Fungicides

Pesticides have been linked to Parkinson’s disease, declines in cognitive performance, developmental disorders, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in children. Their application has also been tied to environmental issues, such as the collapse of honeybee colonies and the development of resistant pests and weeds. But we know surprisingly little about population-wide health effects of the low doses that are in the foods we eat every day, panelists at the Harvard School of Public Health said Thursday. “We can’t tell for sure if you eat a bowl of salad today for lunch if it will lead to cancer in 10 to 20 years,” said Chensheng Lu, an associate professor of environmental exposure biology at the Harvard School of Public Health. Lu, whose recent research has tracked the mysterious collapse of honeybee colonies to a class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, said that broad studies on the effects of pesticide residue in foods are difficult to do. Funding is hard to attract because there isn’t a specific health impact being investigated. Also, there are daunting challenges to designing a scientifically valid study, stemming from the fact that so much of the population has been raised on foods treated with chemicals.

This study aimed to better elucidate reproductive and possible hormonal effects of the fungicide carbendazim (CBZ) through a review of published toxicological studies as well as an evaluation of this fungicide in the Hershberger and uterotrophic assays, which are designed to detect in vivo effects of the sex hormones. The literature review indicates that CBZ induces reproductive and developmental toxicity through alteration of many key events which are important to spermatogenesis. The lower dose of CBZ (100 mg/kg) evaluated in the Hershberger test increased prostate weight compared to control group but did not alter the weight of other testosterone-dependent tissues. In the uterotrophic assay, CBZ did not induce an estrogenic or an antiestrogenic effect. In the literature, it has been reported that CBZ may: 1) alter the levels of various hormones (testosterone, LH, FSH, GnRH); 2) negatively influence testicular steroidogenesis; 3) have androgenic effects acting directly in the androgenic receptors and/or increasing the expression of androgen receptors. Despite the contradictory results reported by the different studies that investigated a possible endocrine mode of action of CBZ, it seems that this fungicide may influence the hypothalamus-pituitary-gonad axis in addition to being a testicular toxicant.

EFSA has published new guidance that enables scientists to carry out a specialised aspect of environmental exposure assessment for pesticides. The guidance document provides a clear methodology for evaluating studies that measure the time required for the actual degradation of 50 % of a chemical pesticide and its transformation products in soil. This is known as the DegT50 value. Importantly, it allows users to exclude the effects of dissipation, another process that causes pesticide residues to disappear from soil. The guidance is aimed primarily at risk assessors and industry applicants and allows them to derive DegT50 values, critical information for the safety evaluation of pesticides. EFSA has developed the guidance document as part of its ongoing work in the field of pesticides to safeguard the environment. The methodology can be also applied to chemicals released into soil from non-pesticide uses.

Pestizide wirken auf Vögel und Säugetiere entweder direkt durch Vergiftung oder indirekt durch Reduktion der Nahrung und der Deckung. In diesem Bericht behandeln wir vor allem die indirekten Effekte und das dafür erforderliche Risikomanagement. Nach einer jahrzehntelangen Intensivierung der Landwirtschaft in Deutschland befinden sich viele Populationen von Vögeln und Säugetieren der Agrarlandschaft in einem schlechten Erhaltungszustand. Für 27 Vogel- und 22 Säugerarten der Agrarlandschaft stellen wir Daten zu Trend, Habitatwahl (Wahl der Feldfrucht), Bedrohungen und Risiko-Managementmaßnahmen zusammmen. Die indirekte Wirkung von Pestiziden auf Populationsniveau ist für vier europäische Agrarvogelarten und einige Säugerarten außerhalb Europas nachgewiesen.

The extensive use of plant protection products in agriculture is causing increasing harm to farmland birds. This is the conclusion reached in a study done on behalf of the Federal Environment Agency The partridge and skylark in particular are finding less food because, besides killing pests, the chemicals used also kill prey such as butterflies, caterpillars and other insects. In addition, herbicides eliminate wild arable plants on which insects depend on farmland. The result is permanent disruption of the food web. It is possible however to protect biodiversity on fields and grassland. "We need a certain land area where no plant protection agents are spread. Farmland birds, butterflies and bees would then find enough nutrition on such flowering strips and fallow land."