Author:

• Eloisa Dutra Caldas - Rebelo, F.M., Heliodoro, V.O., Rebelo, R.M., Caldas, E.D. - Brasilia, Distrito Federal - Universidade de Brasilia - <eloisa@unb.br>

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Abstract:

Exposure to toxic substances, including pesticides, can cause irreversible damage to humans, including death; therefore, it is considered a serious public health problem around the world. This is a retrospective study that used data gathered by the Information and Toxicological Assistance Center of the Federal District, Brazil (CIAT-DF) from 2004 to 2007. During this period, 709 intoxications with pesticide occurred in the DF and were analyzed in this study. Fifty one percent of the intoxicated individuals were men; the events occurred mostly in the residence (91%), in urban area (86,3%) and through ingestion (84%). Children from 1 to 4 years and adults from 20 to 39 years were involved in 30% and 36% of the cases, respectively. The accidental poisonings corresponded to 47.1% of the cases, followed by suicide attempting (44.2%). The illegal rodenticide chumbinho, known to contain mainly the carbamate insecticide aldicarb, was involved in 35.1% of the cases, mostly in suicide attempts. In eighteen cases, the intoxicated individuals died after exposure to the pesticides, being 15 suicides and 3 accidental poisonings. When compared with other data sources, this study identified a high level of underreporting in the CIAT-DF pesticide intoxication data reported during the study period.
Key words Pesticides, rodenticides, acute pesticide poisoning, suicide

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