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, ...
