Daño del ADN en trabajadoras bananeras expuestas a plaguicidas en Limón, Costa Rica
artículo original
Fecha
2002-06Autor
Cuenca Berger, Patricia
Ramírez Mayorga, Vanessa
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Pesticide use in Costa Rica is very high and all year round. A high percentage of what is sprayed
remains in the environment and in the living organisms around. This situation brings contamination and health
problems to people in contact with them. The onset of adverse effects may be in the short or the long term, and
symptoms vary widely, from headaches to cancer. Much research in this area has been devoted to acute or chronic
effects, and not until recently to the genotoxic effect of pesticides. This study evaluated the genotoxic effect
of pesticides used in banana packing activities, using the comet assay (single cell electrophoresis) as the biological
marker in lymphocytes. This was a case-control double blind study of 30 exposed women from 15
banana farms and 28 women not occupationally exposed to pesticides from the same geographic area. Results
show damage to single stranded DNA after working from 5 to 15 years (R2=0.12). In Costa Rica we do not have
an historical record of the kind of pesticides used in banana farms, the period of time and for how long were they
used. This prevented further analysis concerning dose, frequency of exposure and use of new or old kind of pesticides
in the farms in relation to DNA damage. The comet assay is of value in the genetic monitoring of pesticide
exposed populations
Artículo científico -- Universidad de Costa Rica. Instituto de Investigaciones en Salud, 2002