Agrotoxics and the Agribusiness Industry: Discourses for a toxic life. An analysis from a social determinants of health perspective

Abstract In Colombia, the agribusiness industry argues that pest control is essential to feed the world population, establishing a new model of production based on the intensive use of agrotoxics. However, the health impacts of these products are absent from the industry’s discourses. This study used critical discourse analysis to analyze and characterize discourses of modes of production and work process that lead to exposure to agrotoxics and health impacts among families in rural areas of Usme and Sumapaz in Colombia. The following data collection techniques were used: participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and document analysis. The discourses show that interaction between structural forms that define the construction of reality transforms subjects. In the case of agribusiness and the use of agrotoxics, this interaction constitutes institutional symbolic violence. This discursive relationship imposes an everyday life that normalizes exposure to agrotoxics and transfers the responsibility for their health impacts to rural communities.

摘要 在哥伦比亚，农业综合企业行业主张害虫防治是养活全球人口的必要举措，并据此建立了以集约使用农用毒物（agrotoxics）为基础的新型生产模式。然而，该行业的论述中完全未提及此类产品对健康产生的危害。本研究采用批判性话语分析（critical discourse analysis）方法，对哥伦比亚乌斯梅（Usme）与苏马帕斯（Sumapaz）农村地区家庭暴露于农用毒物并遭受健康损害的生产模式与工作流程相关论述进行分析与特征刻画。本研究采用的数据采集技术包括参与式观察、半结构化访谈与文献分析。研究结果表明，定义现实建构的结构性形式之间的互动会对行动主体产生塑造作用；就农业综合企业与农用毒物使用这一场景而言，此类互动构成了制度性符号暴力。这种话语关系塑造了一套日常生活范式，将农用毒物暴露行为常态化，并将其健康损害的责任转嫁至农村社区。