-
Environmental Science and Pollution... May 2023The rise in the global population demands an increasing food supply and methods to boost agricultural production. Pesticides are necessary for agricultural production... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
The rise in the global population demands an increasing food supply and methods to boost agricultural production. Pesticides are necessary for agricultural production models, avoiding losses of close to 40%. Nevertheless, the extensive use of pesticides can cause their accumulation in the environment, causing problems for human health, biota, and ecosystems. Thus, new technologies have emerged to remove these wastes efficiently. In recent years, metal and metal oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) have been reported as promising catalysts to degrade pesticides; however, a systematic understanding of their effect on pesticide degradation is still required. Therefore, this study focused on a meta-analysis of articles available in Elsevier's Scopus and Thomas Reuters Web of Science, found by searching for "nanoparticle pesticide" and "pesticide contamination." After passing different filters, the meta-analysis was performed with 408 observations from 94 reviews, which comprise insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides, including organophosphates, organochlorines, carbamates, triazines, and neonicotinoids. Herein, 14 different MNPs (Ag, Ni, Pd, CoO, BiOBr, Au, ZnO, Fe, TiO, Cu, WO, ZnS, SnO, and Fe), improved pesticide degradation, with the highest degradation rates achieved by Ag (85%) and Ni (82.5%). Additionally, the impact of the MNP functionalization, size, and concentration on pesticide degradation was quantified and compared. In general, the degradation rate increased when the MNPs were functionalized (~ 70%) compared to naked (~ 49%). Also, the particle size significantly affected the degradation of pesticides. To our knowledge, this study is the first meta-analysis performed about the impact of MNPs on pesticide degradation, providing an essential scientific basis for future studies.
Topics: Humans; Pesticides; Ecosystem; Insecticides; Herbicides; Metal Nanoparticles; Oxides
PubMed: 37017842
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-023-26756-1 -
The Science of the Total Environment Dec 2022Application of agricultural pesticides poses health concerns for farmworkers and for local communities due to pesticide drift from spraying or fumigation, pesticide...
Application of agricultural pesticides poses health concerns for farmworkers and for local communities due to pesticide drift from spraying or fumigation, pesticide volatilization into the air, contamination of household dust, as well as direct exposure for people who work in agriculture and their families. In this analysis of pesticide use records for Ventura County, California (USA) from 2016 to 2018, we identified the most prevalent toxicological effects of the pesticides applied. We also developed a cumulative toxicity index that incorporates specific toxicity endpoints for individual pesticides, the severity and strength of association for each endpoint, and the reliability of the data sources. Combining the toxicity index for each pesticide with the pounds applied within each square mile section in Ventura County, we calculated the total toxicity-weighted pesticide use and identified pesticides associated with higher potential risk to health. Analysis of U.S. Census data for Ventura County found a greater percentage of Hispanic/Latino, African American and Asian community members in township sections with a greater volume of pesticides applied and higher toxicity-weighted pesticide use. Similarly, areas with limited economic and social resources had elevated pesticide application overall and elevated toxicity-weighted pesticide use. The combination of toxicological and demographic analyses presented in this study provides information that can support the development of policies to protect public health from excessive exposure to pesticides and better environmental health protection for socially vulnerable populations.
Topics: Humans; Pesticides; Reproducibility of Results; Agriculture; California; Dust; Environmental Exposure
PubMed: 36063919
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158399 -
Dalton Transactions (Cambridge, England... Oct 2020The large-scale use of pesticides such as organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) has led to serious environmental problems worldwide, and... (Review)
Review
The large-scale use of pesticides such as organophosphate pesticides (OPPs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) has led to serious environmental problems worldwide, and their high toxicity could cause serious damage to human health. It is crucial to remove and track them precisely in the environment and food resources. As novel nanomaterials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have attracted significant attention in the fields of adsorption and luminescence sensing due to their rich topology, tunable pore size and shape, high surface area, and abundant active sites. Luminescent metal-organic frameworks (LMOFs) have sprung up as great potential chemical sensors to detect pesticides with fast response, high sensitivity, high selectivity and easy operation. Therefore, in this highlight, we focus on recent progress of MOFs in sensing and adsorbing pesticides, as well as in the possible mechanism of sensing, so as to attract more attention to pesticide detection and adsorption.
