The director of Uruguay’s National Human Rights Institution and Ombudsman’s Office (INDDHH) says his agency plans to prepare a report on public health impacts from agrochemical use in this country, where a boom in large-scale farming is believed to be increasing chemical exposures. Juan Faroppa says his agency is investigating “concrete complaints—individual and collective—on situations relating to agrochemical spraying, mainly concerning the soybean sector.” Two spraying cases were presented by residents of the rural communities of Paso Picón, in Canelones Department, and Guichón, in Paysandú Department; a third filed with the agency has to do with agrochemical waste. The human rights and ombudsman’s agency organized a public meeting in Guichón last month on the health impacts of agrochemicals, Uruguay’s first government-sponsored... [Log in to read more]