Over 5,000 Deaths in El Salvador Linked to Toxicity in Agricultural Products

Health services in El Salvador have reported the death of at least 5,808 people since 2002, due to a disease whose origins are still unknown. According to information shared by NTN24, most of those affected have been agricultural workers in the Pacific zone.

For this reason, the government of El Salvador is looking for a way to regulate toxic products used in the agricultural industry since they could be the main cause of the strange kidney disease. Through a statement, the Salvadorian Ministry of Health informed that in 2012 over 485 deaths were registered as a consequence of the strange disease, and the death toll has been rising. Between the months of January and July, close to 26 deaths have been registered in the central department of La Paz alone.

Between 2002 and 2011, the same kidney disease caused 5,296 deaths. María Isabel Rodríguez, minister for health services, said that a law project would be carried out to achieve the regularization of pesticides. Rodríguez said she hopes that the Legislative Assembly approves it to "avoid the indiscriminate use of toxic products." She also explained that the possible cause of death is due to the effects of agrochemical products combining with other elements and causing the same epidemiological profile in the people dying.

The Health minister assured that investigations will continue in collaboration with the Ministry of the Environment and multiple other public institutions, which will help determine the real cause of the deaths. She added that the strange disease has nothing to do with diabetes or hypertension in people, despite being the most common causes for renal failure.

Continuous exposure to dangerous and prohibited substances along with environmental factors, the conditions and amount of time of labor could show a pattern that repeats itself in the people that suffer the disease in El Salvador. The Ministry of Health has said that "this pattern is of a lesser intensity in women outside the agricultural industry" because they are not exposed or in direct contact with the toxic agents.

Worldwide, the reported number of people with renal failure are 10 out of every 100, but in El Salvador the number has grown to 15 to 21 out of 100. Cuban nephrologist Raúl Herrera explained that the main cause of death is the "toxic factor to which they [agricultural workers] are exposed," since they are the ones that have been affected the most by the strange disease.