GEO Brasil - UNEP

The state of health and the environment
124 Environmental Chemical
Pollutants
Among the several situations of risk to
human health, originated from
productive processes, it is important
to highlight the contamination by
chemical agents That is because they
are in great number and, for most of
them, there still is not available
knowledge on toxicology,
ecotoxicology, methodologies and
techniques, both for the diagnosis of
those situations and the development
of surveillance activities aiming at their
prevention and control Since World
War II, several chemical products were
synthesised and large growth and
development of the chemical industry
was observed The large production of
biocides is in the interests of health,
among the production of other
chemical substances used in the
control of plagues and vectors The use
of such substances, which was
intensified by farming mechanisation,
provided an intense process of
population’s exposure to those agents,
in addition to rural-urban migration and
concentration of properties The
disorganised occupation of urban
soils, and cities with no environmental
sanitation infrastructure also promote
the proliferation of plague, inducing
their populations to use biocides in
their homes, not considering individual
susceptibilities for such exposures
Among the chemical pollutants,
according to their negative impact on
human health, the most important are
chemical fertiliser substances, lead and
mercury
Rio 92 produced a considerable
collection of conventions, protocols
and agreements From the 175
countries that signed the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD), 168
have already reaffirmed their
commitment to preserve their biomes
Chart 3 - Expenses with the main environmental programmes in the country (1995-1998)
R$ x 1,000,000 (ten)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
Year
28.2
25.4
12.2
7.3
0
Source: Ministry of Health - 1998
95 96 97 98
Eradication of “ aedes aegypti"
Basic sanitation infrastructure
Water supply system
Sanitation sewage system
Sanitation improvements
Snvs operation
const. Improvement of draining services
Water quality control
The conception of “integrated management of natural resources” is essential to
regulate the social and individual relationship between man and nature,
highlighting ecological, environmental, social, political, demographic, cultural,
institutional and spatial dimensions
The basic strategies of natural resource management have an impact on the
health of living beings and, therefore, human health In them, the guarantee of
medicine and healthy food is emphasised These issues are directly related to
agriculture, fishery, flora and fauna protection, including micro-organisms Even
pathogenic organisms (for plants, animals and humans) must be handled within
correct ecological conceptions, that is, in an integrated and systemic way, not
isolated within monocausal analyses, the strategy of which is its elimination
(eradication) as species The organic agriculture and the integrated management
of plagues are still incipient in Brazil As a consequence, we have a present
chemical risk all over the environment, in the food chain and in food, the impact
220.2
136.4
121.5
105.3
78.7
19.5
0,6
the state of the environment in Brazil
209