(São Paulo, July 20, 2018, Human Rights Watch) – Rural residents are being poisoned in Brazil from pesticides sprayed near their homes, schools, and workplaces, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Many rural communities fear reprisals from wealthy and politically powerful farmers if they denounce such poisonings or advocate more protective laws and regulations.
The 50-page report, “‘You Don’t Want to Breathe Poison Anymore’: The Failing Response to Pesticide Drift in Brazil’s Rural Communities,” documents cases of acute poisoning from pesticide drift in seven sites, located across Brazil, including farming communities, indigenous communities, quilombo (Afro-Brazilian) communities, and rural schools.
Exposure occurs when pesticide spray drifts off target during application, or when pesticides vaporize and drift to adjacent areas in the days after spraying.
“Pesticides sprayed on large plantations poison children in their classrooms and villagers in their backyards all across rural Brazil,” said Richard Pearshouse, associate environment and human rights director at Human Rights Watch and author of the report.
“The Brazilian authorities need to stop this toxic exposure and ensure the safety of those who speak out against the harm the pesticides are causing to their families and communities.”
Fear of reprisals
Human Rights Watch found that people in many exposed communities fear reprisals from large landowners.
Members of five of the seven rural communities Human Rights Watch visited said they had received threats or were afraid of retaliation if they reported pesticide drift that they believed poisoned them. In 2010, a farmer who was an anti-pesticide activist was shot and killed after pushing the local government to ban aerial spraying that year.
Large plantation owners often ignore a national “buffer zone” regulation that prohibits aerial spraying of pesticides near housing. There is no corresponding national “buffer zone” for ground spraying.
Official data on pesticide poisonings grossly understates the severity of this problem. The government’s monitoring system for pesticide residues in drinking water and food is also weak.
Getting sick
In acute pesticide poisonings, people suffer from symptoms such as vomiting, nausea, headache, and dizziness during or immediately after nearby pesticide applications.
At the same time, chronic exposure to pesticides, including to low doses, is associated with infertility, negative impacts on fetal development, cancer, and other serious health effects. Pregnant women, children, and other vulnerable people may face elevated risks.
“I had a strong headache, stomachache, and the feeling I would vomit,” said a 10-year-old girl who attends a school in Cascavel municipality in Paraná state.
“[The teacher] said, ‘Let’s leave the classroom because the smell is too bad.’ We went home early. I got home with nausea, feeling sick, a strong headache. I vomited at home twice.”
Bernardo, som er i 30’erne, fortæller, at han føler sig magtesløs over for de fly, der sprøjter pesticider. ”Vi har indgivet mange klager på politistationen og hos militærpolitiet. Ingen gør noget. Der er ingen retfærdighed.”
Foto: Marizilda Cruppé for Human Ri
Congress considering even weaker pesticides bill
Brazil should not allow pesticide spraying from airplanes over people’s houses or from tractors beside classroom windows, Human Rights Watch said. As a matter of urgency, Brazil should impose a moratorium on aerial spraying and create a buffer zone for ground spraying near sensitive sites.
Over the next few months, Brazil’s congress is to consider a bill to further weaken the regulatory framework for pesticides. A special parliamentary commission approved the bill in June 2018, and the full lower house needs to vote on it before it goes to the senate.
Among its many proposals, the bill would substantially reduce the role of the Health and Environment Ministries, the agencies with expertise in the impacts of pesticide use. The bill also proposes replacing the legal term agrotóxicos (pesticides) with produtos fitosanitários (phytosanitary products), masking the health and environmental hazards of pesticides.
Brazil is one of the world’s largest consumers of pesticides: annual sales are about US$10 billion. The massive amount used is driven by Brazil’s expanding large-scale, monocrop agriculture.
About 80 percent are used on plantations for soybeans, corn, cotton, and sugarcane. Many of the pesticides used in Brazil are highly hazardous to human health. Of the 10 most widely used pesticides in Brazil in 2016, four are not authorized for use in Europe, indicating how hazardous other governments consider some of them.
“Rather than weakening laws, Brazil needs tighter controls and a national action plan to reduce the use of pesticides,” Pearshouse said. “Congress should vote against the current bill and instead ask the relevant ministries to carry out a country-wide review of pesticides’ major impacts on human health and the environment.”
