DuPont dijo que apoya plenamente los comentarios recientes hechos por el director de la agencia europea de aplicación de la ley Europol, Rob Wainwright, quien dijo que es importante abordar el creciente comercio de pesticidas ilegales y falsificados.
“The trade in illegal and counterfeit pesticides is organized by highly sophisticated criminal networks. Criminals have developed complex global supply chains and exploit legal companies to camouflage their activities. It is important to tackle this growing crime especially because of possible health risks,” Wainwright said.
Según Europol, se cree que hasta una cuarta parte de todos los pesticidas actualmente en circulación en algunos estados miembros de la Unión Europea provienen del mercado ilegal de pesticidas. El comercio ilegal representa más del 10% del mercado mundial total de plaguicidas y es muy lucrativo. Un solo envío puede generar una ganancia ilegal de más de $1.3 millones.
Wainwright’s comments were made following a recent conference held in Spain that was jointly organized by Europol and the European Commission, among other government bodies, and was attended by police, customs and regulatory enforcement officers from throughout the EU.
Tom McHale, Global Product Defense Manager at DuPont, said that the company is doing “all it can to help combat the growing problem of fake and illicit pesticides.
“Our entire organization is committed to stamping out this illegal and very costly activity. We always act upon any evidence we receive from our staff or our customers and engage the relevant authorities to take the appropriate action,” McHale said. “The use of fake or illicit pesticides could result in significant damage to farmers’ incomes and to the environment because these products have not been approved for use by regulatory authorities.”