Syngenta’s products were registered in Brazil before 2016. Brazilian firms have registered three more products containing atrazine since Bolsonaro took office.

In April this year, German chemical giant BASF registered a product containing an active ingredient it’s also not able to sell back home. The product contained the insecticide fipronil which “causes damage to organs through prolonged or repeated exposure” according to the European Chemicals Agency. The European Commission partially banned the products containing the chemical in 2013.

In May 2018, the European Court annulled the ban having found that officials imposed it “without performing an impact assessment”, the FT reported. Nevertheless, Fipronil can’t be used in the EU, as its approval expired in 2017.

A BASF spokeswoman told Unearthed: “All approved uses of fipronil have been subject to an in-depth evaluation process. When used according to label instructions, approved fipronil-based products are safe for humans and the environment.”

The spokeswoman argued that “the decision to discontinue registration efforts in the EU was made due to economic reasons” as the patent for the active ingredient expired some time ago.

It is not only chemicals banned in the EU that are on sale in Brazil – even products banned in China have recently been approved.

Last year, Adama – a multinational owned by ChemChina that has its UK office in Thatcham – registered two products containing acephate. Acephate has not only been banned in the EU for nearly two decades but the Chinese agricultural ministry introduced restrictions on the chemical in 2017.

Adama has registered 25 products in Brazil since 2016 containing chemicals prohibited in Europe. Chemicals include atrazine, glufosinate – which the European Chemicals Agency has said can “damage fertility” – and paraquat.

A spokesman for Adama told Unearthed: “human and environmental safety, as well as meeting the very strict regulatory requirements, are key commitments for us.”

Not all chemicals that are prohibited in the EU have been explicitly banned by European regulators. Occasionally companies decide not to register chemicals in Europe and instead focus on other markets. In some cases, this could simply be because a chemical is intended for crops that are not grown in Europe. As Syngenta argued in their response to Unearthed’s questions: “Each country’s regulation is different because each country has different pests and different agricultural challenges.”

Of the products registered in Brazil since Bolsonaro took office, 14% contain chemicals explicitly prohibited in the EU. One in four of those products contain chemicals not approved in Europe.

‘Poison package’

In 2018, Temer’s final year in office, 450 new pesticide products were approved by the agricultural ministry, a 13-year-high. The most recent data – which goes up to May 21, 2019 – shows that 169 products have been approved since Bolsonaro was elected – suggesting the new government is maintaining the same high rate of approvals.

In its first few months, Bolsonaro’s government has pressed ahead with moves to undo key environmental standards. In April the administration moved to scrap a body that oversees the government’s environmental policy. The government has also moved to undo legislation protecting indigenous land. More recently the country’s environment ministry saw its budget for climate work cut by 95%.