Organización Panamericana de la Salud/Officina Regional de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, Proyecto PLAGSALUD [project on health and pesticides], 2005

In Central America (Belice, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama) the PLAGSALUD project has established national systems of sur-veillance for pesticide poisoning, which is a severe public health problem in the region. In Central America Paraquat is the causal agent identified most frequently. In Costa Rica a large proportion of pesticide poisonings are not reported; 40% to 78.6% of poisonings were occupational (occurred at the workplace) (OPS/OMS 2002). The project coordinates between different sectors and institutions that are addressing the problem at a local, regional and national level and provides education for professionals and local communities. It makes the current legislation on pesticides known to the public, aiming at its implementation, and carries out studies on health and environmental effects of pesticides.

Organización Panamericana de la Salud (OPS), Proyecto PLAGSALUD Costa Rica: Memoria fase II [in Spanish], San José, Costa Rica: OPS/Organización Mundial de la Salud: Proyecto PLAGSALUD, 2002