Faces of those affected

Pesticide Portraits

Juvana Xakriabá

Representative of the Xakriabá indigenous people

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The Xakriabá’s lands are being contaminated

Juvana Xakriabá denounces environmental pollution caused by pesticides, and fights for the rights of indigenous people. We’ve painted Juvana using water polluted by pesticides, to give a face to her combat.

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Minas Gerais Brazil

“Syngenta must stop poisoning our earth and water,” insists Juvana with real conviction. Despite the repressive environment, she works bravely and tirelessly to halt the destruction of her people’s habitat in Minas Gerais in Brazil. “My indigenous people live in an agricultural borderland where monocultures are expanding and pesticides are poisoning our environment.”

“Syngenta must stop poisoning our water and land”

Juvana Xakriabá Representative of the Xakriabá indigenous people

Juvana’s goal is clear: that highly hazardous pesticides be banned throughout Brazil and worldwide. “They pollute the environment and, as a result, damage human health. Whatever enters the ground, the water and our food ultimately ends up in our bodies.” Juvana is calling for Syngenta to stop selling highly hazardous pesticides once and for all.

Syngenta, no to highly hazardous pesticides!

Syngenta makes nearly CHF 4 billion annually selling ‘highly hazardous’ pesticides (according to the list produced by the international Pesticide Action Network). This toxic but very lucrative business is at the core of the Swiss giant’s business model.

Highly hazardous pesticides endanger millions of people in developing and emerging countries. Syngenta takes advantage of weak regulations in countries like Brazil or India to sell pesticides banned in Switzerland due to their effects on human health or the environment. In India, thousands of farmers are poisoned every year. In Brazil, millions are exposed to a toxic cocktail of pesticides in drinking water.

Highly hazardous pesticides are a ticking time-bomb. More and more studies show a link between exposure to pesticides and a rise in cases of cancer, Parkinson’s disease or congenital malformations.

We call on Syngenta, global leader in this irresponsible business, to stop making profits at the expense of the health of millions of people. Syngenta must stop producing and selling highly hazardous pesticides.

The petition was signed by almost 38,000 people. It was presented to Syngenta on August 22, 2019 at the Syngenta headquarters in Basel.

Testing drinking water containing pesticide residues

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