When considering the presence of pesticides in our environment, you might think about the outside world: soil, groundwater, sediment and crops are all contaminated with pesticide residues. But pesticides are also present in the indoor environment and accumulate in house dust. Researchers from CIEMAT have analyzed 128 dust samples from farmer households and 40 samples from non-farmer households. Results were remarkable: Even samples from non-farmer households contain 57 different pesticides (median). Many of these compounds have been banned from agricultural application in Europe, but can persist in house dust for extensive periods of time.. Not a single sample was free from pesticide residues. Almost half of the pesticides measured are recognized as highly hazardous, and their presence in indoor dust may be of risk to human health. Potential effects of exposure to these pesticides include reproductive effects and hormone disturbances, irritation of the skin, eyes and respiratory tract, and cancer.…
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Wednesday, 21 June 2023 16:09
Integrated pest management (IPM) in practice: an overview.
Written by Honor Mackley-Ward
Integrated Pest Management (IPM) is an ecosystems-based approach to managing pests. It emphasises reducing the negative impacts of pest management on agro-ecosystems, through using natural pest control (such as supporting a healthy ladybird population, which helps control aphids), improving crop resilience, and minimising the use of pesticides. IPM was developed in response to the negative impacts of synthetic pesticide use, which makes it particularly relevant for SPRINT’s work. Synthetic pesticides emerged at scale from technologies developed during the second world war, and led to radical changes in agricultural pest management. However, pesticide resistance amongst target pest species and negative environmental and human health impacts associated with pesticide use soon emerged. By the 1950s, practices which align with the modern principle of IPM were being used to combat these impacts, and the term ‘IPM’ coined in the US in 1967. Over recent years, the term has been adopted by a…
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Wednesday, 23 November 2022 09:27
Pesticides and Human Health: an Overview
Written by Honor Mackley-Ward
Source: Canva Pro Pesticides, including herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides, and also known as plant protection products, are used globally in agriculture and a number of other industries. This article explores the interactions between pesticides and human health, a subject at the core of SPRINT’s ongoing work.
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In the past year, we have gathered hundreds of samples across the SPRINT case study sites (Click here for more information). Many of these samples will be used in microbiome analyses, including: soil samples, gut samples from fish, fecal samples from humans and livestock, and nasal swabs from humans. We will analyse the composition of microbes in these samples. All of these samples contain millions of bacteria, fungi and other micro-organisms, which in combination, are called the microbiome.
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Tuesday, 01 February 2022 18:25
Agricultural pesticide use in Argentina: The extent, the risks, and the challenges
Written by Charlotte Chivers
Argentina is the only non-European case study site included in SPRINT. We included Argentina in our project because it is the main exporter of soy for animal feed in Europe. In addition, this allows us to compare our findings in Europe against those in South America, where pesticides are often applied more frequently and in greater volumes. Argentina, our chosen case study, is the third biggest pesticide user in the world, with only China and the US using more. In addition, several of the pesticides used in Argentina are no longer approved for use across the EU, so this case study will provide insights into the risks of imported chemicals. This article provides an overview of farming in Argentina before examining the extent of pesticide reliance and the potential risks of current usage.
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Wednesday, 13 January 2021 13:24
The UK governments’ decision to allow the emergency use of a neonicotinoid: unravelling the complexities
Written by Charlotte Chivers
On Friday 8th January, the UK government decided to allow the use of a neonicotinoid-based pesticide, thiamethoxam in emergencies. They had previously pledged to maintain a ban on this chemical in line with the EU’s stance towards neonicotinoids. The UK is not the only country to make this decision, with 11 others also permitting the use of this pesticide in emergencies. These countries include Belgium, Denmark and Spain. These are not the first European countries to lift the ban of thiamethoxam on sugar beet fields; France has already lifted their ban on neonicotinoids. The news headlines and Twitter uproar resulting from this decision suggests that the public are unhappy with this decision.
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Monday, 11 January 2021 17:35
When medicine feeds the problem: Are pesticides feeding crop pests?
Written by Charlotte Chivers
SPRINT recently attended a fascinating talk at the Oxford Real Farming Conference. Researchers from the University of Edinburgh shared their findings surrounding why pesticides may, paradoxically, benefit crop pests. The research was born from the work by a French agronomist, Francis Chaboussou.
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Monday, 12 October 2020 11:48
Plant protection products: The what, the why and the how
Charlotte Chivers
What are ‘plant protection products’? The term ‘plant protection product’ refers to ‘pesticides’. These chemicals are used by farmers, gardeners and foresters to protect crops and increase their yields. Pesticides contain active ingredients such as toxic chemicals, plant extracts, pheromones, micro-organisms or viruses for controlling unwanted ‘pests’. These ‘pests’ can include insects (insecticides), fungi (fungicides) or plants (herbicides). Due to the risks associated with PPPs, European regulations[1] place limits on how they are used. These regulations are based on the risks to human and environmental health associated with the active ingredients of PPPs.
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