2023-2025 Research project

Territories and bodies at risk

Pesticides in the food system and their effects on health in the municipality of Miguel Calmon, Piedmont region of Diamantina, Bahia, Brazil.

This research is based on concerns about the damage to health and the environment caused by agricultural policies in Brazil that encourage the use of pesticides in food production. Brazil is one of the countries in the world that consumes the most pesticides in the European Union (EU) and uses the most banned toxic compounds. As a world leader in the export of products such as soybeans, corn and sugar cane, the cultivation model based on the intensive use of pesticides generates great harm, such as environmental pollution and intoxication of workers and the population in general.

The main objective is to analyze from an interdisciplinary perspective how these policies are applied at a local level, how the use of these products is extended or avoided in family farming and how exposed people perceive and manage the risks, dangers and uncertainties that harm their lives, bodies and territories.

The main interest of this research focuses on family farming that uses a crop model that is intensive in the consumption of pesticides and that, despite the existence of policies at the state and federal level and agroecological alternatives, family farmers continue to carry out this practice. . Thus, the question that guides the study seeks to identify: What are the sociohistorical, political and economic factors that influence the maintenance of this practice, despite the recognized damage to health and the environment?

The main objective is to analyze from an interdisciplinary perspective how these policies are applied at a local level, how the use of these products is extended or avoided in family farming and how exposed people perceive and manage the risks, dangers and uncertainties that harm their lives. . bodies and territories. For this study, the municipality of Miguel Calmon was chosen, in the Piemonte region of Diamantina, in the state of Bahia, Brazil.

Collaborations:

Universidade Federal da Bahia. Programa ACCS (Açao Curricular em Comunidade e Sociedade).

ACCS – Saúde, saneamento e ambiente: tecendo redes e dialogando e construindo saberes no município de Miguel Calmon. Coordinadora: Patricia Borja (Escola Politêcnica) (2023).

ACCS- Impactos dos Agrotóxicos na nossa Saúde. Coordinadora: Maria Caputo (IHAC). (2023).