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Chemical imbalance

European firms are selling pesticides banned in the EU to African countries, nearly six years after Brussels promised a blanket ban

The European Union’s agricultural trade relationship with Africa has long been unequal but its double standards have sunk to absurd depths. Brussels allows European-based companies to export more than 120,000 tonnes a year of pesticides banned within the bloc with African and Latin American states as the main recipients. Then it dispatches customs officials to intercept African food imports containing traces of those same chemicals. Herbicides such as glyphosate, described as a carcinogen, and paraquat, which is linked to Parkinson’s disease, have been marketed as solutions to boost crop yields.

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