Despite bans on certain pesticides and their replacement
by others considered less hazardous, the widespread
use of these substances in agriculture continues
to threaten the environment and the health of millions
of people. This article discusses the current double standard
in the international trade of pesticides and focuses
on Brazil, one of the main users of pesticides in the
world, analyzing the trends in foreign trade (imports
and exports) of selected pesticides as a function of
changes in legislation in the United States, the European
Union, and Brazil from 1989 to 2006.We applied time
line analysis to eight organochlorines already banned in
Brazil and conducted a case-by-case qualitative and
quantitative analysis of nine other pesticides. The results
indicate the existence of double standards, as demonstrated
by the continued exports to Brazil of some pesticides
banned in the United States and Europe.