Former student, contaminated and activist Jose Miguel da Silva scratches a thin layer of sand to find vestiges of
hexachlorocyclohexane around the organochlorine pesticide contaminated site In Cidade dos Meninos neighborhood in Duque de Caxias, Rio de Janeiro state , Friday, July 2, 2021. A complex of public schools and self sufficient neighborhood that hosted hundreds of orphans from Rio de Janeiro until late 90Õs is now closed following measures of the Ministry of Health to deal with one of the worst environmental disasters in Brazilian history, a case of organochlorine pesticides production phasing out in Cidade dos Meninos rural neighborhood in Duque de Caxias. (Dado Galdieri/Hilaea Media)