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

• Published in: Environmental Science & Technology
• Main Authors: Mayer, Ludovic, Degrendele, Céline, Šenk, Petr, Kohoutek, Jiři, Přibylová, Petra, Kukučka, Petr, Melymuk, Lisa, Durand, Amandine, Ravier, Sylvain, Alastuey, Andrés, Baker, Alex R., Baltensperger, Urs, Baumann-Stanzer, Kathrin, Biermann, Tobias, Bohlin-Nizzetto, Pernilla, Ceburnis, Darius, Conil, Sébastien, Couret, Cédric, Degórska, Anna, Diapouli, Evangelia, Eckhardt, Sabine, Eleftheriadis, Konstantinos, Forster, Grant L., Freier, Korbinian, Gheusi, François, Gini, Maria I., Hellén, Heidi, Henne, Stephan, Herrmann, Hartmut, Holubová Šmejkalová, Adéla, Hõrrak, Urmas, Hüglin, Christoph, Junninen, Heikki, Kristensson, Adam, Langrene, Laurent, Levula, Janne, Lothon, Marie, Ludewig, Elke, Makkonen, Ulla, Matejovičová, Jana, Mihalopoulos, Nikolaos, Mináriková, Veronika, Moche, Wolfgang, Noe, Steffen M., Pérez, Noemí, Petäjä, Tuukka, Pont, Véronique, Poulain, Laurent, Quivet, Etienne, Ratz, Gabriela, Rehm, Till, Reimann, Stefan, Simmons, Ivan, Sonke, Jeroen E., Sorribas, Mar, Spoor, Ronald, Swart, Daan P. J., Vasilatou, Vasiliki, Wortham, Henri, Yela, Margarita, Zarmpas, Pavlos, Zellweger Fäsi, Claudia, Tørseth, Kjetil, Laj, Paolo, Klánová, Jana, Lammel, Gerhard
• Other Authors: orcid:
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 2024
• Subjects: Transport; Atmosphere; Degradation; Pesticides; Risk assessment; Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; Take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts; Arctic; Jenny; Lyngra; Pique; Climate change
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10261/351474; https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.3c08488; https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85187303663

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. The authors thank Yannick Bezombes, Jean-Marc Fort, Achim Grüner, Hilja Iher, Marcin Jackowicz-Korczyński, Olav Lien, Reidar Lyngra, Helge T. Markussen, Eric Pique, René Rabe, and Tomáš Ištok for on-site help, Cecilia Akselsson, Jenny Kreuger, and Cornelius Zetzsch for discussion, and Franz Conen, Gabriele Frank, Radovan Krejci, Thomas Werner, Paul Zieger, and MeteoSwiss for supporting field data. The study received support from the National Facilities of the ACTRIS (Aerosol, Clouds and Trace gases Research Infrastructure) and EMEP (Co-operative Programme for Monitoring and Evaluation of the Long-range Transmission of Air Pollutants in Europe) network of platforms. The ARN and MSY sites were supported by the European Regional Development Fund in Spain related to LifeWatch ERIC (INDALO, LIFEWATCH-2019-04-AMA-01). The HTM site was supported by the Swedish Environmental Protection ...