Pesticides can travel great distances

Everyone knows not to eat yellow snow. But what about the seemingly harmless, white fluffy stuff? According to research by Claudia Sheedy of the Lethbridge Research Centre, and others, snow is full of pesticides. Sheedy, a research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, was one of several experts who shared their findings from a variety of studies, including the investigation of pesticides in the snowpack. Sheedy said scientists have been studying and finding pesticides in surface water since about 2006, including pesticides that aren’t even used in Canada. That suggests atmospheric transportation. In other words, pesticides become airborne and are carried from one location to another before returning to the ground when it rains and snows. The issue is a global one, Sheedy said, and evidence shows that some pesticides found in the Rocky Mountain snowpack may have come from as far away as Eastern Asia. Likewise, it’s possible pesticides southern Alberta farmers put on their land can become airborne and carried as far away as Eastern Canada.
Source: Lethbridge Herald, July 26, 2016
http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/local-news/2016/07/26/pesticides-can-t…