Thirty one active substances in pesticides for agricultural use classified as high hazardous pesticides (HHPs) and featuring on the list of the international NGO Pesticide Action Network (PAN), have finally been withdrawn from the Tunisian market, the agricultural department recently announced.
These substances are banned in Europe and other countries around the world. Six other active substances are subject to restrictions on use.
This decision to withdraw and restrict use, which came into force on July 13, 2023, follows the verdict of the technical committee in charge of the study of pesticides for agricultural use, which convened on April 19, 2023, at the General Directorate for Plant Health and Control of Agricultural Inputs (DGSVCIA).
This complies with the provisions of Law no. 92-72 of August 3, 1992 on the revision of plant protection legislation, says the DGSVCIA in a press release.
According to the lists published by the DGSVCIA, these mainly comprise 10 insecticides, 11 fungicides, 2 herbicides, 7 active substances and 3 nematicides, in addition to the 6 active substances whose use has been restricted.
European companies are exporting hundreds of tonnes of a notoriously toxic pesticide - banned in Europe because of its links to brain damage in children and unborn babies - to countries in the Global South.
Documents obtained under freedom of information laws by Unearthed and Public Eye, a Swiss NGO, have revealed that in the second half of last year European companies issued notifications for the export of more than 380 tonnes of banned chlorpyrifos insecticides.
The main destinations were Algeria, Tunisia, Kazakhstan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Costa Rica.
The same companies plan to ship similar amounts this year.
In 2022, Tunisia was the second-largest market, by volume, for the EU's chlorpyrifos exports.
Tunisia was the intended destination for 70 tonnes of the chlorpyrifos-based insecticide Pyrical 480, exported from Belgium by Arysta Life Science Benelux. The Belgian company, a subsidiary of the pesticide giant UPL, plans to send the same amount again to Tunisia this year.
There are decades of research suggesting chlorpyrifos exposure harms young children and babies in the womb. Studies have linked pre-birth exposure to the chemical to developmental delays, autism, and reduction in IQ; one study found that the greater a mother's exposure to the chemical during pregnancy, the lower her child's IQ at the age of seven.
Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse