The impact of pesticides' use on human health is a problem that has deserved attention of the scientific community around world, especially in the developing countries. Its evaluation demands the knowledge and the visualization of the relative importance/magnitude of all the contamination routes. Innumerable factors, such as methodological difficulties related with the evaluation of occupational exposition to pesticides, the high taxes of cases subnotification, the non-consideration of the influence of social and economic determinants in risks assessment approaches and the influence of chemical industry pressure in the pesticides' consumption profile in Brazilian agricultural areas. The present work discusses the importance of these factors as determinants of rural workers health status, by analyzing the results of field researches performed in agricultural regions of Rio de Janeiro State.
Human contamination by pesticides; Risk assessment; Worker's health