Abstract

There is evidence that the exposure to highly hazardous pesticides is associated with cancer development. Organophosphate pesticides (OP) are within this group and are widely used in Latin America. The aim of this paper was to review the Latin American research on exposure to organophosphate pesticides and its effects on the development of human cancer and discuss their bioethical implications. A sys-tematic search was run in PubMed database, then replicating it in other databases. Eligibility criteria were: Latin American scientific studies, samples of human popu-lation or tissue, OP exposure and cancer development. Search terms were orga-nophosphates, cancer and the name of each country. Of a total of 1092 articles, 11 met the criteria. All found relationship between OP pesticide exposure and cancer development. 81% of the studies were experimental and showed that exposure to chlorpyrifos, parathion and malathion cause the development of human breast carcinoma. We conclude that Latin American research suggests that OP pesticide exposure generates cancer in humans; therefore, the development of policies that regulate the use of pesticides and forbid the most dangerous is required