Prioritization of currently used pesticides in soils of main European cropping systems and an Argentinian cropping system for assessment of mixture toxicity and risk on terrestrial biota
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2025 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Journal of Hazardous Materials |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| web | https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389425018588?via%3Dihub |
| Doi | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2025.138942 |
| Keywords | Pesticides; Prioritization; Cropping systems; Taxonomic groups; Safety factors |
| Description | Identifying driving compounds in mixture pressure on terrestrial organisms is crucial to assessing the possible risk of current-use pesticides. This study presents a scoring approach for the prioritization of pesticides occurring in real mixtures. Soil samples associated with eleven crop systems across Europe and Argentina were analyzed for approximately 200 pesticides and metabolites within the H2020-funded project SPRINT (Sustainable Plant Protection Transition: A Global Health Approach). The pesticides were ranked based on the frequency of detection in soil samples, risk quotient (RQ), and degradation rates. RQ was calculated using the regulatory ecotoxicological data, and Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) values were extracted from EFSA documents. The prioritization was conducted separately for soil invertebrates, bees and non-target arthropods (NTAs), non-target terrestrial plants, and microbes. To prioritize for ecotoxicity tests, the top five ranked pesticides for each crop scenario were considered as the most relevant environmental mixture for that crop scenario. Overall, pesticides of concern were related to their specific targeted chemistry, e.g. herbicides affected plants the most and fungicides affected microbes the most. This study demonstrated that a scoring approach can be helpful in monitoring programs that aim to assess the risk of pesticides occurring in terrestrial ecosystems for environmental protection. |
| Related projects: |