Brazil adds three chemicals to barred products list

    The banned products are agricultural pesticide Monocrotofos, wood preservers Lidano and Pentachoropheno, as experts have confirmed their toxicity and the fact that they remain in the environment for a long time.

    The government has informed the secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention, the international treaty that regulates international trade in dangerous chemicals, the statement said.

    With the prohibition of three more products, Brazil now allows the import and production of only seven of the 39 products listed as dangerous in the Rotterdam Convention. Most of the products are only used in large-scale agriculture, the ministry's Chemical Pollution Enforcement Supervisory Office said.

    The Rotterdam Convention aims to reduce the international trade in pesticides and other toxic substances. Under the convention, the 39 dangerous products can only be imported with signs clearly showing they are dangerous and indicating when they may be used. Participating nations are allowed to set import and production rules for the listed chemicals.

    Brazil signed the Rotterdam Convention in 1998 and it came into effect in 2004.

    Around 70,000 chemical products are traded each year worldwide, and around 1,500 new products enter the market each year, the ministry said.