Resumo

MARTINEZ-VALENZUELA, Carmen  e  GOMEZ-ARROYO, Sandra. Genotoxic risk in agricultural workers exposed to pesticides. Rev. Int. Contam. Ambient [online]. 2007, vol.23, n.4, pp.185-200. ISSN 0188-4999.

Pesticides are chemical agents widely used by humans to protect the crops and livestock from nocive organisms as pests and vectors highly important in public health as well as in domestic applications. These substances has been considered potential mutagens because they contain ingredients capable to cause changes in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). As one of the most important problems is the occupational exposure to these compounds many studies have been made in order to evaluate the risk in its use, mainly of agriculture workers, through evaluation of chromosomal aberrations (CA), micronuclei (MN), sister chromatid exchanges (SCE) and comet assay (CA). The results have been contradictory, because there are several factors that influence them, as the active ingredients, technical formulations and chemical groups which they belong, the type of exposure (acute or chronic), type of contact (direct or indirect), the amount used, duration and intensity of the applications, the exposure to mixtures, climate and the seasons of the year when the application were made, the age of the persons, among other factors. Based in the mentioned above, series of studies in the last twenty years will be shown to evaluate the risk of the field workers.

Palavras-chave : pesticides; occupational exposure; genotoxic risk; cytogenetic biomonitoring; chromosomal aberrations; micronuclei; sister chromatid exchanges; comet assay.