Perfil do aleitamento materno e contaminação por glifosato em lactantes do município de Francisco Beltrão – PR

Abstract

The intensive use of agrochemicals has been driven to meet the growing demand for agricultural production. This has put at risk the health of producers, workers, the environment and consumers. Currently Brazil is one of the largest consumers of pesticides in the world. The municipality of Francisco Beltrão, as well as the whole Southwest region of Paraná, is characterized by being agricultural with high exposure of the population to pesticides. Breast milk is considered the ideal food to be offered to the child because it provides important nutritional and immunological properties for the child's growth and development, both physical and psychosocial, helping the maternal bond and the emotional health of the mother and child. However, there is a great concern with the quality of the same, in relation to its chemical contamination by the presence of pesticide residues. In order to verify the presence of glyphosate herbicide in breast milk, 67 milk samples were collected from infants from the city of Francisco Beltrão / Paraná, living in urban areas (n = 26) and rural (n = 41). That the product is applied to corn and soybean crops (April and May 2018). To determine glyphosate levels, the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used. In addition, socioepidemiological data were collected from infants in order to characterize the study population and to associate this information with glyphosate levels in breast milk. Glyphosate was detected in all samples of breast milk analyzed, with mean values of 1.45 ppb. The average age of the infants was 6.75 months. Observing the habits and health of the infants, 93% stated that they did not smoke, 39% indicated that they did not use any type of medication, 6% reported that they had already been poisoned by poison , 52% use household pesticide, 72% live near crops, and 60% have home gardens. Despite some descriptive differences, no statistically significant differences (p <0.05) were found between the categories of variables tested. These results suggest the possibility of contamination of glyphosate in the infants studied indirectly through water, contaminated food and air, considering that the agricultural production process adopted in the municipality of Francisco Beltrão / PR, included the intensive use of agrochemicals in crops.