The Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (, ''Anvisa'', literally National Health Surveillance Agency) is a regulatory body of the Brazilian government, created in 1999 during President
Fernando Henrique Cardoso
Fernando Henrique Cardoso (; born 18 June 1931), also known by his initials FHC (), is a Brazilian sociologist, professor, and politician who served as the 34th president of Brazil from 1 January 1995 to 1 January 2003. He was the first Brazi ...
's term of office. It is responsible for the regulation and approval of
pharmaceutical drug
Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...
s, sanitary standards and regulation of the food industry.
The agency bills itself as "an independently administered, financially autonomous" regulatory body. It is administered by a five-member collegiate board of directors, who oversee five thematic directorates, assisted by a five-tier oversight structure. Since September 2018 the agency is headed by Antonio Barra Torres.
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Pesticide approvals and monitoring
Brazil is the world's largest consumer of
pesticide
Pesticides are substances that are used to control pests. They include herbicides, insecticides, nematicides, fungicides, and many others (see table). The most common of these are herbicides, which account for approximately 50% of all p ...
s.
They are primarily used in the production of soy and corn.
[ The number of approved pesticides increased "rapidly" between 2015 and 2019.][ Tereza Cristina, the agriculture minister, noted that "there is no general liberation" of new pesticide registrations and no reason for concern when pesticides are used as instructed.][
The agency also runs a program for checking pesticide levels in food crops found in supermarkets. However, in May 2022, the agency reached a mark of 3 years without publishing its results, citing the ]COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
as a reason. The agency also refused to publish partial results from the last tests performed in 2018 and 2019.
See also
* Regulation of therapeutic goods
The regulation of therapeutic goods, defined as drugs and therapeutic devices, varies by jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the United States, they are regulated at the national level by a single agency. In other jurisdictions they are reg ...
* Brazilian Nonproprietary Name
* Epidemic Intelligence Service
The Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) is a program of the United States' Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The modern EIS is a two-year, hands-on post-doctoral training program in epidemiology, with a focus on field work.
Hist ...
* World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
References
Government agencies of Brazil
National agencies for drug regulation
Brasil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
Regulators of biotechnology products
Life sciences industry
Regulation in Brazil
National public health agencies
Government agencies established in 1999
1999 establishments in Brazil
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