Use of pesticides in Pernambuco sugarcane fields and damage to workers’ health

Domingues, Renata Cordeiro; Gurgel, Aline do Monte; Santos, Romário Correia dos; Lima, Fernanda Lowenstein Monteiro de Araújo; Santos, Carla Caroline Silva dos; Santos, Mariana Olívia Santana dos; Gurgel, Idê Gomes Dantas

doi:10.1590/2358-289820241418714I

Renata Cordeiro Domingues

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2025-1125

Aline do Monte Gurgel

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5981-3597

Romário Correia dos Santos

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4973-123X

Fernanda Lowenstein Monteiro de Araújo Lima

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0009-0006-8104-5762

Carla Caroline Silva dos Santos

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1808-7760

Mariana Olívia Santana dos Santos

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2129-2335

Idê Gomes Dantas Gurgel

equally and actively participated in the development of the research and preparation of the manuscript

from the conception

design

acquisition

data analysis and interpretation

drafting of the manuscript to the approval of the final version

Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), Instituo Aggeu Magalhães (IAM), Laboratório de Saúde, Ambiente e Trabalho (LSAT) – Recife (PE), Brasil. ide.gomes@fiocruz.br

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2958-683X

*
Orcid (Open Researcher and Contributor ID).

Responsible editor: Jamilli Silva Santos

Conflict of interests: non-existent

Work process stages	Narrative description of the communities
Preparing the land for planting	“Right at the beginning we put the poison in the bush. The poison can dry that bush. Instead of paying 60 reais to clean a block [with a hoe], you buy a drum of roundup poison, mix it with 2.4 D. In short, several poisons. They put it in and kill the bush [...] Then they set the fire, so it stays clean. They pass over with the tractor so they can start scratching straight away. Others put the grid. They harrow it and then come with the plow to scratch. Here are several thoughts, each one doing it their way [...]” (Aliança, PE). “I keep holding back so I don’t put the poison in [...] There’s a man here who can’t stand cleaning and clearing the bushes. There comes a time when we get tired, we can’t stand it [...] It has to be with the poison. We depend on it here” (Água Preta, PE).
Sugar cane planting and cultivation	“Dig the furrow, sow the sugarcane, add chemical fertilizer, and then cover it. Apply the poison to the sugarcane [...] It both destroys the seeds of any other quality of plant and the roots that are born. Only sugarcane is immune to that poison [...] It is a pest. It’s called ‘buffalograss’. Its seeds fly far. It’s called ‘plant pest’ [...] Cultivation is precisely by applying roundup to the bush so that it doesn’t reach the size of the sugarcane, and applying a poison to ripen the sugarcane” (Itambé, PE). “The planes fly by during the period when they are about to be cut, right” (Goiana, PE).
Cutting, harvesting and transporting the crop	“We do it like this: when it’s mature and needs to harvest, we make the firebreak [...] The firebreak is like a path, right... a division so the fire doesn’t catch everything at once [...] then at night, I set it on fire because it will make cutting easier – when raw, it is harder [...] after cutting comes the machinery process. Nothing is manual anymore. It’s all machinery. Then a tractor comes and puts it on the truck” (Sirinhaém, PE).
Storage and disposal of pesticide packaging	“We find the containers [of pesticides]. They often don’t collect them and leave them on the roads” (Itambé, PE). “Some people throw the containers in any corner and children pick them up. One child here caught it and was assisted [...] Some people reuse the cylinders and get water to drink” (Aliança, PE). “Some store them in a reserved place, but some others keep them at home with children and everything, right” (Água Preta, PE).

Production patterns and exposure to pesticides

Narrative description of the communities

Working on sugarcane farming as the only or main form of survival

“It’s the only right crop that the guy plants and that has a shirt at the end of the year. Because I planted half a world of cassava trees here and in the end it was water for water” (Aliança, PE).

“What moves this here is called sugar cane [...] it’s either cutting sugarcane or move to get another job [...] a plant like this employs thousands of people who only know doing that there. If you are going to work in another job, there is no way to stand out because you do not have a qualified study. People’s survival here is impossible without it [sugar cane]” (Sirinhaém, PE).

High-risk jobs for worker’s health

“Workers mix [the poisons], right, in a barrel, in a drum” (Goiana, PE).

“The more this hard-working man works, the poorer he becomes. He works day and night, and even overtime. He puts everyone’s poison here [...] He is a poison professional” (Aliança, PE).

“I don’t apply mine [poison] myself; only those who can’t afford it apply it, because those who have it prefer to pay” (Água Preta, PE).

“When the plane came, we gave it the poison. It went up and, again, spread poison. We were in the sun below. We really felt that poison was coming at us” (Sirinhaém, PE).

