During the twentieth century, the agricultural economy benefited tremendously from new developments in chemical pesticides. This progress, however, has resulted in unintended consequences to human health and the environment. This article presents the results of a study carried out on land reform settlement located on the North Fluminense region. Data was obtained by surveying one hundred land reform settlers through a random sample questionnaire. Variables studied include household demography and education, types of pesticides, targeted crops, levels of training for pesticides handling, disposal of empty containers and use of safety equipments. Our results show that about half of the households were using pesticides to eradicate weeds and different types of agricultural pests on eleven crops. Data also showed a dominance of products with moderate toxicity for human health and high toxicity for the environment. The risk for increased contamination associated to pesticides utilization was greatly enhanced by a general lack of understanding regarding health and environmental risks. Most settlers declared having previously received no formal training for the handling and disposing of products being used in their lots. We also found that most settlers were littering their lots with empty containers and had unrestricted access to pesticides retailers. Finally, our results show the need for the education on the health and environmental risks involved in misguided utilization of pesticides, and for the mapping of aquatic systems environmental contamination associated to pesticides utilization.
Some of the main concerns when attempting to preserve artwork regard environmental factors, such as luminosity, temperature and, recently, even atmospheric pollution. From this perspective, volatile organic compounds (VOC) stand out due to the wide availability of contaminating sources in internal museum environments. Amongst artistic objects susceptible to VOC interference, paintings are more likely to undergo it because their stability is closely related to each component. Thus, it is crucial to comprehend the interaction between VOC and paintings, specifically those with inorganic and adhesive pigments, and evaluate changes in chromatic parameters and the formation of metallic carboxylates. Mock-ups of paintings were prepared with cadmium yellow, chromium oxide, ultramarine blue, linseed oil, and lead white or gypsum primer. Exposure was arranged within an airtight container containing a VOC-saturated atmosphere: formaldehyde, acetic acid, hexanal and 2-butanone oxime. Color alteration occurred for ultramarine blue (greenish coloration) and cadmium yellow (lost luminosity). Infrared analysis showed the formation of lead carboxylates (acetate, formate and hexanoate) in all pigments. Micrographs of ultramarine models, verified via scanning electron microscopy, showed that an otherwise flat and homogenous appearance replaced the granular aspect of the paint; the flat regions being indicative of carboxylate formation.
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