PF investigates smuggling and illegal sale of herbicide associated with Parkinson’s disease in SC | Santa Catarina

There are three measures issued by the Federal Court on properties in the cities of Massaranduba, in the North, and Dionísio Cerqueira, in the Far West, a city on the border between Brazil and Argentina.

The Federal Police detailed that in addition to illegal entry into Brazil, the herbicide, used to control weeds in plantations, is sold illegally in the Northeast of Santa Catarina.

“The investigation began in January 2023, after the arrest in the act of a man of Argentine nationality who was transporting a large quantity of herbicide from that country. The product, containing the prohibited substance, was intended for clandestine sale in the municipality of Massaranduba/SC and region”, detailed the PF.

The corporation did not inform the names of those investigated or the relationship between them. However, he detailed that the targets of the searches must answer for the crimes of storing prohibited pesticides and criminal association, crimes that carry maximum penalties of up to nine years in prison.

After a nine-year analysis, Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) decided in 2017 to ban the sale and use of the herbicide ‘Paraquate’.

Analysis of scientific evidence concluded that the product is associated with the development of Parkinson’s disease — a degenerative neurological condition that leads to tremor, rigidity, speech disturbances and balance problems.

According to a report from GGTOX, Anvisa’s toxicity working group, the product has toxicological qualification I, considered extremely toxic. The agency began analyzing the product in 2008.

According to the analysis of scientific evidence, the group considered that there was sufficient weight to prove the herbicide’s potential to induce chromosomal aberrations in somatic cells in vitro and in vivo, in different species, and through different routes of exposure, including dermal.

The most consistent evidence was related to Parkinson’s disease, which led the Anvisa report to conclude that:

“There is a strong body of evidence from animal and epidemiological studies indicating that paraquat is associated with the onset of Parkinson’s disease in humans.”

The agency says, however, that the evidence points to the risk of Paraquat in workers who come into direct contact with the product. There is no evidence presented that the herbicide leaves residue in food.