In May 2013 an airplane sprayed pesticides over a rural school, São José do Pontal, located among the vast corn and soy plantations extending around Rio Verde, a city in Goiás state in Brazil. Around 90 people—mostly children studying at the school—were immediately hospitalized. The incident shocked the nation, and, in the immediate aftermath, Brazil was concerned about the issue of pesticide poisonings in rural areas.

Although this attention has long since dissipated, little has changed: rural people throughout the country continue to be poisoned by pesticides. Ordinary people going about their daily routines face toxic exposures from pesticide applications that frequently occur in immediate proximity to their homes, schools, and workplaces. They are exposed when pesticide spray drifts off target crops during application, or when pesticides vaporize and drift to adjacent areas in the days after spraying.

From July 2017 to April 2018, Human Rights Watch interviewed 73 people affected by pesticide drift in seven sites across rural Brazil, including farming communities, indigenous communities, quilombos (Afro-Brazilian communities), and rural schools.[1] The sites are located throughout the five major geographic regions of Brazil.

In all seven sites, people described symptoms consistent with acute pesticide poisoning after seeing pesticide spraying nearby, or smelling pesticides recently applied to nearby fields. These symptoms commonly include sweating, elevated heart rate, and vomiting, as well as nausea, headache, and dizziness.

There is no reliable government data on how many people in Brazil suffer pesticide poisoning. The Ministry of Health acknowledges that under-reporting of pesticide poisoning is a concern and it seems clear that official data grossly understates the severity of this problem.

While this report documents cases of acute poisonings, chronic exposure to pesticides—repeated exposure to low doses over an extended period—is also a serious public health concern. Chronic pesticide exposure is associated with infertility, negative impacts on fetal development, cancer, and other serious health effects, and pregnant women, children, and other vulnerable people may face elevated risks.

Report by the Human Rights Watch