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Widespread Pesticide Distribution in the European Atmosphere Questions their Degradability in Air

Mayer, Ludovic ; Degrendele, Céline ; Šenk, Petr ; Kohoutek, Jiři ; Přibylová, Petra ; Kukučka, Petr ; Melymuk, Lisa ; Durand, Amandine ; Ravier, Sylvain and Alastuey, Andres , et al. (2024) In Environmental Science and Technology 58(7). p.3342-3352
Abstract

Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in... (More)

Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved.

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author collaboration
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
atmosphere, Pesticide Distribution, pesticides, risk assessment, transport, air quality
in
Environmental Science and Technology
volume
58
issue
7
pages
11 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • pmid:38323876
  • scopus:85187303663
ISSN
0013-936X
DOI
10.1021/acs.est.3c08488
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
id
869a8d1e-14c7-44ee-bbb7-dc6030508f9f
date added to LUP
2024-03-22 17:31:48
date last changed
2024-04-22 15:31:08
@article{869a8d1e-14c7-44ee-bbb7-dc6030508f9f,
  abstract     = {{<p>Risk assessment of pesticide impacts on remote ecosystems makes use of model-estimated degradation in air. Recent studies suggest these degradation rates to be overestimated, questioning current pesticide regulation. Here, we investigated the concentrations of 76 pesticides in Europe at 29 rural, coastal, mountain, and polar sites during the agricultural application season. Overall, 58 pesticides were observed in the European atmosphere. Low spatial variation of 7 pesticides suggests continental-scale atmospheric dispersal. Based on concentrations in free tropospheric air and at Arctic sites, 22 pesticides were identified to be prone to long-range atmospheric transport, which included 15 substances approved for agricultural use in Europe and 7 banned ones. Comparison between concentrations at remote sites and those found at pesticide source areas suggests long atmospheric lifetimes of atrazine, cyprodinil, spiroxamine, tebuconazole, terbuthylazine, and thiacloprid. In general, our findings suggest that atmospheric transport and persistence of pesticides have been underestimated and that their risk assessment needs to be improved.</p>}},
  author       = {{Mayer, Ludovic and Degrendele, Céline and Šenk, Petr and Kohoutek, Jiři and Přibylová, Petra and Kukučka, Petr and Melymuk, Lisa and Durand, Amandine and Ravier, Sylvain and Alastuey, Andres and Baker, Alex R. and Baltensperger, Urs and Baumann-Stanzer, Kathrin and Biermann, Tobias and Bohlin-Nizzetto, Pernilla and Ceburnis, Darius and Conil, Sébastien and Couret, Cédric and Degórska, Anna and Diapouli, Evangelia and Eckhardt, Sabine and Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos and Forster, Grant L. and Freier, Korbinian and Gheusi, François and Gini, Maria I. and Hellén, Heidi and Henne, Stephan and Herrmann, Hartmut and Holubová Šmejkalová, Adéla and Hõrrak, Urmas and Hüglin, Christoph and Junninen, Heikki and Kristensson, Adam and Langrene, Laurent and Levula, Janne and Lothon, Marie and Ludewig, Elke and Makkonen, Ulla and Matejovičová, Jana and Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos and Mináriková, Veronika and Moche, Wolfgang and Noe, Steffen M. and Pérez, Noemí and Petäjä, Tuukka and Pont, Véronique and Poulain, Laurent and Quivet, Etienne and Ratz, Gabriela and Lammel, Gerhard}},
  issn         = {{0013-936X}},
  keywords     = {{atmosphere; Pesticide Distribution; pesticides; risk assessment; transport; air quality}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{3342--3352}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Environmental Science and Technology}},
  title        = {{Widespread Pesticide Distribution in the European Atmosphere Questions their Degradability in Air}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c08488}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.est.3c08488}},
  volume       = {{58}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}