Desenvolvimento de metodologia analítica para avaliação da exposição de viticultores a pesticidas a partir de amostras de cabelo

Abstract

The use of pesticides in agriculture dates back to 1950, aiming to repel or kill pests and treat diseases in order to increase production and meet the demand for food. However, the excessive use of these compounds can cause damage to the environment and public health, especially to farmers who are directly exposed throughout their lives. Thus, methodologies capable of coherently assessing this exposure are sought to safely quantify the levels of pesticides to which the population is subjected. Therefore, the use of hair as a biological matrix has proven to be efficient for this purpose, as the compounds remain stable over the long term and hair collection is non-invasive. Consequently, the objective of the present study was to develop a multiresidue method for pesticide analysis in hair, for subsequent evaluation of the population of winegrowers from Farroupilha, in the Serra Gaúcha region. Following approval from the research ethics committee, a methodology was developed using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, where 52 pesticides from different chemical classes were evaluated and validated. Additionally, 121 hair samples were collected from voluntary winegrowers who responded to a questionnaire about their lifestyle, property crops, responsibilities in farming, habits during pesticide application, and diseases they have been or are afflicted with. The results showed that lipophilic compounds such as strobilurins, carbamates, and triazoles can be easily found in this type of matrix. Among the ten most detected agrochemicals, four do not have formulated products registered for use in grapevines, which may indicate crosscontamination, indirect contamination, or improper application. It is noteworthy that 100% of the samples showed residues of at least one evaluated compound, with growers responsible for pesticide application being the most contaminated, and sums of more than 20,000 pg mg-1 can be detected in a single sample. Thus, it can be concluded that this work safely evaluates the exposure of grape growers and can serve as a warning against the indiscriminate use of agrochemicals by farmers and for improvements in monitoring by public agencies. [resumo fornecido pelo autor]