O uso de agrotóxicos no Brasil e os impactos na saúde pública à luz do Direito Ambiental e dos direitos difusos e coletivos

This article investigates the extent to which Law No. 14,785/2023 preserves constitutional protection of public health and the environment following the repeal of Law No. 7,802/1989, and examines the collective remedies available to oversee its implementation. Qualitative bibliographical and documentary research combines a functional comparison of eight safeguards under the former statute, a complete reading of the new law, and consideration of amendments enacted in 2024. The theoretical framework connects prevention, precaution, the polluter-pays principle, proportionality, environmental non-regression, and the duty to provide reasons. The findings distinguish the modified preservation of international alerts, the absence of equivalent specific requirements, and the replacement of statutory prohibitions with general mechanisms whose protective equivalence was not established by the sources examined. Monitoring data from Tocantins illustrate territorial surveillance without measuring the effects of the reform. It is argued that changing regulatory techniques does not, by itself, establish substantive regression, but requires explaining how assessment, mitigation, enforcement, and reassessment fulfil earlier protective functions. Public civil actions, conduct adjustment agreements, and citizen actions provide complementary oversight. Constitutional compatibility depends on sufficient protection and verifiable reasoning. Normative analysis cannot establish causal effects on health outcomes.