From the Editorial Office
Newspaper La Jornada
Wednesday, May 18, 2022, p. 13
The sale of illegal pesticides has spread to self-service stores with irregular labeling, since they have a sanitary registration that does not correspond to what they sell, warned Luis Eduardo González Cepeda, president of the Mexican Union of Agrochemical Manufacturers and Formulators ( umffaac).
Unlicensed pesticides are sold in the branches and online service of Soriana, Walmart, HEB, Home Depot and on the Mercado Libre e-commerce platform. For example, the association found that in Mercado Libre the search for insecticides of the brand BOOM! of the company Bull Master yielded 51 products, 29 corresponded to products for the garden and the rest for the home, the union said in a statement.
González Cepeda exemplified that the registries RSCO-INAC-0177-302-009-007, RACO-FUNG-0325-002-009-022 and RSCO-HEDE-0222-414-013-049 were authorized by the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) for agricultural use
not for home use, but in self-service stores and online they are marketed as for home and garden
. This confirms the level at which illegal pesticides have penetrated the Mexican market due to the passivity and omission of Cofepris
said.
Distribution at Home Depot, Walmart and Soriana
He explained that illegal substances are sold under the brand name BOOM! at Home Depot and Mercado Libre and under the name Max control at Ace Hardware México, Soriana, HEB México and Walmart. They are labeled as household insecticides, yard pest killers, fungicides, roach killers, miticides, weed killers, ant killers, moth killers and termite killers, as well as bacterial and fungal preventatives.
In the investigation, it was detected that the registration RSCO-HEBE-0230-399-013-041 does not exist before Cofepris, but with that nomenclature a BOOM! brand herbicide is sold. at Home Depot online and in store, as well as at Mercado Libre.
The president of the Umffaac stressed that the formulations for farm and household products are different, which means a risk for users. In addition, the format of the label does not comply with the provisions of the corresponding standard, the percentage of active ingredients is not specified separately, they do not report the table of pests or the recommended doses, among other things.
.
He recalled that Cofepris has stopped securing illegal products, once in 2017 it secured 42 thousand tons; in 2018 more than 3 thousand 400; in 2019 there were 298 and, in 2020, less than half, 108 tons.
