2,4 D Sprayed On Amazon Rainforest To Speed Up Deforestation - Was A Component Of Agent Orange
Pesticides have been dropped from planes and even helicopters with the aim of evading IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental agency, for years as a method to clear remote and hard-to-reach areas of the Amazon rainforest. That practice — used more frequently since 2018 — takes longer than clear-cut deforestation (the removal of all existing vegetation using heavy machinery). On the other hand, pesticide use cannot be detected via real-time satellite imagery.
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In the next step, the offenders drop grass seeds by aircraft. “This is the great bargaining chip for land grabbing. In order for illegal land to be sold as a ‘farm in formation,’ the soil must be covered with grass,” added the agent. Glyphosate, carbosulfan (prohibited on aerial spraying) and 2,4-D (a component of Agent Orange, used massively in the Vietnam War and which still results in cases of birth defects in the country) were some of the pesticides found by the environmental agency in clearings in the Arc of Deforestation (the Legal Amazon area where the agricultural frontier advances towards the forest), according to a survey by Repórter Brasil and Agência Pública.
“Causing forest degradation through pesticides is a major aggression to the environment. The 2,4D herbicide, for instance, is capable of killing large trees, and the carbosulfan insecticide is highly toxic. Animals will eat poisoned leaves and fruits from the forest [while the vegetation dies]. And it’s very dangerous for anyone nearby when pesticides are thrown,” said Eduardo Malta, a biologist at the NGO Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), in an interview.
In an IBAMA video sent to Mongabay, two inspectors show a rural property on which they detected, during an overflight, an area of about two hectares (4.9 acres) with dry, brownish vegetation. Upon landing at the site, they found dozens of empty gallons of the Planador XT herbicide — which had been dumped into the area by helicopter at the owner’s behest. “Although that product is authorized to be applied by agricultural aircraft, its use is prohibited in native forests,” states one of the IBAMA agents in the video. “In addition, the containers [thrown on the soil] were not washed or disposed of properly, and the rains could end up transporting the residues. Adults, children [of farm workers] and animals live on the site. Everyone has their health put at risk.”
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https://news.mongabay.com/2022/01/pesticides-released-into-brazils-amazon-to-degrade-rainforest-and-facilitate-deforestation/