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Observatorio Latinoamericano de Salud.5.To propagate humanist and socialist values in socialrelations.6.To fight all forms of social discrimination and to seekan equal participation of women.A political alternative for dealing with these problemswas the creation of a rural credit line ("linha deAção PRONAF Crédito Rural") by the Brazilian governmentin 1995.As a part of the so called "ProgramaNacional de Fortalecimento da Agricultura Familiar" –PRONAF – (National Program to Strengthen FamilyFarming), it intends to provide better financial supportfor agrarian activities developed with the direct laborof the farmer and his/her family. Family farming in Brazilemploys 75 percent of the work force in rural areas,is responsible for 31 percent of all rice produced, 67percent of beans and 52 percent of milk. Family farmerswere also responsible for 1/3 of the 50 million tons ofsoybeans produced last harvest. Until the year 2000,the program produced around four million credit contractsand cost around ten billion reais (approximately4 billion dollars). The government announced aroundseven billion reais (2.8 billion dollars) to support familyfarming in 2004 and 2005.In order to collect data to analyze the impact ofthis project, questionnaires were handed to familieswith a family income of 220 dollars or less. These familiesowned small farms and had or not received financingfor the 2000/2001 crop. The survey involved2,299 small farms in 21 different municipal districts ineight different states (Alagoas, Bahia, Ceará, Maranhão,Espírito Santo, Minas Gerais, Santa Catarina and RioGrande do Sul) and showed a connection betweenPRONAF and both the increase of erosion and the useof pesticides. No positive associations were observedbetween PRONAF and actions to recover environmentallydeteriorated areas.The study recommended,among other things, that PRONAF should be mindfulof the possible human and environmental damagesconnected to productivist and technological actionsthat stem from the intensive use of pesticides.Therefore,the study recommended that PRONAF not onlyfinance production but also stimulate changes in theproduction system and diminish the dependence onforeign input products. Moreover, the study also observedno significant association between the programand the decrease of poverty in the households analyzed[Kageyama, 2003].The connection between the action carried outby PRONAF and the increase in erosion and use ofpesticides shows the lack of specialized technical guidancegiven to these farmers. This has also been observedin countless other studies [Moreira et al, 2002,Rozemberg & Peres, 2003] and poses elevated risksto human health and the environment.We shall latersee that this happens because the farmer is beingtransferred the responsibility over the correct use ofthis input.The use of the input usually requires specialattention that has not been given and has, thus, contributedto human exposure beyond acceptable levels.The model of chemical dependence adopted inBrazilian agricultural policies was first introduced inthe 60’s and boosted in the 70’s through the "PlanoNacional de Defensívos Agrícolas" (National Plan forAgrochemicals), which supported the modernizationof the rural economy [Augusto, 2003].The world’s expenditureson pesticides between the years of 1983and 1997 jumped from 20 to 34 billion dollars per year[Yuldeman et al., 1998].These pesticides contaminate,according to the World Health Organization, betweenthree and five million people per year. The picture iseven more concerning in developing countries such asBrazil, where the use of technologies based on the intensiveuse of chemicals occurs without clearly definedpolicies as to marketing, transportation, storage,use, safety measures and knowledge of the risks asso-119