Without an agreement, CRA grants a collective view and the vote on the Pesticides PL is postponed to Tuesday

With the request for a collective review accepted, the vote on the project that makes the rules for approval and commercialization of pesticides more flexible by the Agriculture Commission (CRA) has been delayed.

In a meeting this Thursday (23), the rapporteur for PL 1,459/2022 and president of the collegiate, Senator Acir Gurgacz (PDT-RO), presented a new report and has already scheduled the deliberation for next Tuesday (29).

PL 1,459/2022 replaces the Chamber of Deputies to PLS 526/1999, presented by then senator Blairo Maggi. The text amends the Pesticides Law.

The rapporteur presented a favorable opinion with amendments. The project deals with research, experimentation, production, marketing, import and export, packaging and final destination and inspection of these products.

Since the beginning of its course at CRA, the matter is the result of wide divergence among senators and contrasts the agribusiness agenda with that of environmental preservation and health surveillance.

Experts were heard in three public hearings promoted by CRA. The text will not be analyzed by the Environment Commission (CMA).

Acir Gurgacz had already read his report, but after requests to expand the debates and promote another public hearing, held on Tuesday (22), he presented his opinion again. Among the measures provided for in the amendment are the concentration of decision-making power over pesticides in the Ministry of Agriculture🇧🇷 the alteration of the nomenclature “pesticide”, which would be called, in the legislation, “pesticide”; the setting of a deadline for obtaining registrations of these products in the Brazil — with the possibility of temporary licenses when deadlines are not met by Organs competent bodies —; and the softening of the explicit classification of products harmful to human health and the environment.

According to Gurgacz, many of the pesticides used in Brazil are obsolete and can be replaced by more modern products.

— Today it takes, on average, 8 or even 10 years for the authorization of a new active ingredient. It is a very long time for more modern, safe and effective products to enter the market. The new law provides for a maximum period of two years for a new product to be analyzed – he declared.

Gurgacz stated that studies by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) indicate that Brazil occupies the seventh position in the world ranking of pesticide users, behind countries such as Japan, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom.

— We do not run the risk of using products banned in Europe or other countries here in Brazil — said the rapporteur.

Public health

Senator Eliziane Gama (Cidadania-MA) observed that the president-elect, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silvapresented at the United Nations Climate Conference — COP27which recently occurred in Egypt, a new environmental commitment, which opposes the proposed project.

— We are coming from COP 27, where Brazil has become a pariah in recent years in terms of the environment. Brazil has always been at the head. Now, in the last COP, we had a repositioning of Brazil. (…) This project will cause very big losses.

The senator spoke out against the exclusion of National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) for the inspection and control of pesticides, as well as the inclusion in the text of temporary authorization for the use of pesticides.

– When [Lula] brings commitment to the environmental agenda, it is automatically taking a position against what we call the destruction package, in which we have the PL of poison within it – said Eliziane.

Senator Paulo Rocha (PT-PA) stated that it is necessary to deepen the debate and establish a frank and open dialogue.

— It is not easy to face projects with conflict of interests. Our position is not ideological, radical. We are not against development, increased production, against the sector, against the process. We are putting here the possibility of enacting legislation that meets the stated interests, to overcome bureaucracy, but we are concerned about the environmental issue and public health – highlighted Paulo Rocha.

Bureaucracy

For Senator Carlos Fávaro (PSD-MT) it is necessary to overcome the challenge of bureaucracy and not be “led into error” by a speech “under the pretext of doing good for the population, doing good for the environment”. More modern products are less harmful, said Fávaro.

— The objective is to be more and more concerned with sustainable production, which goes through the economic aspect, lowering the cost of production. I don’t want to use products that harm the environment in my properties. This project is not precarious, but, on the contrary, facilitating. This law modernizes the legislation. (…) I know that this is the intention of the president [da CRA] Act in search of a text that in a modern and efficient way, that brings the licensing, the authorization of the use of molecules here in Brazil, to overcome the bureaucracy, that notary public machine that makes difficult and hinders.

Senator Luis Carlos Heinze (PP-RS) also criticized the slowness in registration and the use of outdated agricultural pesticides.

— We must advance like any country in Europe does, like the United States does, like any developed country does, with cheaper and more adequate cost. We have to overcome these barriers. It is not possible to criminalize the Brazilian producer – said Heinze.

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