(MENAFN- Swissinfo) Syngenta slammed for hazardous pesticide profits Apr 17, 2019 - 14:52 A United Nations representative is demanding action following reports that Swiss crop science company Syngenta is selling highly hazardous pesticides abroad. 'There is an urgent need to end this exploitation of lower standards of protection. This is a morally and ethically unjustifiable situation,' Baskut Tuncak, United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and toxics, told Swiss NGO Public Eye on Wednesday. 'States should have mandatory human rights due diligence for chemical manufacturers.' Syngenta has earned billions selling pesticides that are not approved for use in Switzerland, announced the NGO in a report published this week. It states that of the 32 substances which are included in the company's 'key marketed products', 15 are considered 'highly hazardous' by the Pesticide Action Network (PAN). Of the thousands of pesticides reviewed by PAN, some 310 active ingredients in pesticides are considered extremely dangerous because of increased incidence of birth defects, cancer and other serious diseases. 'According to our calculations, in 2017, the Swiss giant made approx. $3.9 billion (CHF3.93 billion) in revenue from highly hazardous pesticides. The multinational takes advantage of weaker standards in countries such as Brazil, Argentina or India to continue selling its toxic 'blockbusters', many of which are no longer authorised in Switzerland or the European Union,' wrote Public Eye in its report. This week's tweet from a farming news portal echoes Syngenta's success in the region. Syngenta's Switzerland director, Roman Mazzotta, declined to comment on the Public Eye report when asked to by Swiss Public Television, RTS. "Our products are safe, they are subject to long-term inspections and are regularly checked. It takes many years for a product to be registered. There is therefore no reason for us to remove these products from the market,' Mazzotta said. In an interview published on Monday in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Syngenta CEO Erik Fyrwald argued that effective crop protection products play an important role in feeding the planet and tackling climate change.
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