During 2020, 108.3 tons of illegal pesticides and plant nutrients were secured, said Cofepris.
Agricultural workers, consumers, and the environment are at risk from the existence of illegal products that are marketed in the agrochemical market since they are produced by companies without registration with the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris), Luis Eduardo denounced González, president of the Mexican Union of Manufacturers and Formulators of Agrochemicals (UMFFAAC).
“The Mexican farmer is being deceived, we have detected that in some areas of the country, between 25 and 30 percent of the supply of pesticides are false, adulterated, and pirated products,” he said.
He stressed that the Mexican authorities have not taken the necessary measures to combat this problem and, even, the acquisition of this type of product is extremely simple since there are dozens of groups on social networks where they are sold without restrictions.
He explained that they have identified five categories of these illegal products: those without registration, counterfeit or pirated, adulterated or re-labeled, and those smuggled through Mexican customs.
“A big problem is that they can contain unauthorized residues in Mexico, or in countries to which Mexico exports, generating negative effects on the growth of the agricultural sector, the only economic activity that reported growth the previous year, which reached 2.7 percent”, he indicated.
For a product to be marketed in the country, the sanitary authorization granted by Cofepris is required, with the opinion of the Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader), which ensures the efficacy and safety of the product and can then be sold and used in the domestic market.
“It is surprising to see that on the one hand, the authorities such as Semarnat and the National Council of Science and Technology (Conacyt) intend to justify the limitation of the use of pesticides such as glyphosate and, on the other hand, they do not act with the necessary determination to remove from the market these products and punish those responsible for their illegal manufacture ”, categorically condemned the president of UMFFAAC.
Cofepris revealed through a request for information that during 2020 108.3 tons of illegal pesticides and plant nutrients were secured, which represented the lowest figure in the last five years.
In 2016, 26,108 tons were insured; in 2017, 41,880 and in 2018, 3,438; while in 2019 and 2020 the figure dropped to 298.1 and 108.3 tons, respectively.
“The Sanitary Operation Commission through the Executive Directorate of Sanitary Supervision and Surveillance, carries out sanitary verification visits to marketers and formulators of pesticides and plant nutrients, to monitor that the products that are formulated, packaged and marketed comply with the regulations in force in terms of labeling, otherwise the non-compliant products are insured ”, the application underlined.
Source: elfinanciero.com.mx
