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

Abstract

This study aims to analyze exposure to pesticides and harm to the health of workers on sugarcane plantations in Pernambuco. This participatory research was conducted in rural territories of five municipalities with a strong presence in sugarcane-planted areas. The primary data were produced in workshops with rural workers to construct a participatory rural diagnosis, analyzed through condensation of meanings, and interpreted in light of the theoretical framework of Latin American critical epidemiology. The results are presented in three sections: i) Flowchart of work on sugarcane plantations; ii) Exposure to pesticides used on crops; iii) Harm to worker’s health. We conclude that permanent exposure to pesticides involves working on sugarcane plantations and emerges from a historical and socio-environmental construct in which the ways of life of the territories under the control of sugarcane agribusiness are subsumed. Public policies are recommended to promote family farming with diversification, flow, distribution of agroecological production, and strengthening primary health care and integrated epidemiological, health, environmental, and worker surveillance actions.