Recent advances in analytical techniques allow identifying pesticide pollution in water systems. In small rural communities, the negative effects of pesticide pollution can be aggravated by the lack of infrastructure and adverse socioeconomic conditions. This study investigated pesticide pollution in potential water supply sources in a tomato growing area in Paty do Alferes, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The study selected 27 points where five monthly samples were collected. Pesticide pollution was determined by analyzing acetyl-cholinesterase inhibition. In 19 of the 27 sample points, some pesticide pollution was detected, and in two points the pesticide pollution was above the permitted limits. The results thus proved the incidence of pesticide pollution in water sources in Paty do Alferes that could jeopardize the local population's health.
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) is considered the last preferred solution to an Occupational Safety Health (OSH) system. Brazilian OSH legislation assumes and requires PPE usage to neutralize the possibility of pesticide contamination. This study examines the inadequacy of the PPE used in a tomato crop, particularly from the standpoint of thermal comfort. This study made observations regarding heart rate and body temperature in a controlled environment using a treadmill (with and without PPE) of 12 volunteers; and during the process of rural labor (at rest and in normal work routine) of 2 actual rural workers. Comparing the results of the treadmill test (with and without PPE) which tried to reproduce the same level of effort and environmental conditions of the actual rural work, this study demonstrated that PPE makes thermoregulation harder and tympanic temperature reaches higher values with the same level of effort. Moreover, body temperature increases quickly: with PPE it took 15 minutes to raise 1ºC in body temperature, compared to 40 minutes without PPE. The results of this study indicated that the use inadequate PPE might pose thermoregulation risk to rural workers.
From a regulation based only on command and control instruments, applied up to the 1970s, Brazilian environmental policy switched to a more preventive approach in the 1980s, and finally became, at least in conception, an integrated environmental policy in the 1990s. The target of this new policy is the use of environmental management policies and economic-based instruments. Law 9433 (enacted in 1997), which focused on water management, incorporated this issue by defining the hydrographic basin as a unit for environmental planning, considering the multiple uses of water resources. However, almost 10 years after this law took effect, Brazil's policy has in many ways regressed to the command and control instruments that prevailed in the 1970s. An example of this is the revision of the code that defines water quality standards and effluent limits. This revision established fixed limits for effluent discharges, thus making no distinction between these discharges according to the related activity or technology. It did not consider the carrying capacity of the water bodies that will receive the discharges, and is not linked to the other instruments set forth in Law 9433 (e.g., economic-based instruments). This might reduce the efficacy of the instruments and generate diseconomies for public and private agents. To contribute to a new revision of Brazilian water codes, this paper presents a crosssectional analysis comparing the Brazilian water regulation to those applied in France (whose water regulation inspired the Brazilian model) and the United States. Effluent discharge regulation is emphasized in this comparison, along with water quality standards. Finally, the comparison also analyzes how the regulation of effluent discharges is incorporated in the water management policy of these countries.
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