Visit to Brazil, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the implications for human rights of the environmentally sound management and disposal of hazardous substances and wastes 27. Between 2000 and 2013, pesticide exposure accounted for 10,666 deaths in Brazil. 39 The actual number is estimated to be between 34,000 and 51,000 deaths, considering the general underreporting of poisoning cases, and the low registration rate of fatalities. 40 41 28. Studies have found elevated risk of cancer in agriculturally intensive regions of Brazil, which like other diseases and disabilities may not be captured by mortality figures. 42 Analytical studies demonstrate DNA damage in rural workers occupationally exposed to pesticides, in Central and Southern Brazil.43 Pesticides are associated with reproductive health problems, including congenital malformations44 and poor sperm quality in men.45 Respiratory problems are more prevalent during crop season, attributed to pesticide exposure, independent of other factors including smoking.46 A study in a rural area in Rio de Janeiro heavily contaminated with organochlorine pesticides revealed associated interference with hormone function, affecting thyroid systems with gender-specific impacts.47 A study in Conceição do Castelo confirmed health risks to workers and communities are magnified by exposure to several different pesticides, the so-called cocktail effect.48 The reality of exposure to multiple pesticides, and the magnified health impacts that may result but have not been assessed by regulators, must be kept in mind. 49 29. Disturbing accounts of aerial spraying abound,50 endangering farm workers and communities, including children who are at extreme risk of health impacts.51 Aerial spraying of pesticides above a rural school in Rio Verde, Goiás, a centre of soy production in Brazil, caused poisoning of an estimated 92 children and some teachers.52 There have also been other similar incidents of pesticide spraying near schools, including in 2019 near an indigenous village school in the village of Guyraroká of the Guarani-Kaiowá people, in Mato Grosso do Sul,53 others in Sergipe and Parana. 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 Eloisa Dutra Caldas (December 2016) https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308013830_Pesticide_Poisoning_in_Brazil. Andrea Franco Amoras Magalhães and Eloisa Dutra Caldas (June 2018) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0379073818301373. Tomaz Langenbach and Luiz Querino Caldas (2018) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6072638/. Francis L. Martin et al (October 2018) ; Raquel Maria Rigotto et al (2013) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653518311937. Khayat et al (2013) https://lherp.ecoevol.ufg.br/up/199/o/Khayat_et_al_2013.pdf ; Danieli Benedetti et al (20 February 2014) https://www.intechopen.com/books/pesticides-toxic-aspects/genotoxicityinduced-by-ocupational-exposure-to-pesticides. Ueker, M.E., Silva, V.M., Moi, G.P. et al (2016). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-016-0667-x. Cleber Cremonese et al (January 2017) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0890623817300060. Rafael J. Buralli et al (2018) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6025513/; Faria NM et al (2005) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16341409/. Carmen Freire et al (November 2013) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0013935113001552?via%3Dihub. Juliana Dalbó et al (July 2019) https://doi.org/10.1590/1413-81232018247.19282017. Raquel Maria Rigotto et al (2013). Aliança pela Alimentação (2019). CPCAPV et al (April 2020) https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Studien/Hazardous_20pesticides_ENG_final_202 00422.pdf. HRW (2018) https://www.hrw.org/report/2018/07/20/you-dont-want-breathe-poison-anymore/failingresponse-pesticide-drift-brazils. Indigenous Missionary Council (16 May 2019) https://cimi.org.br/2019/05/agrotoxicos-despejadosperto-aldeia-levam-criancas-jovens-guarani-kaiowa-hospital/; Conf. O Calvário das crianças Guarani e Kaiowá contaminadas por agrotóxicos. https://brasil.elpais.com/brasil/2019/08/02/politica/1564773673_055738.html; CPCAPV et al (April 2020), https://www.rosalux.de/fileadmin/rls_uploads/pdfs/Studien/Hazardous_20pesticides_ENG_final_202 00422.pdf. 7