Aiming to “give the population security,” the Argentine government has appointed a commission of experts to report within 90 days on “good agricultural practices” in the use of the agrochemicals that have become pervasive in the country’s farming industry. Argentina has no federal law on agrochemicals, which are a source of increasing environmental and health concerns as monocrop cultivation—mostly of genetically modified soybeans—has spread their use. What regulation there is has been overseen by provincial and municipal authorities. According to the executive order creating the commission, varying controls have been approved in 22 of the country’s 23 provinces, creating a patchwork of measures that ban different products and set different restrictions on how close chemical spraying can occur to population centers. Argentina’s constitution... [Log in to read more]