<b>Pesticide use by agricultural workers in outpatients attendance in Maringá in the periods of 2002 and 2003</b> - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v26i2.1583

Abstract

The environmental and occupational origin impacts concerning the use of pesticides have the public health as immediate target. The environment residues or remainders in the crops are being gradually transferred to water, food and human being. The purpose of this paper was to characterize the use of pesticides by agricultural workers in the outpatient’s attendance of the Toxicology and Worker Health Clinic of the Poisoning Control Center of Maringá (Brazil), in order to evaluate their impacts on the environment and on the population’s health. During the period 2002-2003, a retrospective descriptive study was carried out in twenty-five patients attended for pesticide poisoning. The results showed that the pesticides represent an important risk to the health of the studied population as well as to the environment.