The withdrawal of one of the most used pesticides for decades in Spain due to its polluting effect, especially in water, will not affect the fight against the mosquito that causes fever or West Nile virus.
It is the certainty of both experts and institutional spokespersons from affected municipalities or the city itself. Junta of Andalusia. Even laboratories specialized in the manufacture of biocidal products agree that definitively abandoning diflubenzuron provides more advantages than disadvantages.
The debate appears with the resolution of the technical committees of the Ministry of Agriculture. In the reports that they periodically publish with the toxicity levels of thousands of products and the recommendations for use announced, this September 27the decision to “not renew” the permit to manufacture diflubenzuron as of January 1, 2025.
This technical department of the Government considers, since 2022, that the polluting effects of the chemical product, especially in the water, make it undesirable for areas near vegetable plantations that will be consumed by animals and humans.
He diflubenzuron It is the active ingredient of the “biocide” liquids that work best to combat, through fumigation, the mosquito that transmits the Nile virus, or fever. However, it has been under suspicion for years.
Official sources from the Ministry of Health of the Government of Andalusia assure lavozdelsur.es that the technicians of the autonomous administration “have not used it to fumigate in rice fields since 1990. For several years, in reality, it is no longer used for anything, in any case.”
Both the Board and municipal experts trust that the withdrawal of the product will not represent any setback in the fight against the disease. “Experts tell us that the withdrawal of diflubenzuron will not be a handicap in the prevention of the disease,” he says. Modesto Gonzalezmayor of one of the most affected municipalities, Coria del Río.
“In reality, this product that is withdrawn should not be necessary because it is used against the mosquito, that is, when there is little remedy. The best strategies are to attack the larvae much earlier, during the winter and spring, to that the mosquito is not born.”
“Once it is born, you have to use products that do they can be more aggressive for the environment, for the animals and, therefore, for human beings,” adds the first Andalusian councilor of the Sevillian town.
The technicians of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Agriculture in the provinces of Seville and Cádiz point to exactly the same line of work: “All efforts in research and industrial production are focused on abandoning products that attack mosquitoes and improving those that “act on the larva.”
Modesto González, Andalusian mayor of Coria del Río, in an archive image.
The logical reasoning that supports this thesis is the same one used by the Corian mayor: “If the transmitting element is not born, the risk of contagion between horses and humans drops greatly, almost disappears.”
The fact that has sparked the debate is the Government’s announcement that diflubenzuron will stop being manufactured in Spain as of January 1, 2025. The administrative decision is public and can be consulted on the website gob.es/es/agricultura/temas/sanidad-vegetal
The quantities already manufactured prior to that date do may be sold and usedas the legislation admits, only during the next year. From January 1, 2026In addition to not being produced, it can no longer be marketed or used.
Responsible for Ecologists in Action in the province of Cádiz remember that the Agriculture decision should not be surprising because “diflubenxuron has been prohibited in the European Union as a phytosanitary product, that is, for use in contact with food and plants, since 2020, although exceptional authorizations have been granted for uses in areas such as military camps”.
Animal activists consider that, according to the documentation consulted, the product has “a low toxicity in mammalsmoderate in fish, bees and worms, but somewhat greater in acystocotic invertebrates” that can end up in the food chain of animals and humans. “It is not easy for a national or European administration to prohibit a certain pesticide, be it phytosanitary or biocide,” they warn.
In the absence of an official technical statement, Ecologistas en Acción understands that the Department of agriculture must handle “firm evidence of the risk of the substance. It has assessed the risks and benefits of its ban versus its use in mosquito control and has decided.”
The Ministry of Health in Andalusia also maintains the possibility that “the manufacturer has given up to continue with the product if some studies have advised against it a few years ago. “It is common for the producer, in similar circumstances, to renounce the renewal process, not to present the documentation and to paralyze the process by omission.”
