Businesses have been warned that no pesticides should be used, offered for sale or sold in Fiji unless it has been registered with the Registrar of Pesticides.

The Consumer Council of Fiji and the Ministry of Agriculture say it is also illegal to change or temper the formulation of any registered pesticide without the approval of the Registrar.

This follows reports received by the Council whereby a consumer purchased two bottles of an insecticide formulation for household pests at a discounted price of $45 to kill bed bugs and despite applying this pesticide, the consumer did not see any results.

Upon investigation, the Council uncovered that the said pesticide is illegal in Fiji as it has not been approved for registration, sale and use.

Further investigations also yielded that certain businesses are retailing chemicals that are not in the original container and have either improper, modified or no labelling at all which is a serious breach of the Pesticides Act.

Consumer Council Chief Executive, Seema Shandil is calling on businesses retailing pesticides to meet all the legally prescribed criteria and is also encouraging consumers to report unauthorized sale of such products.

The CEO further stressed that all chemicals must have proper labelling as per the Pesticides Act.

Consumers are reminded that all registered pesticides retailed in Fiji should be registered with an approved label containing a Pesticide Registration number from the Registrar of Pesticides Fiji.