FROM NECTAR TO NOTHING: HONEY, RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD, AND CULTURE IN THE CONTEXT OF PESTICIDE USE IN BRAZIL

Abstract

This article proposes to analyze and interpret the legal significance of the risks that the use of pesticides in Brazil poses to honey production in the national territory, considering honey as both an economic good and a significant cultural element, which should be protected by several spheres of Human Rights. The central hypothesis is that honey is a food item with high cultural value, and that economic and business activities that put its existence at risk should be regulated from the perspective of both the Human Right to Adequate Food and the Human Right to Culture. For this, we propose a deductive investigation based on a bibliographic analysis, case studies, and legal analysis. We conclude that honey is an example of "cultural food", a concept designed to signify the cultural aspect of food items, more or less independently of food culture in the broad sense. Thus, we understand that food sovereignty means, in this context, the protection of the cultural aspect of food.