Intoxication due to pesticides in the Federal District of Brazil between 2004 and 2007 : analysis of notification to the Toxicological Information and Assistance Center

A exposição humana a substâncias tóxicas, incluindo agrotóxicos, pode levar a danos irreversíveis no organismo e até ao óbito, sendo considera um grave problema de saúde pública. Este é um estudo retrospectivo, que utilizou dados reportados ao Centro de Informação e Assistência Toxicológica do Distrito Federal, Brasil (Ciat-DF) referentes a intoxicações por agrotóxicos ocorridas no DF de 2004 a 2007. Nesse período, 709 intoxicações foram notificadas e avaliadas neste estudo. A maioria dos indivíduos envolvidos nas intoxicações foi do sexo masculino (51,2%), intoxicados no domicílio (91%), em área urbana (86,3%) e por via oral (84%). Crianças de 1 a 4 anos e adultos de 20 a 39 anos estiveram envolvidos em 30 e 36% das intoxicações, respectivamente. As intoxicações acidentais corresponderam a 47,1% dos casos, seguidas pelas tentativas de suicídio (44,2%). O raticida ilegal chumbinho, conhecido por conter, principalmente, o inseticida carbamato aldicarbe, esteve envolvido em 35,1% dos casos, principalmente em tentativas de suicídio. Dezoito das intoxicações registradas evoluíram a óbito, 15 por suicídio e 3 por acidente individual. Quando comparado com outras fontes de dados, este estudo detectou uma alta taxa de subnotificação das intoxicações por agrotóxicos reportadas ao Ciat-DF no período do estudo.Exposure to toxic substances, including pesticides, can cause irreversible damage to humans, including death, and is therefore considered a serious public health problem worldwide. This is a retrospective study using data gathered by the Toxicological Information and Assistance Center of Brazil's Federal District (Ciat-DF) between 2004 and 2007. During this period, 709 intoxications with pesticide occurred in the DF and were analyzed in this study. Fifty-one percent of the intoxicated individuals were men; the events occurred mostly in the home (91%), in the urban area (86.3%) and by ingestion (84%). Children from 1 to 4 years of age and adults from 20 to 39 years were involved in 30% and 36% of the cases, respectively. Accidental intoxication corresponded to 47.1% of the cases, followed by attempted suicide (44.2%). The illegal rodenticide known as "chumbinho", the main ingredient of which is carbamate insecticide aldicarb, was involved in 35.1% of the cases, mostly in suicide attempts. In eighteen cases, the intoxicated individuals died after exposure to the pesticides, namely 15 suicides and 3 accidental poisonings. When compared with other data sources, this study identified a high level of underreporting to the Ciat-DF of intoxication by pesticide during the period under study

NEOTROPICAL ALIEN MAMMALS: a data set of occurrence and abundance of alien mammals in the Neotropics

Biological invasion is one of the main threats to native biodiversity. For a species to become invasive, it must be voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into a nonnative habitat. Mammals were among first taxa to be introduced worldwide for game, meat, and labor, yet the number of species introduced in the Neotropics remains unknown. In this data set, we make available occurrence and abundance data on mammal species that (1) transposed a geographical barrier and (2) were voluntarily or involuntarily introduced by humans into the Neotropics. Our data set is composed of 73,738 historical and current georeferenced records on alien mammal species of which around 96% correspond to occurrence data on 77 species belonging to eight orders and 26 families. Data cover 26 continental countries in the Neotropics, ranging from Mexico and its frontier regions (southern Florida and coastal-central Florida in the southeast United States) to Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, and Uruguay, and the 13 countries of Caribbean islands. Our data set also includes neotropical species (e.g., Callithrix sp., Myocastor coypus, Nasua nasua) considered alien in particular areas of Neotropics. The most numerous species in terms of records are from Bos sp. (n = 37,782), Sus scrofa (n = 6,730), and Canis familiaris (n = 10,084); 17 species were represented by only one record (e.g., Syncerus caffer, Cervus timorensis, Cervus unicolor, Canis latrans). Primates have the highest number of species in the data set (n = 20 species), partly because of uncertainties regarding taxonomic identification of the genera Callithrix, which includes the species Callithrix aurita, Callithrix flaviceps, Callithrix geoffroyi, Callithrix jacchus, Callithrix kuhlii, Callithrix penicillata, and their hybrids. This unique data set will be a valuable source of information on invasion risk assessments, biodiversity redistribution and conservation-related research. There are no copyright restrictions. Please cite this data paper when using the data in publications. We also request that researchers and teachers inform us on how they are using the data

NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES: a data set on carnivore distribution in the Neotropics

Mammalian carnivores are considered a key group in maintaining ecological health and can indicate potential ecological integrity in landscapes where they occur. Carnivores also hold high conservation value and their habitat requirements can guide management and conservation plans. The order Carnivora has 84 species from 8 families in the Neotropical region: Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Otariidae; Phocidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae. Herein, we include published and unpublished data on native terrestrial Neotropical carnivores (Canidae; Felidae; Mephitidae; Mustelidae; Procyonidae; and Ursidae). NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES is a publicly available data set that includes 99,605 data entries from 35,511 unique georeferenced coordinates. Detection/non-detection and quantitative data were obtained from 1818 to 2018 by researchers, governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations, and private consultants. Data were collected using several methods including camera trapping, museum collections, roadkill, line transect, and opportunistic records. Literature (peer-reviewed and grey literature) from Portuguese, Spanish and English were incorporated in this compilation. Most of the data set consists of detection data entries (n = 79,343; 79.7%) but also includes non-detection data (n = 20,262; 20.3%). Of those, 43.3% also include count data (n = 43,151). The information available in NEOTROPICAL CARNIVORES will contribute to macroecological, ecological, and conservation questions in multiple spatio-temporal perspectives. As carnivores play key roles in trophic interactions, a better understanding of their distribution and habitat requirements are essential to establish conservation management plans and safeguard the future ecological health of Neotropical ecosystems. Our data paper, combined with other large-scale data sets, has great potential to clarify species distribution and related ecological processes within the Neotropics. There are no copyright restrictions and no restriction for using data from this data paper, as long as the data paper is cited as the source of the information used. We also request that users inform us of how they intend to use the data