For more than 20 years, Lidieth Gomez’s days have been punctuated by the hum of crop-spraying planes. At dawn and dusk, the skies over Matina, capital of Limón province on Costa Rica’s Caribbean coast, are filled with aircraft spraying a viscous rain of agrochemicals on to banana plantations.
The endless green sea of banana fields surrounding Gomez’s spartan wooden home belongs to Limofrut, part of Grupo Acón, one of the main players in Costa Rica’s banana and pineapple export industry.
Gomez, a single mother of three, is one of 451 women participating in research by the Regional Institute for Studies of Toxic Substances (IRET) at the National University of Costa Rica. For 14 years, this study on pesticide exposure has investigated how chemicals used on banana plantations affect thyroid health and foetal development in pregnant women.
“Every time the planes pass by, my eyes start to burn and my arms itch,” says Gomez. Other common symptoms from coming into contact with pesticides include nausea, vomiting, dizziness, fainting, dermatitis and burning eyes.
Among the pesticides found in the blood of women and children, including Gomez, 51, and her son Daniel, 14, are chlorothalonil and mancozeb – two fungicides associated with potential carcinogenic effects – as well as chlorpyrifos, known for its neurotoxic effects on children, and neonicotinoids, a type of insecticide which can hinder neurological development.
Many of these agrochemicals are banned in Europe but continue to be produced and expor...
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