Avaliação da contaminação por agrotóxicos no leite materno, na Região das Missões, Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

Scientific literature as well as researchers and organizations in civil society have been warning about the problems caused by the use of pesticides in Brazil and in the world. However, these compounds are increasingly used to control the integrity of plantations. The purpose of this work is to evaluate the presence of pesticides in the breast milk of mothers living in municipalities in the Missões Region, RS, to contribute with evidences from effects of these compounds on the child's health. The assessment of the contamination by pesticides in breast milk is a pioneering work in the region, as there is no monitoring data available until the present moment in the studied municipalities. For the determination of 68 pesticides in 98 breast milk samples, the gaseous chromatography technique was used coupled to mass spectrometry in series (GC-NCIMS) associated with the QuEChERS method. It was also done the determination of the frequency of micronuclei (MN) in cells of the oral mucosa of 85 breastfeeding mothers in the studied area. The MN test is a marker of acute poisoning exposure, detecting a recent exposure. The results of the breast milk analysis show that the pesticides remained below the Method Detection Limit (LOD) in all samples. Similarly, the results of oral mucosa (MN) indicate low frequency of MN among mothers living in urban and rural areas. Besides this, it is really important the monitoring of breast milk and oral mucosa of these breastfeeding women is suggested, promoting health of the population exposed to pesticides and, specifically, the maternal and childish health.