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In the last decade, Brazil started to stand out, worldwide, in the consumption of pesticides. Studies suggest that pesticides can damage human health, such as mental disorders, autism, depression, cancer and malformation, among others. The objective of this study was to analyze what is published in the literature on exposure to pesticides and damage to human DNA in rural residents. This is a narrative review of the literature, consisting of original articles that used the comet DNA assay, published between 2008 and 2019, in Lilacs, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and SpingerLink databases. The respective work was developed with 19 articles, which answered the guiding question, PubMed Central = 2; Web of Science = 2; Scopus = 4; Springer = 10; Lilacs = 1. The articles indicate that exposure to pesticides can cause damage to genetic material and it represents a potential health risk for rural residents who constantly work with pesticides. The literature also shows the risk of genetic damage associated with exposure to pesticides and the importance of assessing vulnerable populations to address and overcome the potential risk of genotoxicity induced by the respective substances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]