Topics: Adsorption; Chemistry Techniques, Analytical; Metal-Organic Frameworks; Pesticides
PubMed: 33030153
DOI: 10.1039/d0dt02623a -
Environmental Science and Pollution... Jun 2022Pesticides have been used to kill pests such as insects, fungi, rodents, and unwanted plants. Since these compounds are potentially toxic to the target organisms, they... (Review)
Review
Pesticides have been used to kill pests such as insects, fungi, rodents, and unwanted plants. Since these compounds are potentially toxic to the target organisms, they could also be harmful to human health and the environment. Several chronic adverse effects have been identified even after months or years of exposure. A few pesticide degradation processes have been studied including adsorption, homogeneous and heterogeneous (photo)catalytic oxidation, and biological methods. Although these methods have been playing a significant part in the pesticide's degradation, there are still gaps in many aspects. Here, we review the catalytic degradation of these pollutants by (metallo)porphyrins. To evaluate the P450 cytochrome's biomimetic behavior of these catalysts, various synthesized porphyrins have been used since 1999 and their activities were summarized in this manuscript. The porphyrins appear to act as good catalysts for the degradation of pesticides; in fact, they also have been shown as a useful tool for the elucidation of their degradation products. Achieving pesticide mineralization without intermediate products is still challenging, although the ability of this kind of catalysts to conduct the formation of some lower toxic products comparing their precursors has been verified.
Topics: Catalysis; Environmental Pollutants; Oxidation-Reduction; Pesticides; Porphyrins
PubMed: 35357647
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-022-19737-3 -
Journal of Agricultural and Food... Sep 2022Trifluoromethylpyridine (TFMP) is a biologically active fragment formed by connecting trifluoromethyl and pyridine ring. As a result of its unique physical and chemical... (Review)
Review
Trifluoromethylpyridine (TFMP) is a biologically active fragment formed by connecting trifluoromethyl and pyridine ring. As a result of its unique physical and chemical properties and outstanding biological activity, a variety of pesticide compounds with the TFMP fragment have been discovered and marketed and have played important roles in crop protection research. It is therefore a timely and valuable task to summarize the rationality on how to create new molecules containing TFMP fragments based on the structure-activity relationships, design mentality, and potential mechanism. This review gives a brief summary on the pesticides containing TFMP fragments in the past 5 years and introduces the latest progress of our group in this field. The aim is to provide readers with a convenient route to touch this topic and hopefully serve some educational purpose for graduate students as well.
Topics: Crop Protection; Humans; Pesticides; Pyridines; Structure-Activity Relationship
PubMed: 35403429
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.1c08383 -
Pest Management Science Jan 2024Biopesticides (commonly called Biocontrol or more recently bioprotection) have been experiencing double digit growth and now comprise about 10% of the global pesticide... (Review)
Review
Biopesticides (commonly called Biocontrol or more recently bioprotection) have been experiencing double digit growth and now comprise about 10% of the global pesticide market driven by increased return on investment, restrictions on chemical pesticides, and pesticide resistance and residue management. However, despite the large need for new herbicides due to widespread and increasing resistance to herbicides with almost most of the chemical modes of action, bioherbicides are an insignificant percentage of the total. The technical difficulty in finding bioherbicides that can compete with the spectrum and price of chemical herbicides has left agriculture with a paucity of new bioherbicides. Billions of dollars of investment capital are being invested in new, innovative startups, but only a small number focus on bioherbicide discovery and development, due to a perception of higher risk than plant biotech, biostimulants, bionutrients and other categories of biopesticides. However, the exciting new technologies that these startups are developing such as RNAi, sterile pollen, and systemic metabolites have potential to impact the market in 10 years or less. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.
Topics: Biological Control Agents; Pesticides; Herbicides; Agriculture
PubMed: 36765405
DOI: 10.1002/ps.7403 -
The Science of the Total Environment Jul 2022Traditional forms of agriculture have created and preserved heterogeneous landscapes characterized by semi-natural meadows and pastures, which have high conversation...
Traditional forms of agriculture have created and preserved heterogeneous landscapes characterized by semi-natural meadows and pastures, which have high conversation value for biodiversity. Landscapes in Central and Eastern European countries with traditional agriculture are a stronghold for pollinators, butterflies and amphibians, which have declined in other parts of Europe. Despite different landscape structures, agriculture-associated pesticide exposure in streams can be similarly high as in Western Europe. This raises the question whether the heterogeneous landscape can buffer a temporary water quality decline by agriculture. We investigated the influence of landscape heterogeneity and water quality, in particular pesticide exposure, on macroinvertebrate communities in 19 small streams in Central Romania. We sampled the macroinvertebrate community, assessed the ecosystem function of leaf litter decomposition and analyzed the parasite prevalence in Baetis sp. and Gammarus balcanicus. No association between pesticide toxicity towards macroinvertebrates and several macroinvertebrate metrics was found. However, the level of pesticide toxicity was generally high, constituting a rather short gradient, and the pesticide indicator SPEAR implied pesticide-driven community change in all sites. Landscape heterogeneity and forested upstream sections were among the most important drivers for the macroinvertebrate metrics, indicating increased dispersal and recolonization success. Agricultural land use in the catchment was negatively associated with vulnerable macroinvertebrate taxa such as Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera. G. balcanicus dominated the shredder taxa and its abundance was positively associated with the pesticide indicator SPEAR. Parasite prevalence in G. balcanicus increased with extensive land use (pastures and forests), whereas it decreased with arable land. Our results suggest that heterogeneous landscapes with structures of low-intensive land use may buffer the effects of agricultural land use and facilitate dispersal and recolonization processes of pesticide-affected macroinvertebrate communities.
