ISA asks the STF to monitor action against the ‘Poison Package’

2024-08-20 13:20:33

Civil society organizations that provided technical and legal support to the challenge of the “Poison Package” Law filed an application in the STF for friend of the court (“friend of the court”), this Monday (19/08), to monitor the processing of Direct Action of Unconstitutionality (ADI) 7710. Climate Observatory (OC), Greenpeace Brasil and the ISA. The ADI was filed on August 14 by the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL), Rede Sustentabilidade, Workers’ Party (PT), Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT) and the National Confederation of Wage and Rural Workers (Contar).

“The new Poison Package law goes against the global trend of banning carcinogenic and mutagenic pesticides, as it facilitates the release of substances harmful to human health and the environment, increasing cancer risks and ecosystem pollution, adding even more to the tri-planet. crisis: the crisis of climate change, the crisis of biodiversity loss and the crisis of pollution and waste”explains Angela Barbarulo, legal manager at Greenpeace Brasil.

Supervision of the use and application of pesticides by the Coordination for the Protection of Agriculture in the state of São Paulo |
Agricultural Defense of São Paulo

ADI 7710 highlights that Law 14,785, approved in 2023, makes the regulation of pesticides in Brazil more flexible and, therefore, violates constitutional principles that guide public administration. The authors ask that its unconstitutionality be recognized before the trial ends, as a precautionary measure. Brazil is already the leading country in the use of pesticides, and alarming cases of poisoning are increasing; The new legislation makes this situation worse.

Suely Araújo, public policy coordinator at the Climate Observatory, highlights this extensive series of unconstitutional pesticide laws. “It violates the right to an ecologically fair environment, guaranteed as a fundamental principle by our Magna Carta, by institutionalizing retrogression and making existing rules more flexible. It ignores the right to public health by encouraging the misuse of these products. It weakens state control, both in environmental protection and public health. It constitutes an authentic Poison Package, and we hope our Supreme Court will overturn it”, he sums up.

“We defend the unconstitutionality of the points of the new law which have imposed serious barriers, with a severe risk to health and the environment”, Highlights of Mauricio Guetta, legal advisor for ISA. “If the law is kept, the Brazilian community as a whole will suffer irreversible damage”, he says.

The authors of the act include and break down the constitutional rules involved, such as those described below.

• The Right to Health and the Environment: makes criteria for the registration and use of pesticides more flexible, which may contribute to the increased incidence of diseases such as cancer and other chronic and acute illnesses. The legislation is also seen as an environmental threat, contributing to pollution in the Brazilian biome, with a consequential impact on greenhouse gas emissions and worsening the climate emergency.
• Public Administration and Legality: it centralizes the approval of pesticides in the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), excluding the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) from the decision-making process, which ‘go back a lot. which is detrimental to the technical and scientific assessment necessary to guarantee the safety of the population and the environment.
• Socio-Economic Impacts: the increased use of pesticides directly affects rural workers, who are exposed to greater risks of poisoning. In addition, costs related to the treatment of poisons and illnesses resulting from the use of pesticides could significantly increase the United Health System (SUS).

Legislative history and agribusiness lobbying – The approval of the Poison Package shows the power of influence of agribusiness in the Brazilian Legislature to the detriment of public health and the environment, under the protection of legislative modernization, despite the increase in the number of new pesticide registrations in recent years – since 2017, more than that. 3.8 thousand new substances authorized. The original bill was authored by former senator Blairo Maggi, proposed in the early 2000s and has deteriorated in recent years, as it was tied to other proposals that weaken control over the use and sale of pesticides, changing the introductory vocabulary in a sociolinguistics package. – environmental risk measures. Throughout the process, the Poison Package was widely rejected and criticized by public bodies and national and international authorities, such as UN special rapporteurs, the National Council for Human Rights (CNDH) and the National Cancer Institute (Inca). However, the rural group (Frente Parlamentar da Agropecuária – FPA) openly defends the interests of large agrochemical companies and has a large majority in the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

Arguments from civil society and experts – More than 100 organizations, including Inca, MPF, MPT, Anvisa, Ibama, Fiocruz, the National Health Council, the Brazilian Public Health Association (Abrasco) and the Brazilian Association for the Advancement of Science, demonstrated against approval the law, classifying it as an obstacle that threatens the lives of millions of Brazilians and the balance of the environment. Anvisa warned that the implementation of the law “endangers Brazilian life”, and Ibama classified it as a “flagship socio-environmental setback”.

ADI applications – Given the seriousness of the issues raised, the authors request that the STF grant a precautionary measure to suspend the effects of Law 14,785 until the final judgment of the action is given. The urgency of the measure is justified by the immediate risk of irreversible damage to public health and the environment, as well as the potential increase in vulnerability of rural, indigenous and traditional communities.

Scary details

• The New Poison Package law makes the release of pesticides with carcinogenic, teratogenic and mutagenic properties more flexible, causing hormonal disorders and environmental damage.

• By increasing the risk of cancer and other acute and chronic diseases, the new law puts rural workers at risk, above all, and goes against the principles of prevention, precaution, agro-ecology and sustainable development.

• Brazil has topped the ranking of countries that use the most pesticides since 2011.

• In 2022, Brazil used more pesticides than the United States and China combined, and 800 thousand tons of pesticides were applied to Brazilian soil.
• Between 2010 and 2019, the Ministry of Health recorded the poisoning of 56,870 people by pesticides in the country, which is equivalent to 15 people per day. Considering the significant under-reporting, the number could be much higher, reaching 2,843 million people in the country poisoned by pesticides.
• Pesticides kill one person every three days in Brazil, shows a survey by Agência Pública and Repórter Brasil, with data from 2019 to 2022 from the Ministry of Health.

• In a note, Inca emphasizes that “It is necessary to make progress in the construction of public policies that can protect and promote human health and ecosystems that use pesticides, to promote an agricultural model based on the principles of agro-ecology and sustainable development, as well as strengthening restrictions on the use of these chemical pollutants in Brazil, in pursuit of their ban.”
• Lobbyists and employersPesticide companies have met at least the Federal Government once every 5 hours between 2022 and 2024.