Brazil Anvisa, Mapa promise to speed up agchem registration

Two of the three agencies in Brazil that are responsible for the release of new molecules and the reevaluation of agrochemicals have announced measures to speed up the registration of agrochemicals. The National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), for instance, has reiterated that it is promoting a true restructuring in the agency to reduce the time needed when undertaking evaluations.

 

“The times were huge. There is a reevaluation process that has been paralyzed, for instance, since 2006. In fact, this delay is unacceptable,” admits Camila Queiroz Moreira, an expert on regulation and health surveillance at Anvisa, is working with the staff in the reevaluation of agrochemicals for the General Manager of Toxicology. She delivered a lecture last week at the Brazilian Congress of Weed Science in Curitiba, Paraná.

 

According to Moreira, this slowdown simulates the production and clandestine distribution of illegal products. Further, she said, Anvisa will also focus on the adoption of best agricultural practices for farmers. “Our role will be beyond releasing and reevaluating, we want to see improvements in this issue, too”, Moreira added.

 

 Roberto Schroeder, a representative of the Ministry of Agriculture in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, also said that the head of the Agriculture ministry, Blairo Maggi, has reaffirmed his commitment to reduce the bureaucracy when registering agchem. According to Maggi, the “Agro Mais” program was put in place just to speed up the procedures to reduce complications, “without requiring so many documents or papers. This will be easier for the companies and the ministry, which has optimized its workforce”.

 

“These measures will mean that we work with less bureaucracy and with more dynamics, só we have more time for enforcement. There will be more time to be present in the field. If we work only with papers, we cannot combat fraud. Our goal is to simplify the procedures for regular and legal companies, coming from the premise that everybody is honest and we are going after the fraudster,” noted the head of the Federal Superintendency of Agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul.