix's hit show Adolescence in secondary schools, France is following suit, with French Minister of Education Élisabeth Borne stating yesterday that the mini-series will be screened from secondary school level upwards Interviewed on LCI, she explained that the producer of the series 'gave us the rights' and that the Ministry of Education was therefore going to 'offer five educational sequences for young people based on this series'. These extracts from Adolescence, which have already been shown in British schools to stimulate debate and try to 'prevent young boys from being dragged into a whirlpool of hatred and misogyny,' are 'very representative of the violence that can exist among young people', according to Borne. The aim is to help raise awareness of the problem of 'overexposure to screens and the trivialisation of violence on these social networks,' as well as the spread of masculinist theories and misogyny, argues Borne. The four-part series follows how a father deals with the fallout of his 13-year-old son being suspected of stabbing one of his classmates to death. Beyond the spot-on acting, the show has felt like a cultural wake-up call, as it has prompted a wider discussion about toxic masculinity and the devastating influence of the so-called 'manosphere' on young minds who are faced with websites and online forums promoting misogyny and ultra-conservative models of masculinity that flirt with far-right ideologies. When it was confirmed that Netflix would be making the series available to all UK secondary schools, former British prime minister Boris Johnson wrote a column for the Daily Mail saying that he didn't see the good in the initiative, calling the show 'tosh'. He wrote: 'In making this announcement with full prime ministerial authority amid the ancient solemnity of the Cabinet Room, Keir Starmer has perfectly encapsulated the fundamental flatulence of the Government, and its emetic finger-wagging mixture of humbug and wokery.' Johnson went on to say that he believes the move to show the series in school time demonstrates the government's 'cruel indifference to the real educational needs of children today,' adding: 'In case you haven't watched Adolescence I can save you the bother. It's tosh - well-acted tosh.' Predictably, Johnson also introduced race to his argument, saying that 'unlike the teenage couple in this drama, the victims and perpetrators are disproportionately young black males.' The show's co-creator Jack Thorne has already spoken out on this theory, saying: 'It's absurd to say that (knife crime) is only committed by Black boys. It's not true and history shows a lot of cases of kids from all races committing these crimes.' Thorne also stated that the goal of the show was not about 'making a point about race' but to make a point 'about masculinity.' 'We're trying to get inside a problem,' he added. 'We're not saying this is one thing or another, we're saying that this is about boys.' The decision to show the series in French schools comes after Laëtitia Curetti, who has a 13-year-old son, wrote to Élisabeth Borne and launched an online petition to have the series shown in secondary schools across France. Curetti stated she believes the series could be an 'excellent educational tool' to raise awareness of the dangers of social networking, sexism, bullying and violence in schools. The discussion surrounding knife crime has increased since the success of the series in France. It has been further amplified after a 16-year-old stabbed a high school student to death and injured three other fellow students at the lycée Notre-Dame de Toutes Aides in Nantes on 24 April. "My thoughts go out first to the teenager who lost her life, to the three students who were injured, and I want to express all my support and solidarity to these victims, their families and their loved ones," declared Borne at the school, before paying tribute to the "establishment staff who intervened and neutralized the attacker." Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau spoke of "a tragedy that rocks us." He said he was "appalled" and "shocked" by "the violence that has been unleashed," before adding that the tragic incident was "not a mere news item but a societal issue." He's hung off planes during flight, performed a real HALO jump out of a plane at 25,000 feet, scaled and run across the Burj Khalifa building and found new ways of cheating death throughout the Mission: Impossible franchise. Now, Tom Cruise has bagged himself a Guinness World Record thanks to his performance in this year's Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. Cruise, aged 62 and known for conducting his own stunts, has set the record for 'most burning parachute jumps by an individual' after jumping out of a helicopter 16 times with a fuel-soaked chute. 'Tom doesn't just play action heroes – he is an action hero!' said Craig Glenday, Guinness World Records editor-in-chief in a statement. 'A large part of his success can be chalked up to his absolute focus on authenticity and pushing the boundaries of what a leading man can do. It's an honour to be able to recognize his utter fearlessness with this new Guinness World Records title.' The sequence was filmed in Drakensberg, South Africa. Cruise and the stunt team ascended more than 7,500 feet before the action star jumped out of a helicopter with the flaming parachute, cutting himself free to deploy a backup parachute. 16 times. The first parachute would burn for between 2.5 to 3 seconds before completely disintegrating, and for several of the takes, Cruise even had a 50 lb. snorri camera rig attached to his body for a closer shot of the stunt. Check out some of the prep for the stunt below. This is not Cruise's first Guinness World Record. The leading man also holds the record for the actor with the most consecutive $100-million-grossing movies. In total, the Top Gun star has been credited in over 30 films that have broken the $100 million mark at the box office. The last 11 of those have been consecutive, starting with Jack Reacher in 2012 – followed by Oblivion, Edge of Tomorrow, Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back, The Mummy, American Made, Mission: Impossible – Fallout, Top Gun: Maverick, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning. 'Tom is no stranger to record breaking,' explains Glenday. 'Over his impressively long and consistent career, he's proved himself to be the most powerful actor in Hollywood and the most bankable star, and he's still the actor with the most consecutive $100 million movies on their resume and the most successful leading action hero at the worldwide box office.' Combined, the Mission: Impossible franchise has brought in nearly $5 billion since Cruise starred in (and produced) the first film adaptation of the classic television series in 1996. The eighth installment of the series premiered in Cannes and hit theatres last month. In our review, we said: 'It's with a heavy heart, especially considering the impressive run of tightly wound and thrilling adventures the M:I franchise has delivered, that this legacy-obsessed victory-lap feels like this series' Die Another Day. If the long-running franchise isn't dead yet, what's needed is a Casino Royale–shaped, ground-level spycraft reboot.' Read our full review of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and check out our Special Mission: Impossible Culture Catch-Up.
France 24
2 hours ago
- France 24
Global push to ratify high seas treaty, that is two-thirds of oceans
01:31 09/06/2025 Saving the ocean: 'We have to be optimistic because it's our only planet' France 09/06/2025 Don't let deep sea become 'wild west', Guterres tells world leaders in Nice Environment 09/06/2025 World leaders urged to step up and cooperate for overexploited oceans France 09/06/2025 Macron opens UN ocean summit with call for multilateral mobilisation France 09/06/2025 Global Ocean Summit opens in Nice with calls to boost marine protections Environment 06/06/2025 French dock workers block shipment of military material for Israel France 06/06/2025 "Racism in France has always been a question of anti-migrant and anti-Muslim bias" France
