Brazil's parliament has decided that the Agriculture Ministry is solely responsible for registering pesticides

On May 9, the Brazilian Parliament decided to grant exclusive responsibility for the registration of pesticides, environmental control products and related products to the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (Mapa). The decision overturns President Lula da Silva's veto of Law 14785 of 2023, the new Brazilian Pesticide Law.

Previously, Brazil's pesticide registration and regulation model had been shared by several agencies since 1989, including the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) and the Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama). However, the adoption of the new law means that Mapa will assume sole responsibility for pesticide registration, aiming to speed up the process through centralized management and reduce the dispersion of responsibilities between different agencies, without compromising the technical assessment capabilities of Anvisa and Ibama.

The new law also provides that Mapa has the authority to approve a product registration request based on the active ingredient until the reevaluation of that ingredient is completed. However, the Government considers that this provision violates the precautionary principle and endangers the right to life, health and ecological balance of the environment. In addition, the decision includes the continuation of the registration of products that have been reassessed, with risk analysis as the main criterion.

According to the lawmakers, this change will simplify and modernize the pesticide registration process, which will have a positive impact on the agricultural sector and the economic and social development of Brazil. The details of the implementation of the new law and its long-term impact on agriculture and the environment remain to be seen, but the goal is clear: to modernize Brazilian agriculture and ensure food security while contributing to the country's continued economic development by reforming the pesticide registration system.