In the Sarapiqui region of Costa Rica, it’s hard to walk around without seeing a pineapple or banana plantation. Locals often notice a strong alcoholic smell that burns their noses or feel droplets that irritate their skin. It might appear as light rainfall, but it is actually pesticides being sprayed on the plantations, drifting from their intended targets.
Ariel Ugalde Chavez lives in Chilamate with his wife and young son, who often asks about the strong odor.
“Y le dice: ‘Bueno, papi huele feo’, por ejemplo: ‘Sí, sí, ese es un químico de la piña, pero no dura nada’… es un efecto, hablemos de 30 min y listo,” Ugalde Chavez said.
“And he says: ‘Well, daddy, it smells bad, ’ for example: I say ‘Yes, yes, it's a chemical from the pineapple, but it won’t last long’ … it’s an effect that lasts 30 minutes and done,” Ugalde Chavez said.
He believes that pesticides aren’t a major issue and that the workers are in good health, based on knowing many people who work on pineapple plantations.
“Es algo tan normal que ahí [los trabajadores] comen y también andan fumigando a ciertos kilómetros de distancia,” Ugalde Chavez said, “Imagínate si no se pudiera comer a la par de eso, no se podría trabajar tampoco.”
“It is something so normal that [the workers] eat as pesticides are spread a few miles away,” Ugalde Chavez said, “Imagine if you couldn't eat near there, you couldn’t work there either.”
A systematic review in the academic journal Toxicology Reports found that while pesticides are intended to manage weeds, infestations, and various pests, they also cause greater harm to the environment and human health.
The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) works to help various communities understand the health effects of pesticide exposure. As a group of scientists, organizers and communicators, they advocate for stronger pesticide regulations internationally.
Emily Marquez, a senior scientist with PAN, said that pesticide exposure during childhood could affect brain development later in life.
“There's definitely a pretty good link to cancers for general exposure to pesticides, and then also neurotoxic effects,” Marquez said, “When they're young, that exposure could have an effect on their brain development in ways that you know come out later in life.
She said pesticide sickness can mimic flu symptoms and often go away once the source diminishes or the pesticide is washed off. However, even low-dose exposure via inhalation and ingestion can result in chronic effects, including damage to the reproductive system.
Mecca Howe, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, spent two years collecting data on the effects of pesticides on young girls in Sarapiqui. One year after data collection, she lived in Sarapiqui to disseminate her findings.
Howe saw firsthand the proximity of pesticide use to locals.
“There were kids playing soccer in the street, there were people riding their bikes, and I started to see these droplets on my windshield, and it's not raining,” Howe said, “I realized that it's actually the drift from the pesticides being sprayed by the plane as people are in the street.”
Howe examined the extent to which younger girls were exposed to pesticides.
“It is definitely concerning, especially because these are children, and also because the levels are higher than what we see in other samples, including samples of farm workers who work in the fields in other places,” Howe said.
Despite her groundbreaking research, being the first to use silicone wristbands to assess individual passive chemical exposure in Costa Rica, Howe said that the Ministry of Health needs more data before it can take action.
Despite Costa Rica’s efforts, Howe said that more can be done.
“Costa Rica does do a really good job at conservation and protecting their environment, but there's this other side of Costa Rica that most people don't know or see, and I think that that side needs its story told as well, ” Howe said.
She said most people acknowledge the use of pesticides; however, they are accustomed to them and see them as part of their everyday life.
Ugalde Chavez said the plantations keep the community afloat.
“Entonces, sin esas empresas, imagínate la gente cómo sobrevive aquí, ¿verdad? Pero sí, es una fuente de trabajo muy, muy, muy grande,” Ugalde Chavez said.
“So, without these companies, how would people survive here, right? But yeah, it is a source of work very, very, very large,” Ugalde Chavez said.
Some companies, like Dole, have switched some plantations to be more organic.
Franciny Gonzalez Hidalgo, a Chilamate local, said she lives right next to an organic Dole pineapple plantation.
“Ha habido un cambio, creo bastante fuerte, porque cuando se sembró primera vez piña en Costa Rica … siempre utilizando mucha cantidad de químicos y luego con el tiempo, empezó a verse las afectaciones en salud,” Gonzalez Hidalgo said.
“There has been a change, I think a strong one, because when the first pineapple plantation appeared in Costa Rica … they always used a lot of chemicals and then with time, they began to see the health effects,” Gonzalez Hidalgo said.
She said that once the health effects of pesticides were noticeable, some plantations turned organic.
Gonzalez Hidalgo is experienced in organic farming. She has a master's degree in sustainable tourism, grows organic bananas and offers tours of her farm, where she grows many other vegetables as well.
However, she questions whether organic certifications for these large companies are the answer. Gonzalez Hidalgo says that some of the organic methods used are causing health problems for locals.
“Les da dolores de cabeza [a locales] porque el olor intenso de la harina de pescado y la sangre de toro causan este tipo de cosas, igualmente, a nivel de la piel; este les da muchas alergias. Entonces pues ahí es un poco más complicado,” Gonzalez Hidalgo said.
“It gives [locals] headaches because of the intense smell coming from fish meal, and bull blood meal causes the same issues to skin; this gives them a lot of allergies. So, it’s a bit complicated,” Gonzalez Hidalgo said.
She believes in fully organic and sustainable farming, including the use of animal feces.
Despite the lack of research on pesticides and health, Gonzalez Hidalgo said that increased cancer or skin conditions are apparent within her community due to pesticide exposure.
“Personas que viven cerca de plantaciones ya presentan casos de cáncer que hace 50 años no sucedían,” Gonzalez Hidalgo said. “No hay que tener un título para no entender cuál es la razón de lo que está sucediendo.”
“People who live near plantations present with cases of cancer that, 50 years ago, weren’t happening,” Gonzalez Hidalgo said. “You don't need a degree to understand why this is happening.”
After hearing from Howe and seeing her research, biologist Randall Montoya Solano of Refugio Lapa Verde, a Sarapiqui nature conservation organization, is designing an educational course on pesticides and sustainable farming practices for local schools.
Refugio Lapa Verde works to educate the public, including youth at nearby schools, about conservation.
“Ahorita lo que estamos desarrollando es una propuesta de estrategias para poder implementar trabajos con esas escuelas basados en temas agroecológicos, abordar el tema de los plaguicidas,” Montoya Solano said.
“Right now, we are developing a proposal with strategies to implement work with these schools about agroecology to tackle the pesticides topic,” Montoya Solano said.
Based on Howe’s research, Montoya Solano is preparing a proposal to secure more government funding to educate the public about agriculture and pesticides. With the refuge, he has shared the information with local governments, who he says have acknowledged the studies.
However, he said nothing has changed yet.
“Esperemos que en algún futuro podamos tener algún avance más allá de los resultados que ya tenemos,” Montoya Solano said.
“We hope that in some future moment we can have some kind of advancement beyond what we have now,” Montoya Solano said.
At the end of the day, Montoya Solano has his priorities.
“La producción es importante, pero más importante es la salud humana,” Montoya Solano said.
“Production is important, but human health is more important,” Montoya Solano said.
This story is in partnership with the Hitchcock Project for Visualizing Science and the Reynolds School of Journalism.
