Resumen

BASCOPE ZANABRIA, Roberto; BICKEL, Ulrike  y  JACOBI, Johana. Plaguicidas químicos usados en el cultivo de soya en el Departamento de Santa Cruz, Bolivia: riesgos para la salud humana y toxicidad ambiental. RevActaNova. [online]. 2019, vol.9, n.3, pp.386-416. ISSN 1683-0789.

The goal of this research was to characterize pesticides in the soybean agro-industrial food system in the municipality of San Pedro, in the Department of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The study was conducted during two campaigns in 2016 in San Pedro, the municipality with the largest soybean area in Bolivia. The region features two cropping cycles per year. For the data collection, a mixed methods approach was chosen: open interviews (30), participatory maps (9) and process flows (9). Different key actors of soybean production participated in the study. The results show that in one year, more than 35 kg ha^-1 of agricultural pesticides (pesticides and other agricultural inputs) are applied with different degrees of toxicity. We found that mixtures of up to 11 products being applied between 6 and 13 times throughout the phenological stage of the soy crop. During the study period, 64 chemical pesticide products were identified, from which a total of 19 active ingredients are classified as Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs). The results show that ecosystems and human beings are exposed to serious risks from hazardous pesticides in the San Pedro Department. Drawing on these results, we make a series of recommendations, among them the broad support of agroecology as a practice, a social movement and a science, and withdraw HHPs from the market.

Palabras clave : Highly hazardous pesticides; agrochemicals; toxicity; health; soybeans; Bolivia.

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