Molecular colonialism & artisan fishing - Pesticides and the “new” invisible form of domination

agrotóxicos e a “nova” forma, invisível, de domínio

Abstract

This essay aimed to analyze the causes, reflect on the impacts and conceptually disseminate the category Molecular Colonialism, in an ecological context, against the backdrop of the modus operandi of chemical industries and the impacts on the aquatic ecosystem, especially its fauna, as well as on the health of traditional fishermen. The arguments were based on the critical and reflective perspective of how neocolonialism uses subterfuges to surprise its “prey”, the poor and/or peripheral countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia. The theoretical support was provided by book chapters and articles published in academic journals and repositories (Capes, Scielo, Science Direct, Scopus and Google Scholar); institutional and academic portals (USP, Fiocruz, IBGE, UN etc.); publications resulting from blogs and investigative journalism, vehicles that have acted as a space for denunciation and scientific dissemination (O Joio e O Trigo, Outras Palavras, Agência Brasil, Fian-Brasil); and websites of the Senate and Federal Chamber of Brazil. The bibliographic research allowed access to the way in which chemical industries dominate the production of substances that are highly harmful to ecosystem metabolism and human health; to the actions of institutional negligence in the release of cumulative chemical substances that become part of the organisms of aquatic flora and fauna, as well as of artisanal fishermen and people who consume food contaminated with pesticides and/or PFAS. This essay seeks to highlight the urgency of academic investment in research on molecular colonialism; to expand and deepen the dissemination processes, so that society, based on scientific validation, can act proactively in proposing public policies that reverse the “spill” of pesticides and the use of PFAS in the country; to propose and develop actions in favor of the health of women and men who may suffer the consequences of having their bodies filled with chemical molecules, responsible for the destructuring of their organisms, in an irreversible biocolonial process.