Currently Brazil is the largest consumer market for pesticides in the world. However, there are still few studies on the risk factors associated to pesticide use in the Northeast of Brazil. The municipality of Conceição do Jacuípe, located in the State of Bahia, Brazil, features a large production of vegetables, which uses pesticides on a large-scale. This study purpose was to identify sociodemographic, health, and pesticide use characteristics among workers involved in planting vegetables. We conducted a sectional study using semi-structured questionnaires answered by 29 rural workers, between December 2007 and August 2008. Most of them (75.8%) had not completed elementary school or were illiterate. Thirteen (44.8%) of them reported health problems while using pesticides, but none of them sought medical attention. Only five (17.2%) of the farmers reported using personal protective equipment and eight (28%) reported not using any protection while applying pesticides. Among the thirteen mentioned pesticides, seven were prohibited for vegetables . The results indicate the indiscriminate use of pesticides in a context of social and institutional vulnerabilities. This affects both environmental and worker's health, and points at the need for interventions in order to promote and protect rural workers' health, as well as to prevent situations of environmental risk.
pesticides; vegetables; social vulnerability; occupacional health; Brazilian Northeast
