Excerpts from the decree on pesticides are overturned by the STF

Decree

Rapporteur alleges prohibition of environmental setback

The majority of ministers of the Federal Supreme Court (STF) voted to overturn sections of a decree that softened the toxicological classification of pesticides in the country. The norm was edited in 2021 by then-president Jair Bolsonaro.

So far, the vote of the rapporteur, minister Cármen Lúcia, who claimed “environmental backlash ban” to invalidate several provisions of the decree, as requested by the PT.

The rapporteur was followed by ministers Luís Roberto Barroso, Edson Fachin, Alexandre de Moraes, Gilmar Mendes and Dias Toffoli. Only Minister André Mendonça disagreed. The claim of non-compliance with a fundamental precept (ADPF) on the subject is judged in the virtual plenary, in a session that ends at 11:59 pm this Friday (30).

Understand

The decree signed by Bolsonaro amends another, from 2002, which regulates the use of pesticides in the country. The new rule included several relaxations in the classification and registration of substances.

Among the points considered unconstitutional by the majority of the Supreme Court is the one that excluded the ministries of Agriculture, Health and the Environment from the task of establishing the maximum limits of pesticide residues in food, so that they do not become harmful to health.

Another point overturned by the majority was the waiver of presenting a report on the presence of relevant impurities from a toxicological and environmental point of view in pesticide products.

The requirement for a supplementary rule to establish criteria for the destruction of food produced with the application of unauthorized pesticides, among other points, was also considered unconstitutional.

Unless there is a request for review (more time for analysis) or emphasis (referral of the process to the conventional plenary), the decision of the majority already formed must prevail.

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