one day before the start of COP28, the Senate votes for a law that facilitates the use of pesticides

On the eve of the opening of COP28, the Brazilian Senate passed a law that further facilitates the use of pesticides. A huge victory for the agro-industry sector, an essential player in the Brazilian economy, but a new thorn in the side of the Lula government, which has pulled out all the stops to make this COP28 a global showcase of its generally positive results. in environmental matters.

Its detractors call it the “law of poison.” After 24 years in the drawers of parliamentarians linked to agro-industry, it was finally voted on under the Lula era. And symbolically, the timing could not be worse, says Vanessa Pedroza, spokesperson for Greenpeace. “The fact that this law was passed just before the COP, under the Lula government, is an immense contradictionsays the activist. Because at the same time as the government is going there, trying to promote a very ecological agenda, parliamentarians linked to agro-industry are very easily approving a text which goes against efforts against climate crisis, but also food security and public health.”

“Immense pressure from parliamentarians close to agro-industry”

Among other highly controversial points, the law limits controls and facilitates marketing authorizations, including for carcinogenic substances. If civil society organizations will continue to fight against this law, Vanessa Pedroza has difficulty imagining the current president vetoing it. “Everyone has seen that Lula is under immense pressure from parliamentarians close to agro-industry, who have a strong majority in Congress and manage to advance their projectsshe continues. But it is fundamental that Lula resists these pressures and honors his commitments on the socio-climatic subject.”

However, Brazil already had very permissive legislation on the subject and remains the largest consumer of pesticides in the world.