Pesticides do not cease to deliver alarming news. It is now known that scientists have discovered as many as 24 new toxic and hazardous substances for humans in the process of breaking down regulated pesticides. These new poisons have not been tracked and noticed until now, but their toxic effects are far greater than those of the original pesticides from which they came.
A study conducted by the Institute for Environmental Diagnostics and Water Studies (IDAEA-CSIC), affiliated to the Supreme Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), in collaboration with the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), discovered 24 new substances derived from water. Degradation of pesticides that have never been detected in the environment to date.
Work published in the journal Environmental Science and TechnologyIt shows how many of these substances are found in the environment, despite the European Union’s regulations for the control of pesticides in agriculture. toxic effects can even exceed those of the original pesticides they are arranged.
These conversion products are substances obtained from the breakdown of pesticides and are formed from chemical reactions after pesticides are applied.
“The amounts found may pose a clear environmental risk given the toxicity of these substances. These compounds have a greater dispersion capacity than the original pesticides and can reach aquifers from which drinking water is extracted. This ability, combined with the fact that its presence in the environment is not monitored, may pose a risk to human health”, states researcher Pablo Gago Ferrero, IDAEA-CSIC CSIC researcher and coordinator of the project.
The research used a new methodology to identify these substances used in Sweden. The study combined analytical chemistry with a systematic review of the distribution of pesticides in the region carried out by European environmental monitoring programs to identify new pesticide conversion products even at minimal concentrations in the environment.
“The majority of new by-products detected exceeded the concentrations of the original pesticides at which they were formed, with higher predicted toxicities. This study, despite the existence of robust environmental control systems, substances with harmful effects are discarded around”, notes Gago Ferrero.
In some cases, the original pesticide cannot be detected in the soil. This may mislead you that there is no medicine and therefore there is no problem. However, there are transformation products of these pesticides.
“Most of these products have never been viewed around. Also, they are not listed in any database. Researcher Gago Ferrero states that as a result of this study, these compounds have been added to the PubChem database and their identification will be easier from now on.
Some of these new substances have already been incorporated into Scandinavian control systems, showing the need to expand this initiative to other countries. This is especially true for countries with large agricultural activities such as Spain, where pesticides are heavily used, and it is necessary to know what by-products are formed as well as their potential harmful effects in order to properly control and prevent the risks involved.
Reference article: DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.1c00466
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