Almost a third of the pesticides sold in developing countries are
substandard, mislabelled or downright dangerous, warn the World Health
Organization and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. “The customers
don’t get value for money, and sometimes get danger instead,” says Gero Vaagt of
the FAO’s pesticide management group. Examples include pesticides containing the
wrong ingredients or hazardous contaminants. The FAO and WHO will draw up
tighter rules governing trade in pesticides to tackle the problem, which costs
$900 million every year.
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