Spatial and temporal distribution of the currently-used and recently-banned pesticides in arable soils of the Czech Republic

Optimization and validation of a QuEChERS-based method for the simultaneous environmental monitoring of 218 pesticide residues in clay loam soil

“…Probably for this reason, there is not clear overview of the level of contamination of agricultural soils at the international level. Most of the available studies focus on the monitoring of a discrete number of permitted (Han et al, 2017;Karasali et al, 2016;Kosubova et al, 2020;Suszter and Ambrus, 2017;Vasickova et al, 2019), or prohibited pesticides (Barron et al, 2017;Eudoxie et al, 2019;Hwang et al, 2018;Kosubova et al, 2020). One of the most recent and complete studies found that 83% of the samples were contaminated with one or more pesticides (Silva et al, 2019).…”

Pesticides: formulants, distribution pathways and effects on human health – a review

“…Since pesticides differ significantly in their physicochemical properties, the processes of their degradation or accumulation in the environment will also be different. Thus, in comparative studies of soil samples, triazine herbicides and conazole fungicides were more common than other pesticides [ 87 , 88 ]. Large-scale analysis of soil samples collected in the European Union countries for the presence of chemical pollution showed that more than 80 % of the samples contained at least one pesticide residue, the most frequently occurring of which were glyphosate, DDT, and broad-spectrum fungicides (boscalide, epoxiconazole, and tebuconazole) [ 89 ].…”

“…The problem is aggravated by the formation and accumulation in the soil of not only CUPs, but also their TPs: for example, when atrazine was not detected, its TP, hydroxyatrazine, was often present in the tested soils, which may be explained by previous intensive use of the parent herbicide [ 88 ]. Concentrations of hydroxyatrazine usually exceed concentrations of atrazine and its other TPs in soils and sediments [ 90 ].…”

Environmental and human health at risk – scenarios to achieve the EU’s 50% pesticide reduction goals.

“…Other pesticide use data sources also have limitations: i) the world pesticide use review 1 does not indicate the applied amount per a.s. either; ii) the PEST-CHEMGRIDS dataset 25 has use estimates for only some of the a.s. allowed in the EU; and iii) the JRC estimates on EU pesticide use revealed data availability and accessibility issues and heterogeneity on the use data collected among Member States 26 . The existing monitoring data in soils 5,27 , water 28 and air 29 indicate that mixtures of pesticide residues are the rule rather than the exception, yet (eco)toxicity data on complex mixtures are rarely available, especially for observed concentrations in the environment, realistic mixture ratios, and other than standard toxicity endpoints 30 .…”