Household cleaning or household toxics? The camouflage of poisons

The objective of this research was to evaluate the use of insecticides in households, relating them to their impact on health and the environment. We used a quantitative, descriptive approach. For data collection, 125 questionnaires were applied in homes in the municipality of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro state, in 2010. Of these, 50 were conducted in an upper middle class condominium and 75 were carried out in a low-income community. Our results showed that 92% of the upper middle class group and 77.3% of low-income group use insecticides. The two groups surveyed learned about insecticides through television advertisements. Consumers’ vulnerability is high regardless of their social class, since both groups were exposed to risk in some way.