Topics: Agriculture; Animals; Butterflies; Ecosystem; Environmental Monitoring; Invertebrates; Pesticides; Plant Leaves; Rivers
PubMed: 35302011
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.154549 -
The diabetogenic effects of pesticides: Evidence based on epidemiological and toxicological studies.Environmental Pollution (Barking, Essex... Aug 2023While the use of pesticides has improved grain productivity and controlled vector-borne diseases, the widespread use of pesticides has resulted in ubiquitous... (Review)
Review
While the use of pesticides has improved grain productivity and controlled vector-borne diseases, the widespread use of pesticides has resulted in ubiquitous environmental residues that pose health risks to humans. A number of studies have linked pesticide exposure to diabetes and glucose dyshomeostasis. This article reviews the occurrence of pesticides in the environment and human exposure, the associations between pesticide exposures and diabetes based on epidemiological investigations, as well as the diabetogenic effects of pesticides based on the data from in vivo and in vitro studies. The potential mechanisms by which pesticides disrupt glucose homeostasis include induction of lipotoxicity, oxidative stress, inflammation, acetylcholine accumulation, and gut microbiota dysbiosis. The gaps between laboratory toxicology research and epidemiological studies lead to an urgent research need on the diabetogenic effects of herbicides and current-use insecticides, low-dose pesticide exposure research, the diabetogenic effects of pesticides in children, and assessment of toxicity and risks of combined exposure to multiple pesticides with other chemicals.
Topics: Child; Humans; Pesticides; Insecticides; Herbicides; Diabetes Mellitus
PubMed: 37268216
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121927 -
Pest Management Science Feb 2021Pesticide drift is a serious environmental and safety concern that affects all of US agriculture. A number of mitigation techniques to reduce pesticide drift have been...
BACKGROUND
Pesticide drift is a serious environmental and safety concern that affects all of US agriculture. A number of mitigation techniques to reduce pesticide drift have been recommended by industry, academic and government agencies. These techniques are very costly or reduce the efficacy of the pest control product and have not been implemented by US agriculture.
RESULTS
When using a novel spray technique (Air-in), pesticide drift was significantly reduced by between 53% and 99% at 7.6 m from the orchard drip line when compared to the grower standard. This technique not only reduced pesticide drift, but also maintained or improved the amount of pesticide residue deposited (by 0.7-2.6-fold) and the percentage pesticide coverage (by 1.0-1.4-fold) with different air-blast speed sprayers on almond, walnut and pistachio.
CONCLUSION
The Air-in technique shows great promise in reducing pesticide drift while maintaining or improving pesticide coverage with minimal cost to the grower.
Topics: Agriculture; Humans; Pesticide Residues; Pesticides; Population Health; Prunus dulcis
PubMed: 32949089
DOI: 10.1002/ps.6094 -
Zhongguo Zhong Yao Za Zhi = Zhongguo... Jun 2022Chinese medicinal materials are the precious resources of China and favored by patients at home and abroad because of their natural sources and curative effects.... (Review)
Review
Chinese medicinal materials are the precious resources of China and favored by patients at home and abroad because of their natural sources and curative effects. Pesticides are often used to prevent and control diseases and insect pests and regulate the growth of Chinese medicinal plants, so as to improve the yield and quality of Chinese medicinal materials. Most of the pesticides can play a role in pest control through systemic action, stomach toxicity, contact, fumigation and other ways, especially the systemic pesticides can kill hidden pests by entering the Chinese medicinal plants. Despite the good pest control effect, it is difficult to remove the systemic pesticides by simple cleaning, which poses a great risk to the safety of Chinese medicinal materials. At the same time, excessive or non-standard use of pesticides leads to serious pesticide residues in Chinese medicinal materials, which affects not only the quality and efficacy of the materials and harm human health but also the international development of Chinese medicinal materials industry. Pesticide residues have become a bottleneck affecting the industry development and hindering the export of Chinese medicinal materials. Therefore, it is of great significance to study how to quickly, sensitively, and accurately detect and remove pesticide residues in Chinese medicinal materials. We reviewed the common pesticide residues in Chinese medicinal materials in recent years in terms of characteristics, harm, and detection and removal techniques, and discussed the future development of the detection and removal deve-lopment. With this review, we aimed to provide a reference for the quality control of Chinese medicinal materials and promote the healthy development of Chinese medicine industry.
Topics: Fumigation; Humans; Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Pesticide Residues; Pesticides; Plants, Medicinal
PubMed: 35718510
DOI: 10.19540/j.cnki.cjcmm.20211209.102