Abstract
Brazil is the third largest market and the eighth largest consumer of pesticides per hectare in the world, with herbicides and insecticides accounting for 60% of the products traded in the country. The use of pesticides has increased worldwide in the last decades, which may represent a risk for several diseases in humans, including cancer. Although in Brazil the research on the impact of the use of pesticides on human health has grown in recent years, it is still insufficient to really know the real dimension of health damage caused mainly by occupational and food exposure, due to the intensive use of pesticides. This article aims to review the use of pesticides by rural workers in Brazil, highlighting the importance of preventive measures for their health.
Highlights
Pesticides, according to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2008), is any substance capable of controlling a pest that can have consequences for both the population and the environment
Among the countries with agricultural power involving the consumption of herbicides, fungicides and agricultural insecticides, Brazil ranks first in the Latin American and Caribbean Newsletter, dated 23 of April 2011 (STÉDILE, 2012; NEVES, 2017)
From a study in southern Minas Gerais, Silvério et al (2017) showed that workers had a hazardous exposure to organophosphates and afforded valuable data to estimate the risk to cancer development
Summary
Pesticides, according to the World Health Organization (WHO, 2008), is any substance capable of controlling a pest that can have consequences for both the population and the environment. In Brazil, the diversity of agrochemicals is big, about 300 active principles in more than 2 thousand commercial formulations (NEVES, 2017). Humans are often their final recipients, and they can be found in the soil, water, air, in animals and vegetables, being considered with great capacity of dispersion (NEVES, 2017). Different symptoms are caused by pesticide poisoning, mainly among farmers, and may even make them stop working and having to look for another type of profession. We can highlight anemia, headache, dysthymia, decreased immune defenses, sexual impotence, insomnia, changes in arterial depression and behavioral disorders (LEVIGARD; ROZEMBERG, 2001; SOUZA et al, 2011)
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