'TOXIC TRADING The EU pesticide lobby’s offensive in Brazil', 28 April 2022

"The EU-Mercosur trade deal, if ratified, will heavily increase crop exports to Europe, and imports of dangerous agrochemicals to South America, particularly Brazil. The likely expansion of agriculture for export risks aggravating existing problems with the conversion of forests and other important ecosystems for agriculture, and adds to the toxic burden of pesticide-intensive agriculture on nature and local communities. European corporations like Bayer and BASF, who are the leading European manufacturers of pesticides, have been promoting the EU-Mercosur trade deal through lobby groups. Their lobbying has sought to increase market access for some of their most harmful pesticides by joining forces with Brazilian agribusiness associations. In doing so, they have supported a legislative agenda that seeks to undermine Indigenous rights, remove environmental safeguards, and legitimise deforestation...

...During his visit to Brazil in 2019, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on toxic and human rights raised concerns about the situation of Indigenous peoples whose human rights are violated and abused by agricultural expansion and the deliberate spraying of toxic pesticides over their lands and homes, with reports of pesticides being used as “chemical weapons” and children exposed at home, school and work..."