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Bolsonaro Greenlights New Pesticides Even as Advocates Mourn Half Billion Dead Bees in Brazil

"The death of all these bees is a sign that we're being poisoned."

By Jessica Corbett
staff writer
Tuesday, August 20, 2019 by Common Dreams


A protester holds dead bees prior to the annual shareholders meeting of German chemicals and pharmaceuticals conglomerate Bayer AG on April 26, 2019 in Bonn, Germany. (Photo: Oliver Berg/picture alliance via Getty Images)

Pointing to the deaths of more than half a billion bees in Brazil over a period of just four months, beekeepers, experts, and activists are raising concerns about the soaring number of new pesticides greenlighted for use by the Brazilian government since far-right President Jair Bolsonaro took office in January—and the threat that it poses to pollinators, people, and the planet.

Indigenous and green groups have expressed alarm about dangers of Bolsonaro's anti-environment policies—especially for the Amazon rainforest—since even before Bolsonaro's inauguration. Recent reports highlighting that the Bolsonaro government has approved a record 290 pesticides so far this year have further heightened worries about his environmental agenda and its consequences.

"Between December 2018 and March 2019, more than 500 million bees were found dead by beekeepers in four Brazilian states," SciDev.net reported Friday, citing figures revealed earlier this year. "Beekeepers' associations and agriculture authorities suspect this was caused by the widespread use of two classes of pesticides—fipronil and neonicotinoids—on flowering crops."



Fipronil is banned by the European Union and classified as a possible human carcinogen by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As studies have shown that neonics are harmful to bees, the E.U. and countries such as Canada have moved to outlaw them—while other nations, like the U.S. under the Trump administration, have defied scientists' warnings and rolled back rules.

In Brazil, Bloomberg noted Monday, "the die-off highlighted questions about the ocean of pesticides used in the country's agriculture and whether chemicals are washing through the human food supply—even as the government considers permitting more."

"The death of all these bees is a sign that we're being poisoned," Carlos Alberto Bastos, president of the Apiculturist Association of Brazil's Federal District, told Bloomberg.

Brazil now has 2,300 pesticides registered for use—and the rate of new pesticide authorizations under the Bolsonaro government is unprecedented, according to Mongabay.

The current authorization rate is the highest ever recorded by the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) since the agency began releasing data in 2005. In comparison to the 290 pesticides approved in the first seven months of 2019, just 45 were approved over the same period during 2010. This June and July alone, MAPA published registrations for 93 new pesticides in the Official Gazette.

"In addition to the new products, a new regulatory framework to assess pesticide health risks was established in July that will reduce restrictiveness of toxicological classifications," explained Mongabay. "Under Bolsonaro, 1,942 registered pesticides were quickly reevaluated, with the number considered extremely toxic dropped from 702 to just 43."

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https://www.commondreams.org/news/2019/08/20/bolsonaro-greenlights-new-pesticides-even-advocates-mourn-half-billion-dead-bees