Brazil uses 22 agrochemicals banned in other countries

Brazil currently allows the use of 424 active ingredients in the formulation of agrochemicals. Among the most used, 22 of them are prohibited in other countries – some in the European Union and others in the United States – according to a survey released by the German news agency Deutsche Welle.

The publication cites “political and juridical barriers” as the major factors for these substances to continue to be applied on Brazilian crops.

The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) started in 2008 a process of reevaluation of 14 substances that are used in the formulation of over 200 agrochemicals. Among those, only five were banned so far: cyhexatin; endosulfan; phorate; methamidophos; and trichlorfon. Other two were kept in the market (with restrictions): acephate and phosmet.

"Very few products are banned because the agrochemical industry, the Ministry of Agriculture and the farmers make pressure to stop the process of revision. Manufacturers of some products go to the courts and achieve injunctions to stop the analysis,” affirmed Wanderlei Pignati, a researcher of the Federal University of Mato Grosso to DW Brasil.

In Brazil, the responsibility for the release and registration of agrochemicals is divided in three federal agencies: the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply, Anvisa (at the umbrella of the Health Ministry) and the Brazilian Institute of Natural Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama, linked to the Natural Environment Ministry).

"It is observed that, on the other hand, a huge deficiency of the state to control the use of agrochemicals, besides a big difficulty of removing products from the market after they get registration. This happens because the registration of agrochemicals is not valid. In other countries, after registration, the companies should present toxicological reevaluations and new studies to prove again that the product is safe. Unfortunately, this does not occur in our country,” affirms Márcia Sarpa de Campos Mello, a toxicologist at the National Institute of Cancer.