The Ministry of Health alerts the population for the serious affectation of health that can cause the use of herbicides registered as professional and agricultural use in public places such as parks, sidewalks, pipes, cemeteries, green areas, sports fields, the shore of roads, recreational areas, houses, among others.
“We have responded to complaints about the use of herbicides such as glyphosate on sidewalks, even used by municipal officials. Based on this type of situation, we have turned the respective sanitary orders to prevent their misuse, giving them adequate follow-up, but we need to avoid future misuse and demonstrate their risks, so the health alert”, said Eugenio Androvetto, Director of Environmental Protection Human of the Ministry of Health.
These unauthorized uses represent a high risk of exposure to the entire population since their applications are carried out outdoors, without those affected being aware of the risk involved in exposure to this type of products, causing acute and serious poisoning with effects like eye and nose irritation, incoordination, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, trembling, and even death.
“We cannot take lightly the risk of using professional or industrial herbicides in environments where people live, circulate, stay, or attend. These types of products can only be applied by people and companies that have an authorization that ensures specialized handling.
Herbicides for domestic use come in ready-to-use presentations without requiring repackaging, diluting it with water or other solvent or mixing it with another product, these are those indicated for use in homes, buildings, public or private facilities, shops, public or private vehicles, indoor and outdoor gardens, rail lines, etc.”, explained Androvetto.
Health authorities emphasize the call to public entities, local government and private entities to read the label of herbicides and only use those that indicate that they are for domestic use, while urging the general population to report violations of this prohibition through complaints to the Ministry of Health through the mail [email protected]
