The dictatorship of agrochemicals: the National Program of Agricultural Defensives and changes in pesticides production and consumption in Brazil, 1975-1985

Abstract This paper relates the National Agricultural Defensives Program (1975-1980) with the developmentalist policies of the Brazilian civil-military dictatorship and the debates on agrochemicals regulation. The program stimulated internal production of pesticides, an important element in the project of agricultural “modernization” and “imports substitution.” Questionings on the use of agrochemicals were minimized by the notion of “safe use,” despite insufficient monitoring of health and environmental consequences. Besides the production in Brazil of compounds banned elsewhere, the program signaled a profile change of agrochemicals used, which puts into perspective the prohibition of organochlorine insecticides in the 1980s.

摘要 本论文将1975-1980年的国家农业防护计划（National Agricultural Defensives Program），与巴西军政独裁政权的发展主义政策及农用化学品监管相关辩论进行了关联。该计划推动了农药的本土生产，而农药是农业"现代化"与"进口替代"战略的重要组成部分。尽管当时对健康与环境后果的监测尚不充分，但"安全使用"的理念大幅弱化了各界对农用化学品使用的质疑。除了生产在其他地区被禁用的农药化合物外，该计划还推动了农用化学品使用品类的转变，这一变化使得1980年代有机氯杀虫剂的禁用政策得以被重新审视。