Artigo agrotoxicos

25

Intoxicação por agrotóxicos no Brasil: os sistemas oficiais de informação e desafios para realização de estudos epidemiológicos Pesticides poisoning in Brazil: the official notification system and challenges to conducting epidemiological studies

ARTIGO ARTICLE

Neice Müller Xavier Faria 1 Anaclaudia Gastal Fassa 2 Luiz Augusto Facchini 2

1

Serviço de Vigilância Epidemiológica da Secretaria Municipal de Saúde de Bento Gonçalves. Rua Goiânia 590, Bairro Botafogo. 95700-000 Bento Gonçalves RS. [e-mail] 2 Departamento de Medicina Social, Faculdade de Medicina, Universidade Federal de Pelotas.

Abstract Brazil is one of the world leaders in pesticide consumption and exposed workers are numerous and diversified. Acute poisonings are just the most visible aspect of pesticide impact on human health. An assessment of many official information systems that notify pesticide poisoning concluded that none of them performed appropriately the role of a surveillance system. Only acute and severe cases are notified. One of the main gaps concerns exposure information: the only official source (the Agronomic Prescriptions) has many limitations and is not available for research. A review of published articles in Brazil shows a quantitative and qualitative increase of studies in this area with many different approaches. The impact of such a high chemical burden and the huge numbers of workers exposed are two important reasons for the development of an epidemiological research on pesticide poisoning, an issue that has still a vast field to cover in Brazil. Key words Pesticides, Surveillance system, Occupational health

Resumo O Brasil é um dos líderes mundiais em consumo de agrotóxicos e os trabalhadores expostos são numerosos e diversificados. As intoxicações agudas são a face mais visível do impacto destes produtos na saúde. A avaliação dos vários sistemas oficiais de informação que notificam os casos de intoxicações concluiu que nenhum deles responde