A group of 47 doctors from various regions of the country, who work in rural areas and settlements, participated for five days, at the headquarters of the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), in the north zone of Rio de Janeiro, in the Course on Health and Agrochemicals for the Strengthening the SUS in the countryside. The meeting was organized by Fiocruz’s Vice-Presidency for Environment, Care and Health Promotion (VPAAPS), in partnership with the National Network of Popular Doctors and Doctors (RNMP), the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) and the Campaign Permanent against pesticides and for life. For Fiocruz, the course, which ended this Sunday (28), represented a “milestone in the search for effective solutions in the face of the impacts of pesticides on human health”. The intention was to address the problem of pesticides, through debates on strategies for social control and popular health surveillance and, with this, strengthen the role of health professionals within the Unified Health System (SUS), with the fight against underreporting of pesticide poisoning and raising awareness about this issue. “It was a very consistent training to consolidate knowledge in the fields of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, health promotion and health surveillance in the territories, a topic that is much discussed, with the possibility of them becoming multipliers, that, as a first referring these professionals to the local health teams”, analyzed the vice president of Environment, Health Care and Health Promotion, Hermano Castro, in an interview with Agência Brasil. The vice president highlighted that combating the effects of pesticides is not easy, since the number of types of these products is very large and can cause various symptoms, including impacts on mental health. “For each type of crop, there is a type of pesticide, so the symptoms are different,” he said. 47 professionals from various regions of the country participated in the course – Giulia Miragaya / VPAAPS- Fiocruz Hermano Castro said that Fiocruz intends to continue the course through a platform that could serve professionals in different regions of the country. According to him, the model will be discussed with partner entities, and the idea is to carry out continuing education with the group that participated in this course. “Exactly for us to see the constitution of a training platform, initially with those who have already started and then we can expand it to other doctors and also to other health professionals who work in these rural territories”, he explained. Samuel Átila was one of the doctors who took the course. He works in Fortaleza and is a member of the National Network of Popular Doctors and Doctors (RNMP). “We saw this course as an opportunity to learn more and alert doctors about the dangers of pesticides,” he told Agência Brasil. The doctor pointed out that, at the same time that the course was taking place, the Federal Supreme Court (STF) decided by a majority to maintain the law that prohibited the spraying of pesticides in the state of Ceará. “It coincided with the course in which we were just learning about the risks of cancer, depression, suicide. Pesticides kill and are one of the greatest dangers we face in Brazil”, he pointed out. According to the doctor, the course also showed that it is possible to have an agroecological production, which preserves the environment. “Our role is both to denounce the use of pesticides and to propose that agroecological agriculture in a sustainable way, without the use of pesticides, is possible and is the future of life and not death. A possible future,” he said. Samuel also considered relevant the information transmitted about the identification of pesticides, the possibility of submitting complaints of acute poisoning by this type of product, the monitoring and surveillance of water and how pesticides are analyzed and released for use by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa). “We learned how to take this course to our territories, replicate this emergency use of pesticides in the country both for people in the countryside and for people in the city”, he added. The doctor said he was surprised to learn that Brazilian legislation, which deals with these products, is even considered advanced, but even so, dangerous products are used causing illnesses in users. Samuel advocated a periodic review of the list of authorized products, which may currently have an outdated assessment. The union of several entities in partnership with Fiocruz to carry out the course, in the professional’s view, strengthened the fight against the indiscriminate use of pesticides. “This is a moment of unity. It joins the strength that comes from the field with the MST, with the more institutional and academic strength that gives the scientific basis for us to run the course that belongs to Fiocruz, this strength of the doctors who are in the territories and assisting the intoxicated populations, and the Permanent Campaign against the Use of Pesticides, which is the combination of these forces. We need to gather more entities that are sensitive to the cause”, he pointed out. Water quality Doctor Antônio Marcos de Almeida has lived for 12 years in the 16 de Março settlement, in Pontão, in the north of Rio Grande do Sul. According to him, one of the recommendations made in the course, to check the quality of the water used in food production, will be very useful in the region where he lives. “We have the issue of pesticides in the water that in Passo Fundo, close to where we live and [onde] 16 types of pesticides were detected in water for human consumption, eight of which are known to be carcinogenic. And, in the settlement, we don’t have this survey of water for human consumption. These are challenges that we will have in this period to see and test whether there is residue in the water consumed by the population”, he told the report. Antônio Marcos revealed that, although there is still no causal correlation, the fact is that in recent years cases of bowel, breast and skin cancer have increased, in addition to the incidence of people with the autistic spectrum. “It is difficult to establish a causal link, but one that may have an influence. We want to see how we manage to scientificize this, which is the high incidence of autism spectrum disorder that we are having in the community”, he commented. Another concern, according to the doctor, are the cases of neurodegenerative diseases, also without being able to establish any causal link. “Like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, like some neuropathies of unexplained origin without an underlying disease. These are challenges that we end up taking to the territory with much more work to be done and placed in each Brazilian diversity. The situation in the North is not the same as in the South, the Northeast is not the same as in the Midwest. It’s about being able to take this to the local reality and interact with local actors and forces”, he concluded.
Agência Brasil
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