Residents report illnesses in area contaminated by oil on the coast of SP

In Cosma's eyes, illness is part of the neighborhood's landscape. And she herself includes her family in this account. Her husband, Paulo José da Silva, died at age 51, due to a brain tumor. She herself faces health problems and recently underwent surgery to remove a lump. While trying to deal with the consequences of the treatment – ??a burning and itchy wound on the side of her chest – she continues to observe a succession of cases of illness among relatives, neighbors and acquaintances.

The relationship between these cases and the environmental contamination that marked the history of Itatinga has never been proven. But it was also never investigated in the way residents expected.

The area where part of the community was built was used, between the 1970s and 1980s, to dispose of oily sludge associated with oil activities. Years later, the land was occupied by houses. Environmental investigations conducted by public agencies identified the presence of petroleum-derived contaminants in the region's soil and groundwater.

Over the course of almost twenty years, documents from the Environmental Company of the State of São Paulo (Cetesb), the State Public Ministry (MPE), the Federal Public Ministry (MPF) and Petrobras itself — accused in the investigations as responsible for the disposal — pointed to the presence of toxic substances at the site. In technical opinions, the São Paulo environmental agency recorded the occurrence of benzene and hydrocarbons on the land, highlighting the carcinogenic risk.

Despite this, the main study planned to assess possible impacts on the population was never carried out.

Area contaminated by petroleum products in the Itatinga neighborhood, in São Sebastião (SP): land remains fenced, with 24-hour guards; population still lives around it, with doubts about the impact on health. Photo: Kico Santos.

A community built on sludge

Before urban expansion, the Itatinga area was occupied by small crops and bamboo groves. According to reports from residents, waste from the oil sector was deposited at the site for years, until, as the city advanced, the land was filled in, subdivided and sold. Many families claim that they only learned about this history long after they settled in the region.

This is the case of Maria do Carmo Barbosa da Silva, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than three decades. She remembers that, when she arrived at the place, there were still plantations, animal husbandry and a river used for bathing, fishing and washing clothes. According to his report, it was only in the early 2000s that a dark substance began to appear in several parts of the community. The sludge appeared in backyards, sidewalks, streets and vacant lots. “It was black sludge, with a strange smell, like burnt oil”, he recalls.

The so-called oily sludge is a residue generated in activities related to the storage, transportation and processing of oil. Depending on its composition, it may contain hydrocarbons and other potentially toxic chemicals.

Maria says that, from that period on, many residents began to relate the appearance of the material to the increase in serious illnesses among the region's inhabitants. Today, at 58 years old, she lives with respiratory problems, chronic pain, glaucoma, depression and frequent episodes of shortness of breath. The daughter has suffered from persistent pain in her legs since she was a teenager. The eight-year-old granddaughter has recurring respiratory problems.

Maria also remembers her mother's health history. According to her, before moving to the neighborhood, the woman led an active life and had no serious illnesses. Years later, she developed uterine cancer, lost vision in one of her eyes due to another tumor and spent the last years of her life with severe physical limitations.

It is worth noting that there is no scientific proof that these cases are related to environmental contamination in the region. But residents argue that this hypothesis was never properly investigated by the State.

Maria do Carmo Barbosa da Silva: respiratory problems, chronic pain, glaucoma, depression. Photo: Kico Santos.

What the documents point out

In the 2000s, investigations carried out by environmental agencies began to confirm what residents were already reporting when they found sludge in backyards, streets and land in the neighborhood. Over the years, technical analyzes have identified contaminants associated with oil activity in the region's soil and groundwater, while risk assessments have highlighted the possibility of adverse effects on the health of the exposed population.

Among the registered contaminants is benzene. The National Cancer Institute classifies the substance as highly toxic and carcinogenic, stating that there is no safe limit for exposure. The compound can cause changes in the blood, affect the immune system and cause irritation to the eye and respiratory mucous membranes. Prolonged exposure increases the risk of developing cancer and can, in serious cases, lead to death.

In 2011, Petrobras, the City of São Sebastião and the Public Ministry of the State of São Paulo (MPSP) signed a Conduct Adjustment Term (TAC) to address the effects of contamination. Seven years later, in 2018, an amendment incorporated into the agreement the carrying out of a Cross-Sectional Health Study aimed at evaluating the potentially exposed population and investigating the consequences associated with the history of the area.

