Biomonitoring of pesticides by pine needles — Chemical scoring, risk of exposure, levels and trends

Abstract

Vegetation is a useful matrix for the quantification of atmospheric pollutants such as semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs). In particular, pine needles stand out as effective biomonitors due to the excellent uptake properties of their waxy layer. Having previously validated an original and reliable method to analyse pesticides in pine needles, our workteam set the objective of this study to determine the levels of 18 pesticides in Pinus pinea needles collected in 12 different sampling sites in Portugal. These compounds were selected among a total of 70 pesticides by previous chemical scoring, developed to assess their probability to occur in the atmosphere. The risk of exposure was evaluated by the binomial chemical score / frequency of occurrence in the analyzed samples. Levels and trends of the chemical families and target of the pesticides were 2 obtained regarding the type of land occupation of the selected sites, including the use of advanced statistics (principal component analysis, PCA). Finally, some correlations with several characteristics of the sampling sites (population, energy consumption, meteorology, etc) were also investigated.

An analytical multi-residue approach for the determination of semi-volatile organic pollutants in pine needles

“…The implementation of atmospheric monitoring plans is essential to assess the properties and behavior of such contaminants. As opposed to other more onerous approaches, monitoring using vegetation avoids previous sampling site set-up and is arguably the best tool for the estimation of the atmospheric contamination levels at remote or poorly accessible locations [13]. Pine trees proved to be especially suitable, due to their widespread occurrence and the ability to retain lipophilic compounds on their needles, which can remain in the tree for several years [13].…”

“…Gel permeation chromatography (GPC), a separation technique based on molecular size [27], is also used, individually [28] or combined with SPE [29]. Our workgroup has previous experience in the development and validation of analytical methodologies to evaluate the levels of PAHs, OCPs and PBDEs in pine needles [13,26,30]. The current study intends to establish an innovative multicomponent protocol to extract simultaneously four classes of more "traditional" compounds (BFRs, PCBs, PAHs and OCPs) and, for the first time, SMCs from pine needles.…”

Presença de agrotóxicos na atmosfera e risco à saúde humana: uma discussão para a Vigilância em Saúde Ambiental

“…Much in the same way as these, seven other papers 12,13,15,[20][21][22][23] addressed the issue of air contamination by pesticides from the perspective of environmental sciences (environmental monitoring and risk analysis and assessment), while the methodology for assessing the impact and risk of exposure frequently observed in these studies includes, somehow, analyses of public health interest, such as the estimation of risk or carcinogenic potential related to exposure to pesticides, according to risk assessment methodologies proposed by international agencies of the environmental or health sector, such as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO). • 28 papers…”

“…As shown by Ratola et al 21 , rural areas are potentially more polluted than areas close to industries, followed by urban areas, in terms of air pollution by pesticides.…”

“…Finally, of the 12 papers included in the review, six originated from the United States 12-17 , one each from Australia 18 , France 19 , Armenia 20 and Portugal 21 and two in Pakistan 22,23 . These were published in specialized journals in the areas of environmental sciences (n = 9), health (n = 1) and toxicology (n = 2) (Chart 1).…”