Introduction Brazil is one of the world’s largest consumers of pesticides and this intense use impacts not only the environment but also exposes a wide range of individuals, such as rural workers who are occupationally exposed to pesticides and also the residents of the rural area environmentally exposed.

Objectives To evaluate occupational exposure to pesticides and to identify the neurotoxic and genotoxic effects in rural workers (RW) and rural residents (RR).

Methods A sectional epidemiological study was carried out with 104 RW and 23 RR of the city of Casimiro de Abreu (RJ/Brazil). A comparison group (CG) was formed with 103 residents of the urban area of the same city. Genotoxic analyses, through the comet assay and micronucleus test (MN), and the evaluation of the activity of cholinesterase enzymes (AChE and BChE), were performed.

Results A reduction in cholinesterase enzyme activity was observed, mainly for butyrylcholinesterase of RW and RR when compared to CG (RW = 3856.40; RR = 3956.04; CG = 4359.57; p = 0.002). An increase in genotoxic effects in RW when comparing CG were observed (comet assay: RW = 21; CG = 10; p <0.001 and MN number: RW = 6.50; CG = 3.00; p <0.001), demonstrating that individuals occupationally exposed to pesticides are more likely to have genotoxic effects when compared to non-exposed individuals.

Conclusion The findings from this research will serve to support the execution of programs to monitor populations exposed to neurotoxic and genotoxic substances and allow the development of strategies for the prevention, control and surveillance of effects generated by occupational and environmental exposures to pesticides.