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Shocking images show young children covered in horrific skin sores after drinking tap water from a supply thought to be contaminated with pesticides.

A huge investigation has been launched after hundreds have been left with skin problems and other health issues in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires.

A judge has suspended the use of pesticides in three areas of the capital after tests confirmed that the water supply is contaminated and potentially causing a health crisis.

However, the Buenos Aires water authority has reportedly rejected those results and new tests have been ordered by the Supreme Court’s toxicology team.

(Image: CEN/Pergaminosinglifosato)

The legal action was taken after numerous residents in the area of Villa Alicia in the city of Pergamino located in the eastern Argentine province of Buenos Aires reported suffering severe health problems.

The judge said: “Provision will be made for the immediate suspension of products with pesticides, herbicides, insecticides and any other kind of agrochemical, whether by means of agricultural fumigations containing glyphosate as an active ingredient or the salts derived from it.”

Experts from the National Scientific and Technical Research Council, as well as other institutes and universities, then carried out further tests which again found high levels of agrochemicals in the area’s water supply, according to local media.

(Image: CEN/Pergaminosinglifosato)

Those results were also rejected.

New analysis is currently underway although the results are not ready yet.

According to local media, Pergamino resident Sabrina Ortiz suffered a miscarriage in 2011, the same day a nearby soy field was fumigated.

She had already been suffering with skin conditions, just like her husband and 10-year-old daughter.

Mrs Ortiz reported the incident and formed the association ‘Mothers In Fumigated Areas of Pergamino’ with other residents.

(Image: CEN/Pergaminosinglifosato)

The group carried out protests in the city and demanded that the authorities address the situation as a health crisis.

Fifteen days later, Judge Carlos Villafuerte Ruzo suspended the use of the listed agrochemicals.

The group also believes that pesticides are responsible for 48 cancer cases in the area, according to reports.