Introduction:

The greenhouses are classified by under high levels or as technologies to be adapted to create optimal conditions of radiation, temperature, humidity and carbon dioxide that improve agricultural production and the development of organisms harmful that fight applying pesticides, exposing laborers to vapors and waste.

Method:

The cytotoxic damage was determined in samples of oral epithelial cells exfoliation of day laborers through the micronucleus assay, 40 laborers exposed to pesticides, 20 worked in greenhouses low-tech and high-tech 20.

Results:

The low-tech results showed higher frequency for all nuclear abnormalities compared to the control group, especially of condensed chromatin, picnosis, karyolysis and micronuclei. In calculating the risk, the frequency of micronuclei was measured at odds ratio (OR) for laborers in high-tech greenhouses OR = 17.06 (95 % CI 3.4-83.7) and low-tech OR = 50.66 (% CI 7.5 -341.7).

Conclusion:

The results indicate that the laborers who work in low-tech greenhouses show a higher frequency of cells with nuclear abnormalities, due to the effect of working conditions and exposure to pesticides.