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

Ludovic MayerCéline DegrendelePetr ŠenkJiři KohoutekPetra PřibylováPetr KukučkaLisa MelymukAmandine DurandSylvain RavierAndres AlastueyAlex R BakerUrs BaltenspergerKathrin Baumann-StanzerTobias BiermannPernilla Bohlin-NizzettoDarius CeburnisSébastien ConilCédric CouretAnna DegórskaEvangelia DiapouliSabine EckhardtKonstantinos EleftheriadisGrant L ForsterKorbinian FreierFrançois GheusiMaria I GiniHeidi HellénStephan HenneHartmut HerrmannAdéla Holubová ŠmejkalováUrmas HõrrakChristoph HüglinHeikki JunninenAdam KristenssonLaurent LangreneJanne LevulaMarie LothonElke LudewigUlla MakkonenJana MatejovičováNikolaos MihalopoulosVeronika MinárikováWolfgang MocheSteffen M NoeNoemí PérezTuukka PetäjäVéronique PontLaurent PoulainEtienne QuivetGabriela RatzTill RehmStefan ReimannIvan SimmonsJeroen E SonkeMar SorribasRonald SpoorDaan P J SwartVasiliki VasilatouHenri WorthamMargarita YelaPavlos ZarmpasClaudia Zellweger FäsiKjetil TørsethPaolo LajJana KlánováGerhard Lammel
Published in: Environmental science & technology (2024)
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.
Keyphrases
  • risk assessment
  • human health
  • heavy metals
  • particulate matter
  • climate change
  • south africa
  • carbon dioxide
  • air pollution
  • drinking water
  • gas chromatography
  • single molecule
  • simultaneous determination