https://www.publiceye.ch/en/media/press-release/switzerland_is_exporting_banned_pesticides_to_developing_countries/
According to confidential information obtained by Public Eye, Switzerland is exporting atrazine and paraquat to developing countries. The use of these herbicides, made by the Swiss-based Syngenta, has been banned in Switzerland due to their extreme toxicity. Public Eye demands that the Swiss authorities end this double standard and respect their commitments made under the Basel Convention. A parliamentary intervention to this effect has just been made.
Four shipments of paraquat and thirteen of atrazine were registered in Switzerland between 2012 and 2016. They were destined for Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, China, India, Pakistan, Peru and Thailand. Although the redacted documents received by Public Eye from the Federal Administration hide the name of the exporting company, there is no doubt that they concern Syngenta, the global leading maker of pesticides that declared an almost ten billion dollar turnover in this sector in 2016. The Basel-based firm is the market leader in paraquat and atrazine sales, with between 40 and 50% global market share. The total export value of herbicides for Switzerland reached over 180 million francs in 2016.
Paraquat and atrazine were prohibited in the European Union due to their high toxicity to human health and the environment. Paraquat is responsible for thousands of cases of poisoning every year. A recent report (PDF, 2.8 MB)also links it to several chronic illnesses such as Parkinson’s disease. Atrazine is an endocrine disrupter that affects the reproductive system and increases the risks of cancer. Last April, Public Eye requested that the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (PDF, 130 KB) (FOEN) end this scandalous double standard which, in some cases, has violated the Basel Convention on the control of transboundary movements of hazardous waste*
Atrazine induces complete feminization and chemical castration in male African clawed frogs (Xenopus laevis) -
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2842049/
Atrazine is one of the most widely used pesticides in the world. Approximately 80 million pounds are applied annually in the United States alone, and atrazine is the most common pesticide contaminant of ground and surface water. Atrazine can be transported more than 1,000 km from the point of application via rainfall and, as a result, contaminates otherwise pristine habitats, even in remote areas where it is not used . In fact, more than a half million pounds of atrazine are precipitated in rainfall each year in the United States.
Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrazine
http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/rp/EconAtrazine.pdf
Twelve years later, in 2003, the scientific committee
reviewing atrazine concluded that it had the potential
to contaminate groundwater at levels exceeding the
allowed 0.1 μg/L even when used appropriately.
This set in motion the process for a regulatory ban. In 2004
the Commission announced a ban on atrazine applying
to all EU member states, which went into effect in 2005;
a handful of extensions for limited uses expired in
2007.
As a result, Europe is now launching a conti-
nent-wide experiment in agriculture without atrazine.
Several European countries moved to ban atrazine
on their own well before the EU decision. Sweden, Fin-
land, and Denmark had all banned atrazine by 1994,
but none of these countries is a significant corn
(maize) producer. More remarkable, and more inform-
ative for economic analysis, is the fact that two coun-
tries that produce millions of tons of corn, Italy and
Germany, both banned atrazine in 1991.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/24/business/international/a-pesticide-banned-or-not-underscores-trans-atlantic-trade-sensitivities.html?_r=0
One recent analysis by the Center for International Environmental Law, a Washington-based advocacy group, found 82 instances of pesticides allowed in the United States but barred or restricted in Europe.
In Australia (2007!)
http://www.smh.com.au/news/environment/frogs-exposed-to-herbicides-dont-know-if-theyre-arthur-or-martha/2007/07/14/1183833835538.html
Australian drinking water standards are under scrutiny after scientific research linked commonly used herbicides to gender-bending in male frogs.
The National Health and Medical Research Council has decided to reassess its drinking water guidelines after miniscule traces of the herbicides atrazine and simazine were found to turn the frogs into hermaphrodites - creatures with male and female sex organs.
Australian guidelines allow up to 40 parts per billion (ppb) of atrazine in drinking water before it is considered a public health risk. But scientific studies have found male frogs grow ovaries when exposed to the chemical at the miniscule level of 0.1ppb in water.
