Proposed Pesticide Controls for Agricultural Communities in Mexico State, Digi Mart USA News (Mexico State, Mexico): The Movimiento Ciudadano (MC) parliamentary group has proposed that the LXII Legislature of Mexico State urge four federal and state authorities to assess the feasibility of creating a Comprehensive Program for Responsible Management and Traceability of Agricultural Pesticides in the state.
The proposal, presented in a plenary session by deputy Maricela Beltrán of MC, emphasizes the need to prevent risks linked to pesticide handling, protect the health of farming families, and strengthen the traceability of these products. It is intended to reinforce the prevention of health and environmental risks as well as the protection of field workers and residents of farming communities.
The non-binding request would call on the Secretariat of Agriculture and Rural Development (Sader), through the National Service for Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality (Senasica); the federal Health Secretariat, through the Federal Commission for Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris); the Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources (Semarnat); and the Mexico State Countryside Secretariat (SeCampo) to analyze the viability of designing and implementing the program.
According to Beltrán, the initiative seeks to promote responsible pesticide use through information, training and support for producers, and to improve traceability so that authorities can track each product’s origin, sale, authorization, use and the disposal of empty containers. Empty containers can contaminate soil and water and cause poisoning when reused.
She said the project, backed by the MC caucus coordinated by deputy Juan Manuel Zepeda Hernández, does not seek to indiscriminately ban the use of plant-protection tools, but to prevent risks from improper handling.
The proposal also asks Semarnat, SeCampo, competent state environmental authorities and the state’s 125 municipalities to strengthen collection, storage, transport, treatment, safe recovery and final disposal of empty pesticide containers and other regulated waste. This would involve working with Senasica and with manufacturers, distributors and authorized waste managers, using existing or expanded infrastructure, document-based traceability mechanisms, dissemination of proper handling procedures, and circular-economy and shared-responsibility approaches, in line with current environmental and health legislation and prioritizing the state’s main agricultural and floricultural regions.
The text further asks the state Health Secretariat and competent public health institutions, in coordination with federal health authorities, to reinforce epidemiological surveillance, prevention, identification, diagnosis and timely care for poisoning and possible health effects from pesticide exposure, particularly among farm workers and residents of communities with intensive agro-industrial activity.
Finally, the proposal urges SeCampo, the state education, science, technology and innovation and health secretariats, and the state Integral Family Development System (DIF) to promote training, technical assistance, risk-prevention programs, measures to keep children and adolescents from pesticide exposure, and protection for farming families, working with academic institutions, producer organizations and municipal authorities.
