Ecobreves – BRAZIL: First in Collecting Agro-Toxin Containers

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Sep 14 2009 (IPS) - Brazilian farmers collected 24,400 used containers of agrochemicals in 2008, or 94 percent of the total sold in the country, which is the best rate achieved in the world, reported the National Institute of Container Processing. It was a “positive” response to a law that has been in place since 2002, said Karin Kaechele, of the non-governmental Center of Life Institute, in the western state of Mato Grosso, which is undergoing a farming boom. But Brazil continues using farm chemicals that are banned in other countries, like endosulfan, she lamented.

Brazil is also a leader in consumption of agro-toxins, which contaminate grains, water, soil and air, and can lead to cancer, fetal deformation, neurological problems and depression, as well as other “chronic effects,” physician Wanderlei Pignati, a researcher at the Federal University of Mato Grosso, told Tierramérica.

Collecting empty farm chemical containers presents “a tiny portion” of the contamination, he said.