Paraná state, one of Brazil’s biggest agricultural engines, this month ordered U.S.-based Monsanto and Basf AG of Germany to suspend the sale here of some of their agrochemicals, alleging that the substances come with potentially harmful misinformation. The state government ordered Monsanto not to sell three herbicides in its Roundup family—Transorb, Original and WG—and told Basf to halt the sale of Poast, an herbicide, and Dormex, a chemical that stimulates seed germination. Officials also seized some 71,500 tons of the chemicals and ordered a statewide recall of the products. And they have levied fines of US$5,600 against Monsanto and $11,200 against Basf. “The labels or information packets give inadequate, contradictory or misleading information about the dangers and/or side effects of...
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A freshwater Asian mussel that arrived in Argentina in the early 1990s has extended its reach in southern Brazil, displacing native mussel species, clogging water-intake pipes and bolstering an initiative to control ballast-water discharges by oceangoing ships. The so-called golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei) reached Argentina in 1991 when ships that had called on Asian ports discharged ballast water containing mussel larvae into the River Plate. (See “Unwelcome visitors settle in Southern Cone”—EcoAméricas, Jan. ’02.) By 2001, the mussel, attaching itself to the hulls of vessels, had migrated into Brazil by way of the Paraná River, reaching the 12,600-megawatt Itaipú dam, the world’s largest hydroelectric complex. By 2002, it had traveled farther up the Paraná to the 1,000-megawatt Porto Primavera...
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Buenos Aires generates 5,000 tons of garbage a day. For 26 years, the bulk of that garbage has gone to a 1,200-acre (500-ha) landfill in the suburb of Villa Domínico, a 10-minute car ride from the Argentine capital. No longer. Following years of complaints by neighbors and local officials, Villa Domínico landfill was closed after accepting 47 millions tons of garbage since starting up in 1978. Now Buenos Aires’ garbage is trucked to three other locations on a provisional basis. The state-owned company Ceamse, which oversees waste disposal, is preparing to accept bids from private firms interested in building a new landfill outside the metropolitan area. Federal officials say the plan is to build a so-called sanitary landfill underlain with...
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A federal prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro is seeking a court injunction that would require Brazil’s environmental-enforcement agency, Ibama, to ban shark fishing temporarily in Brazilian waters. Prosecutor Anaiva Cordovil says she made the request in a lawsuit filed in Rio de Janeiro federal court in March. A ruling is expected this month. Cordovil says the suit seeks to “avoid an ecological imbalance” by forcing Ibama to prohibit shark fishing while it establishes which of Brazil’s 88 known shark species are in danger. The World Conservation Union (IUCN) lists 22 shark species found in Brazil’s waters as threatened, among them the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) and the dusky shark (Carcharhinus obscurus). Ibama has yet to designate any marine species as threatened, a move that...
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