National legal framework for the commercialization and control of pesticides and other substances for agriculture in Argentina. Landmark judicial decisions

Abstract

Even though the use of agrochemicals is fundamental in the current agricultural production systems of our country, its hazards to the environment are also well-known. These include the contamination of water resources and soils and acute or chronic toxicity for non-indented organisms. In turn, this can lead to an alteration of ecosystem functions such as pollination. In Argentina, some of these dangers have materialized in damage to the environment and the health of the population. Therefore, the author of this paper follows Ciuro Caldani’s thesis in his book titled Bases del Pensamiento Jurídico (2012), which explains how to conduct “an analysis of logical captures of the social reality of a projected distribution” (p. 19). In particular, the aim is to diagnose the effectiveness and applicability of the legal corpus referring to pesticides in Argentinean jurisprudence. This paper claims that the legal regime analyzed here, in general, constitutes a fairly broad exploratory analysis framework for the regulation of the subject matter. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the need for reform appears evident from the detected problems that remain unsolved in view of the risky nature of several pesticides, whose dangerous and toxic effects on health and the environment are not always covered by the regulations.