The research would become the main initiative aimed at answering a question that runs through the entire history of Itatinga: has environmental contamination had effects on the health of residents?

Aerial view of the Petrobras terminal in São Sebastião (SP). The proximity between oil infrastructure and residential areas marks the region's landscape. Photo: Kico Santos.

Broken promise

The survey, however, never got off the ground. The Municipality of São Sebastião claims that it adopted the necessary measures, but the hiring attempts resulted in “deserted contracts”, without “institutions capable of carrying out the study” presenting proposals. In addition to the lack of interested parties, the municipality justified the abandonment of the project due to the “methodological complexity of the research”, which required in-person application at home — a scenario that, according to the administration, was made unfeasible during the covid-19 pandemic.

In 2025, the obligation was replaced by a transfer of R$2.46 million to the municipality. The amount was allocated to the Municipal Land Regularization Fund, as established in the second amendment to the TAC, and its execution remains subject to approval by the Superior Council of the Public Ministry. The municipal administration did not inform whether part of this resource has already been applied, nor how.

Juliano Bueno, CEO of Arayara, a reference organization in climate and environmental litigation in the country, states that the importance of the research was precisely in answering a question that had remained open since the beginning of the investigations.

"You can't say that there is a relationship. But you also can't say that it doesn't exist. The study was precisely the instrument created to answer this question", says Bueno, who also has a doctorate in environmental risks and emergencies, with a PhD in energy from the University of Lisbon.

Nelcy Ramalho, resident of the area contaminated with petroleum products, claims that the disregard for the poor community “is a reflection of the pockets full of money of politicians who do nothing to solve the region's problems”. Photo: Kico Santos.

For Bueno, replacing study with financial compensation reveals a deeper problem. "The transfer transforms a fundamental right — the right to health and truth — into a bargaining chip. Without the study, the problem cannot be assessed, prevention actions cannot be planned and adequate assistance cannot be offered to the population."

In the expert's assessment, the case of Itatinga is close to what international literature calls a “sacrifice zone”: territories where socially vulnerable populations are subjected to persistent environmental risks while institutional responses focus on managing liabilities, and not on human impacts.

“Soil is a means; people are the end”, he states.

For him, any minimally fair solution for the community involves three pillars: truth, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition. The truth would depend on an independent epidemiological study. Repair would involve permanent assistance to the population's health and recognition of the damage accumulated over decades. And guarantees of non-repetition would require permanent environmental health surveillance mechanisms for communities exposed to contaminants such as benzene.

“Justice, here, is giving this community back the certainty that their lives are not disposable”, he concludes.

The impasse

Currently, Petrobras states that there is no evidence that associates the illnesses with contamination in the area. Although it signed the TAC and carried out the remediation works, the company claimed, in response to Mongabay, that the landfilling and urbanization of the site took place between the 1970s and 1980s without its participation, maintaining that it works to rehabilitate the area out of “socio-environmental responsibility”.

In the same vein, the City of São Sebastião, consulted by Mongabay, denies an abnormal incidence of diseases and cites an Epidemiological Technical Report (2006-2026) to support the thesis. According to the municipality, the Oncology and Nephrology Support Center (Caon) registered 25 patients from Itatinga undergoing treatment in the last ten years — an average of two to three cases per year, which would be compatible with other neighborhoods. The municipal administration, however, did not inform whether this survey distinguishes who exactly lives in the affected area or whether there is specific monitoring for the exposed population, considering that Itatinga has more than 5 thousand inhabitants.

Cetesb considers the remediated area safe under current conditions of use, claiming that the land remains fenced, without buildings and with occasional changes to the soil. Although it states, in an email sent to Mongabay, that there is no need for additional monitoring of groundwater, the state agency still requires additional studies on the possible intrusion of vapors underground in future occupation scenarios. According to the agency, Petrobras should begin field work for this new analysis later this year.

For residents like Geraldo Ribeiro, who takes care of his wife who is undergoing treatment for metastasis, technical justifications are not enough. The community's main demand remains identical to that of two decades ago: "A study of the entire area is also about us. Because they studied the land. But we are also here."