Unsafe and unhealthy use of pesticides

“I put poison. It doesn’t matter whether I wear gloves or not [...] I don’t put anything on my face because if I put on the mask, I can’t stand it [...] Whoever works with the body pump (20 liters), it’s too heavy. We go up and down the mountains [...] that plastic clothing is very thick. No one can handle that inside the sugar cane. You could die sweating in it” (Sirinhaém, PE).

“A bomb of poison then wet my back. I realized it was when I went to fill up again. So today I still feel sick. I didn’t get any better” (Água Preta, PE).

“It [2.4 D - dichlorophenoxyacetic acid] kills more because it has no smell, so you trust it. The worker thinks: ‘This doesn’t smell or stink, so there’s no need for PPE” (Itambé, PE).

Exposure routes

Narrative description of the communities

Inhalation

“When I uncovered the lid, the odor rose. This material is very bad for humans [...] You wake up in the morning and there is the [poison] bomb, with the wind and against the wind and you receive it little by little and have direct contact” (Itambé, PE).

“He used to apply herbicide and the smell is very uncomfortable. It chokes [...] You can go to the corner today where they applied the herbicide, and you can still feel the vapor, the smell of it” (Goiana, PE).

“I use the mask when applying it, but when preparing the poison, I don’t put it on. Then when I’m preparing it, I smell it and remember” (Água Preta, PE).

Ingestion

“It comes home too, it’s not just those who are planting” (Aliança, PE).

“About 3 or 4 times at work. I’ve felt a different taste that I think was poison [...] I’ve heard of some cases of people taking poison” [suicide attempt] (Sirinhaém, PE).

“We ingest and become intoxicated too” (Aliança, PE).

“The guy is applying poison, the roundup. Then, the nozzle clogs. Do you know what he does? [sucking sounds]. He unclogs the pump nozzle with his mouth” (Itambé, PE).

Dermal absorption

“Many people applied the poison with bare feet” (Itambé, PE).

“I’ve even seen people put poison in the bomb and do it with their own hands. I know that many people itch after using the poison” (Sirinhaém, PE).

“There is water contamination. I scratch myself after taking a shower. My boy feels it [...] My husband says it looks like I have psychosis. I feel so itchy” (Aliança, PE).

Harm to worker’s health

Narrative description of the communities

Acute poisoning

“A friend’s husband went to work with poison and fell ill within a week. He started applying the poison and ended up in the hospital [...] it was these surgeries that he suddenly had to undergo. The doctor said it was because of the poison that he worked with for a long time” (Itambé, PE).

“One guy here who went to apply poison and passed out inside the sugarcane [...] I placed 10 poison bombs myself. I got home when it was midnight. I started blowing like windmill. He helped me. If it weren’t for him, I would have died” (Aliança, PE).

“Not a headache at the time, but nausea when you breathe [...] However, I already felt dizzy, and my mouth was bitter. I had a headache” (Água Preta, PE).

“People who smell this poison have a lot of intestinal infections there at the plant [...] shortness of breath, diarrhea, stomach pain [...] I have heard of people saying that they have passed out after applying that poison” (Goiana, PE).

“I know that many people itch after using the poison [...] Once, when I was handling it [the poison], it got hot, and I threw myself into the river” (Sirinhaém, PE).

Chronic poisoning

“Several peers of mine are affected by the poison [...] one went for an ultrasound and found out that his liver was compromised by more than 50% due to the poison, due to the herbicide” (Goiana, PE).

“There’s one as yellow as a sheet of silk. His belly has grown, he’s all sucked up. He now has diabetes” (Aliança, PE).

“A colleague of mine lives on the plantation and had bone cancer due to the pesticide [...] He’s sitting like that and, when he goes to get up, his bones make a few cracks, just for you to see, and that was due to the poison” (Sirinhaém, PE).

Fatal outcomes

“He constantly worked with poison. He was harmed, became ill and very thin, just flesh and bone [...] He continued putting poison. It didn’t last a month. When he collapsed, he went there and died” (Sirinhaém, PE).

“A peer of mine died because of the smell. He was working and the smell choked him. When they helped him, he was helpless. He was putting herbicide” (Goiana, PE).

“At noon, the plane came by spraying the sugarcane and we were below [...] when the plane passed over, it blew all that breath all over him. When he got home, he fell and was left struggling [...] He arrived dead at the hospital” (Itambé, PE).

[1] *
Orcid (Open Researcher and Contributor ID).

Brasil

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Use of pesticides in Pernambuco sugarcane fields and damage to workers’ health

ABSTRACT