By Richard Mann, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The approval of almost 200 “new” pesticides by the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PSL) in less than six months is already generating a reaction in Europe.
Founder and president of the Swedish supermarket chain Paradiset, Johannes Cullberg ordered the removal of all Brazilian products from his shelves and is calling for a general boycott on Brazil until Bolsonaro changes the policy on pesticides.
The information is from the International France Network (RFI), which is echoing news from Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Many of the products authorized by the Bolsonaro government, in fact, have been banned in several countries precisely for their high toxicity, which may cause several types of cancer, congenital malformations and other illnesses to people and the environment.
This is the second reaction of a foreign country to Bolsonaro’s green light on pesticides. On January 31st, the Russian Federation’s health authority advised the Ministry of Agriculture that it would stop buying Brazilian soybeans if the glyphosate herbicide were to be kept on crops intended for the Russians.
“It is likely that Johannes Cullberg’s message will initially go ignored since the network he founded and commands is dedicated to organic products that would not typically buy Brazilian products made with agrochemicals and chemical fertilizers.
However, what Cullberg is proposing, a generalized boycott until the Bolsonaro government abandons its pesticide spree, should not be ignored by the likes of Minister Tereza Cristina and the ruralist party, not only in Sweden, but in other European countries where the levels of pesticide residues in food are much less tolerated than in Brazil,” wrote professor and researcher Marcos Pedlowski, who studies this and other environmental issues at the Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense (Uenf).
Johannes Cullberg is a health and planet activist and a father of three. He was given the “Natural Outstanding Achievement Award 2017” and elected “Stockholm’s most entrepreneurial person 2016” by Svenskt Näringsliv, the Confederation of Swedish Enterprise.
He is an entrepreneur with strong drive and a passion for health-related business. Through Paradiset (www.paradiset.com), he is challenging the oligopoly in the Swedish grocery market.