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Widescale Poisoning In Brazil By Agro-toxics



For your info - P. Dines

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From: Rich Winkel, INTERNET:rich@pencil
Sender: o-imap@chumbly.math.missouri.edu
To: Patricia Dines, 73652,1202
Date: Sat, Dec 7, 1996, 4:24 PM
Subject: Report Shows Widescale Poisoning In Brazil By Agro-toxics

/** headlines: 128.0 **/
** Topic: Report Shows Widescale Poisoning In Brazil By Agro-toxics **
** Written  9:20 PM  Dec  4, 1996 by econet in cdp:headlines **
/* Written 12:50 PM  Dec  3, 1996 by ejdesk@igc.org in env.justice */

From: EcoNet Environmental Justice Desk <ejdesk@igc.apc.org>
Subject: Widescale poisoning by agro-toxics (fwd)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: 20 Nov 1996 15:37:11 -0500 (EST)
From: sejup@ax.apc.org
To: Recipients of conference <sejup.news@conf.ax.apc.org>
Subject: Widescale poisoning by agro-toxics

=================================================================
NEWS FROM BRAZIL supplied by SEJUP
(Servico Brasileiro de Justica e Paz).
                 Number 253, November 20, 1996.
=================================================================

ECOLOGY

     - 300 thousand poisoned by agro-toxics each year.

     At  least  300 thousand people suffer poisoning  from  agro-
toxics  each  year  in Brazil according to  calculations  of  the
Ministry of Health; this number also tends to increase  annually.
6 thousand such cases were reported in Brazil in 1993 - according
to  World Health Organization estimations there are 50  cases  of
poisoning for every case reported. Thus approximately 10% of  the
total number of annual poisoning in the world each year from such
products  happens  in  Brazil where sales have  shown  a  marked
increase  since  1992.  Sales  in that year  amounted  to  US  $1
billion;  estimated value of sales for this current year  are  in
the region of US $1.7 billion. Experts in the area attribute this
increase in large part to the reclassification of such products.

     In  December 1992 and January 1993, the Ministry  of  Health
revised  the toxicological values of agro-toxics used in  Brazil.
Products  previously classified as extremely toxic (sold  with  a
red  band)  and  highly  toxic (sold with  a  yellow  band)  were
reclassified as toxic (blue band) or slightly toxic (green band).
"This provoked the increase of cases of poisoning in rural areas"
commented  Sebastiao  Pinheiro  of  the  Brazilian  Institute  of
Renewable  Natural Resources (IBAMA). According to Pinheiro,  the
reclassification  of  the color bands gave a  false  security  to
purchasers  of  such products who "can now buy  highly  dangerous
products  which  display  a less dangerous  color  band  and  the
purchaser does not receive orientations about the dangers of such
products....  The   fact that reclassification took  place  after
pressure  from  the agro-toxic industry puts the  entire  process
under suspicion".

     Lawyer  Letecia Rodrigues da Silva of the  Interdisciplinary
Group of Health and Agriculture in Rio Grande do Sul agrees.  She
calculates that between 70% and 80% of all registered agro-toxics
were  reclassified  from  red  and  yellow  color  bands  (highly
poisonous)  to  blue and green color bands. Ministry  for  Health
spokes-people  on the other hand claim that the  reclassification
followed  norms  of  the World Health  Organization.  Likewise  a
spokesperson  for the industries manufacturing and selling  agro-
toxics claims that the use of such products has risen due to  the
fact  that larger areas are being planted and that the  incidence
of  diseases combated by such products have increased. However  a
study carried out this year in five states - Bahia, Minas Gerais,
Sao  Paulo, Parana and Rio de Janeiro shows that 7.2  people  per
100  thousand  inhabitants  have  suffered  poisoning  from  such
products as compared to 3.95 per 100 thousand in 1993.

     In  the neighboring municipalities of Petrolina (Bahia)  and
Jauzeiro  (Bahia) 981 blood tests were carried out on workers  in
the  Brazilian  Agro and Bovine Research Company.  21.7%  of  the
tests  showed  the probability of a high level  of  poisoning.  A
health  spokesperson for the Health Secretariat in the  State  of
Pernambuco  commenting on the incidents of poisonings from  agro-
toxics in the state remarked  "The problem is serious but we  are
not notified of the majority of cases. This makes more  difficult
the implementation of a policy for this question". He went on  to
comment  that there is a high suicide rate amongst rural  workers
in the state. Last year 68 of a total of 304 suicides (22.36%) in
Pernambuco  were committed by rural workers. Last month,  one  of
the  hospitals  in Pertolina attended 50 cases  of  poisoning  by
agro-toxics.  "It  is  a high number  which  tends  to  increase"
commented a spokesperson for the hospital.

(Based  on  a report in the 'Folha de Sao Paulo' on  November  13
last.

     - 1% of Atlantic Rainforest lost each year.

     The State of Parana and the south of the State of Bahia  are
the  regions  in  Brazil  which lost the  largest  areas  of  the
Atlantic  Rainforest between 1990 and 1995 according to  the  NGO
SOS  Mata Atlantica. On November 19, SOS celebrated 10  years  of
existence.  Today Brazil has a mere 8.8% of the  original  forest
cover which is concentrated near the coast. Originally the forest
covered 1.1 billion square kms; today it covers 98 million square
kms.

     70%  of  the  population of the country lives  in  the  same
coastal   strip   where  the  forest  is  found.   According   to
calculations,  1% of the Atlantic Rainforest is lost  each  year.
Calculations  in  the State of Parana indicate that  50  thousand
square meters of the forest are cleared every hour. In Sao  Paulo
because of the expansion of house construction in coastal  areas,
20 thousand square meters are cleared on average per hour.

=================================================================
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=================================================================

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