[Pesticide impact on health: a study of tomato cultivation]. / Impacto dos praguicidas na saúde: estudo da cultura de tomate.

OBJECTIVE: In addition to water contamination, the presence of pesticide residues in food poses a risk to the population, being a serious public health problem in Brazil. With the purpose of getting a better understanding of this scenario, the use of pesticides in tomato crops in the State of Pernambuco, Brazil, was studied. METHODS: Questionnaires were applied to obtain social and environmental information as well as morbidity rates and additional data on rural workers involved in tomato plantations in two regions of Pernambuco, Brazil. RESULTS/CONCLUSIONS: The results obtained in the two studied regions show that there is a lack effective policies to both protect the health of rural workers who have to deal with pesticides and the environment which has already been severely damaged.

Effects of heavy industrial pollution on respiratory function in the children of Cubatao, Brazil: a preliminary report.

Under a cooperative agreement between New York University and the Environmental Protection Agency, and in collaboration with the University of Sao Paulo (USP), a study is ongoing in Cubatao, Brazil, to try to establish exposure-response relationships on the impact of specific industrial effluents on respiratory function in school-age children. Cubatao, located on the coast about 44 km from the city of Sao Paulo, is surrounded by U-shaped mountains (approximately 800 m) covered with subtropical forests. Its area is approximately 160 km2, and it has a population of approximately 90,000. The geography is such that it causes a consistent diurnal land-sea breeze pattern and the opposite during the night, with low dispersion of the air pollutants. In a small area (approximately 40 km2) against the mountains there is a concentration of over 20 large plants: oil refinery; iron and steel mill; fertilizer, cement, and gypsum production; coke kilns; and chemical, paint, and many other ancillary plants. During the 1988 school year, March through June, August through November, 600 six-year-old children, attending six different kindergarten schools, underwent monthly spirometry tests. Because the children live within a 500 m radius of their school, pollution monitors were located on each of the six schools. Particles were collected using dichotomous stacked filter units placed on 20 m towers to reduce the influence of dust from unpaved roads. The units use different pore size filters for coarse, 2 to 10 microns, and fine particles, (dp) less than 2 microns, and took separate samples for day and nighttime.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acidentes graves do trabalho na capital do Estado de Sao Paulo (Brasil). / Severe occupational accidents in the Capital of the State of Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Em 1970, o Grupamento de Acidentes do Trabalho (GAT) do INPS desenvolveu programa preventivo contra os acidentes de trabalho. Detalhes operacionais deste programa sao descritos, e o resultado da investigacao de 3.930 acidentes graves e analisado. Estes acidentes foram estudados quanto as seguintes variaveis: estado civil, faixa etaria, sexo, profissao, tipo, consequencias, fatores, dia da semana, hora do dia, horas decorridas do inicio do servico, causas e numero de lesoes

Ocorrencia de silicose entre trabalhadores da industria ceramica da cidade de Jundiai, SP (Brasil). / Silicosis occurrence among workers of the ceramic industry of Jundiai, SP (Brasil)

Tomando-se como ponto de partida a descoberta de um caso de silicose entre trabalhadores da industria ceramica, que tradicionalmente era considerada como pouco importante na genese dessa pneumoconiose, foi possivel, atraves de exame radiologico, evidenciar que uma proporcao muito elevada dos trabalhadores desse tipo de industria e portadora de alteracoes radiologicas caracteristicas da silicose. Descrevem-se os achados radiologicos, que na sua maioria foram de opacidades regulares de pequeno tamanho. Com base nesse trabalho foi possivel fazer-se a descoberta de outros focos de silicose em outras areas do Estado de Sao Paulo

Deteccao precoce de efeitos adversos sobre a saude decorrentes da exposicao a agentes quimicos de doencas profissionais. / Early detection of the adverse effects on health by exposition to chemical agents of occupational diseases

O interesse da Organizacao Mundial da Saude pela deteccao precoce de efeitos adversos sobre a saude, decorrentes da exposicao a agentes quimicos de doenca profissionais, tem levado essa agencia internacional a reunir varios Grupos de Estudos para discutir o assunto. No presente trabalho, e feita mencao aos principais problemas levantados por tais Grupos de Estudos, mostrando-se a necessidade da OMS patrocinar pesquisas epidemiologicas bem conduzidas sobre o assunto, com metodologia uniforme e experimentacao em animais que obedecam a rigoroso padrao tecnico

Policloretos de bifenila: um problema de saude publica. / Bifenila polichlorides: a public health problem

E feito o estudo dos policloretos de bifenila no que concerne a seus aspectos quimicos, sua utilizacao industrial, sua toxicologia e a contaminacao do meio ambiente por eles provocada. Menciona-se o achado, tambem no Brasil, do acumulo desses produtos no tecido subcutaneo de algumas pessoas pertencentes a populacao da Capital do Estado de Sao Paulo e aponta-se a importancia da pesquisa que, com auxilio financiero da FAPESP, esta sendo levada a cabo pela Faculdade de Saude Publica da Universidade de Sao Paulo, com auxilio tecnico da FUNDACENTRO e do Instituto Medico Legal do Estado de Sao Paulo