Chiral pesticides currently constitute about 25% of all pesticides used, and this ratio is increasing as more complex structures are introduced. Chirality occurs widely in synthetic pyrethroids and organophosphates, which are the mainstay of modern insecticides. Despite the great public concerns associated with the use of insecticides, the environmental significance of chirality in currently used insecticides is poorly understood. In this study, we resolved enantiomers of a number of synthetic pyrethroid and organophosphate insecticides on chiral selective columns and evaluated the occurrence of enantioselectivity in aquatic toxicity and biodegradation. Dramatic differences between enantiomers were observed in their acute toxicity to the freshwater invertebrates Ceriodaphnia dubia and Daphnia magna, suggesting that the aquatic toxicity is primarily attributable to a specific enantiomer in the racemate. In field sediments, the (؊) enantiomer of cis-bifenthrin or cispermethrin was preferentially degraded, resulting in relative enrichment of the (؉) enantiomer. Enantioselective degradation was also observed during incubation of sediments under laboratory conditions. Enantioselectivity in these processes is expected to result in ecotoxicological effects that cannot be predicted from our existing knowledge and must be considered in future risk assessment and regulatory decisions. chiral contaminants ͉ chirality ͉ enantiomers ͉ chiral pesticides ͉ chiral selectivity T he significance of molecular chirality is widely recognized in life sciences (1, 2). A lesser-known fact is that many modern pesticides also contain chiral structures and thus consist of enantiomers (3, 4). About 25% of currently used pesticides are chiral, and this ratio is increasing as compounds with more complex structures are introduced into use (3). Enantiomers of the same compound have identical physical-chemical properties and thus appear as a single compound in standard analysis. For economic reasons, chiral pesticides are primarily used as mixtures of enantiomers, or racemates. However, enantiomers are known to selectively interact with biological systems that are usually enantioselective and may behave as drastically different compounds. The role of enantioselectivity in environmental safety is poorly understood for pesticides, and the knowledge gap is reflected in that the great majority of chiral pesticides are used and regulated as if they were achiral, that is, single compounds.Studies on chiral pesticides started to appear in the early 1990s (4,(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12). Studies so far show that microbial degradation of chiral pesticides is commonly enantioselective. As one enantiomer is preferentially degraded, the enantiomer ratio (ER), defined as the ratio of (ϩ) enantiomers to (Ϫ) enantiomers, increasingly deviates from the original value (typically 1.0) (8, 9). Enantioselectivity was found to result in changes of ER in ␣-HCH along the polar bear food chain, causing ER to increase from Ϸ1.0 in cod to 2.3 in liver samples of polar be...