O uso de agrotóxicos e a sua relação com a prevalência de abortamentos e malformações congênitas entre mulheres agricultoras do município de São Marcos/RS

Abstract

Brazil consumes approximately 20% of the total amount of pesticides commercialized worldwide and this consumption has increased significantly in recent years. The aim of this study is to analyze the prevalence of abortions and congenital malformations in women farmers in the municipality of São Marcos, Rio Grande do Sul, and compare it with the prevalence in Brazilian women in general. This is a documental research, using data from the database of the Project "The use of pesticides in family farming and its implications for farmers' health and environmental health" and the technical sheets of the pesticides most used by these women farmers. These are partial data regarding 76 women farmers who produce garlic and grapes in the municipality of São Marcos-RS. The project was submitted and approved by the Research Ethics Committee under No. 3.481.277. The age concentration of the women in the study remained between 50 and 59 years, corresponding to more than 67% of the interviewed public. As for the time of work in agriculture, more than 40 years in the profession prevail. The education of the women farmers corresponds to 75.1% incomplete elementary school, 5.2% complete elementary school, 7.9% incomplete high school, 9.2% complete high school, and only 1.3% have higher education. We conclude that there is a lack of access and incentive to education in rural areas. Regarding the occurrence of abortions, 22% of the women farmers reported having already gone through this situation, while related to malformation, only one of the women said she had children who were carriers. This reveals to us that, although the data may represent a correlation between pesticides and adverse gestational events, we realize that the "n" of the study needs to be expanded in order to have more conclusive data. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]