Socio-sanitary-environmental process of pesticides in the basin of the rivers Juruena, Tapajós and Amazonas in Mato Grosso, Brazil

Abstract

This study aimed to understand the process of pesticide-related environmental pollution in the cities of Campo Novo do Parecis, Sapezal, and Campos de Júlio, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. We used an integrated, multidimensional, and contextualized interpretative model, which understands the phenomenon of contamination as a historical, social-sanitary-environmental process, to overcome an approach restricted to the results of laboratory tests. In the real process of rural chemical pollution, we identified that latifundiums, where millions of metric tons of agricultural products are produced per year, are the main areas with pesticide use, causing environmental pollution and diseases in people. In the current rural chemical pollution, we highlight the high use of pesticides per inhabitant (350 to 600 liters per inhabitant) and of the herbicide glyphosate on plantations of transgenic soybean (45% of total volume) and the recent authorizations for the use of the insecticide emamectin benzoate and 2,4-D-resistant transgenic soybean and corn. The application of this broadened interpretative model allowed us to expand our scientific perspective, incorporating essential aspects to understand the negative impact of pesticides on health and the environment and to build collective actions of disease prevention and health promotion in the context of Brazilian agribusiness.