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Brazilian court suspends 63 pesticides released by Mapa

By Leonardo Gottems, Reporter for AgroPages

The Federal Regional Court of the 5th Region overturned the injunction suspending the registration of 63 pesticides in the country. Federal Judge, Francisco Roberto Machado, accepted an appeal from the Brazilian government, which called for the immediate suspension of the initial decision canceling the registration of pesticides defined by Act No. 62 of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa) , published in September. This is a provisional decision, and the merits of the matter will be considered.

During the decision, the judge considered the absence of concrete elements that prove the commission of any irregularity by the Public Administration in releasing the registration of the pesticides, in addition to the impact of the court's decision on the Brazilian community. Machado recalled that the administrative acts have a presumption of legality, and that the public policy for the release of pesticides was the result of work and studies carried out by various government agencies and entities competent for the purpose, such as the Mapa, Anvisa, Ibama and Embrapa.

“From this perspective, I realize that in order to realize this fundamental right, it is essential to create an environment that allows for dialogue between those involved, so that they can explain their reasons for the construction of the best legal solution for the species,” he said.

In order to request the suspension of the injunction, the Federal Attorney General (AGU) argued that the process of registration of pesticides in Brazil is extremely thorough, has technical rigor and is permanently subject to reevaluations. Another argument is that new products are necessarily less toxic than those already on the market, as obligated by the legislation in force in the country.

Moreover, there is no record that the use of pesticides has increased due to the granting of new registrations, as the use of products is related to the occurrence of field pests and not to the availability of registered products. According to AGU, most of the new registered products are not new pesticides, but generic products, leading to an increase in the trademarks available for the same substance.

For the Ministry of Agriculture Legal Adviser, Maximiliano Ferreira Tamer, the judge's decision was right because the subject is extremely complex. "It is not for the judiciary, in preliminary ruling, to decide on such complex issues, the powers of which are attributed to various technical bodies of the public administration," he said.