French minister calls on shops to stop selling Monsanto's Roundup

PARIS (Reuters) - French Environment and Energy Minister Segolene Royal has asked garden shops to stop self-service sales of Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller as part of a wider fight against pesticides seen as potentially harmful to humans.

"France must be offensive on stopping pesticides," Royal told France 3 television on Sunday. "I have asked garden shops to stop over-the-counter sales of Monsanto's Roundup."

She did not specify how she would enforce this.

France is already considering a move to restrict self-service sales of plant protection products for domestic gardeners as part of a wider move to crackdown on pesticides, although this would only apply from 2018. Sales would have to be done through a certified vendor.

A full ban on the use of pesticides by home gardeners in France is planned for 2022.

"If the measure was to enter into force before Jan 1, 2018 it would be welcome progress," green group Generations Futures said in a statement.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization (WHO), said in March that glyphosate, the key ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup, was "probably carcinogenic to humans."

The designation prompted calls from some public officials and consumers for a ban on the pesticide.

Monsanto, which denounced the IARC report as biased, was not immediately available for comment.

(Reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide; Editing by Mark Potter)