Aquatic risk assessment of pesticides in Latin America

Abstract

Latin America is anticipated to be a major growth market for agriculture and production is increasing with use of technologies such as pesticides. Reports of contamination of aquatic ecosystems by pesticides in Latin America have raised concerns about potential for adverse ecological effects. In the registration process of pesticides, all countries require significant data packages on aquatic toxicology and environmental fate. However, there are usually no specific requirements to conduct an aquatic risk assessment. To address this issue, the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry organized a workshop that brought together scientists from academia, government, and industry to review and elaborate on aquatic risk assessment frameworks that can be implemented into regulation of pesticides in Latin America. The workshop concluded that the international framework for risk assessments (protection goals, effects, and exposure assessments, risk characterization, and risk mitigation) is broadly applicable in Latin America but needs further refinement for the use in the region. Some of the challenges associated with these refinements are discussed in the article. It was recognized that there is potential for data sharing both within and outside of the region where conditions are similar. However, there is a need for research to compare local species and environmental conditions to those in other jurisdictions to be able to evaluate the applicability of data used in other countries. Development should also focus on human resources as there is a need to build local capacity and capability, and scientific collaboration and exchange between stakeholders in industry, government, and academia is also important. The meeting also emphasized that, although establishing a regionally relevant risk assessment framework is important, this also needs to be accompanied by enforcement of developed regulations and good management practices to help protect aquatic habitats. Education, training, and communication efforts are needed to achieve this.

Fishing with Pesticides Affects River Fisheries and Community Health in the Indio Maíz Biological Reserve, Nicaragua

“…Risk assessment unique to species and environmental conditions in Latin American countries are generally lacking, which limits the ability to effectively mitigate impacts from pesticides to aquatic ecosystems in the region [43]. In general in Nicaragua, human poisoning from pesticide use has occurred at a high rate for decades [44], affecting both pesticide users and their families [45], though it has been consistently underreported [46].…”

Enantioselective Bioaccumulation of the Chiral Insecticide Indoxacarb in Zebrafish (Danio rerio)

“…However, pesticides are likely to enter the aquatic environment through rain washes or surface runoff (Vryzas et al 2011; Lefrancq et al 2013). Residual pesticides in the aquatic environment may damage the water ecosystem and cause serious harm to nontarget aquatic organisms, even threaten human health (Sun et al 2009; Carriquiriborde et al 2014; Wei et al 2015; Zheng et al 2016; Deknock et al 2019). Approximately 30% of currently registered pesticide active ingredients contain one or more chiral centers (Sekhon 2009).…”

Options to Support Sustainable Trajectories in a Rural Landscape: Drivers, Rural Processes, and Local Perceptions in a Colombian Coffee-Growing Region

“…In contrast, the growing demand within the regions and from major urban centres for specific commodities (e.g., poultry and dairy production) has facilitated the intensification of agricultural production of those specific commodities, bringing new economic opportunities but also additional environmental challenges in dynamic and better-connected rural regions [48][49][50]. Finally, the lack of clear regulations and adequate governance has often led to unsustainable trajectories in many rural regions because of increased demand for limited resources (particularly land and water), environmental pollution (e.g., water pollution, garbage disposal, and pesticide misuse), and reduced tree cover across the landscape [17,48,[51][52][53]. Given the limited spatial extent of this research, future studies could analyse more and/or contrasting case studies to confirm and provide a more detailed analysis on the synergies and trade-offs between different rural processes.…”