The Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation - MIDAGRI of Peru, through the National Agrarian Health Service – SENASA, prohibited the registration, importation, local formulation, distribution, commercialization and use of commercial formulations of agricultural pesticides that contain the active ingredient Dicofol.

This provision has been established by Directorial Resolution 0021-2021-MIDAGRI-SENASA-DIAIA, published on April 15, 2021 in the official newspaper El Peruano.

Dicofol is a chlorinated pesticide, considered a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POPs) by the Stockholm Convention and chemically related to other banned pesticides; It is used in other countries to control mites on various crops.

It is highly persistent in the environment, moderately toxic in mammals, and extremely toxic to fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and algae; it is bioaccumulative because it accumulates in the fatty tissues of humans and can travel long distances through air and water.

According to the international agreement of the Stockholm Convention, whose objective is to protect human health and the environment from Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), it establishes that measures must be taken to eliminate or reduce the production, use, import, export and emission into the environment of this pesticide.

Our country signed this agreement in 2001 and ratified it in 2005, therefore, to date there are no commercial formulation registered in Peru with the active ingredient Dicofol, nor are there any requests for the registration of pesticides. However, the decision to prohibit it is made in a preventive manner, considering that this type of petition could be presented at any time, for which the corresponding measures must be adopted in a timely manner to safeguard health and the environment.

Important Actions

As a responsible alternative with the environment and for the integrated management of pests, SENASA encourages the use of biological control and the development of Good Agricultural Practices (GAP), in the main crops and agricultural valleys of the country to avoid the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals and thus reduce toxic residues in food.

SENASA professionals, specialists in agricultural health and food safety, train professionals, technicians and farmers in biological control so that these teachings are replicated to their families and environment.

In addition to training, inspection days are permanently developed in registered establishments, achieving in 2020 the inspection of 2,752 commercial establishments in the Peruvian territory, complying in each intervention, with the security protocols established to prevent COVID-19.