Status Report on Neonicotinoid Pollution in Japan: Emphasis on Human, Animal, and Environmental Health

Abstract

Neonicotinoid insecticides are exclusively used for insect control in many parts of the globe. Since early 1992, various neonicotinoid active compounds have been used for pest control in Japan. At present, all seven major neonicotinoid active compounds, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, dinotefuran, clothianidin, thiamethoxam, thiacloprid, and nitenpyram, are used in Japan, and the total shipment amount of these chemicals in the country was estimated 337.9 tons in 2022. Due to the massive neonicotinoid application in Japan, concerns have been raised about their potential infiltrations into nontarget ecosystems and their effects on human and ecological species. These concerns have inspired several studies, extensively investigating the environmental contamination levels and exposure tendencies in humans and several other invertebrate species. The current status report harmonized the up-to-date data on neonicotinoids in Japan and identified the incoherencies or knowledge gaps existing in the neonicotinoid literature reported in Japan. The report further summarized extensive neonicotinoid publications globally to illustrate the distributions of various neonicotinoid compounds in agricultural soils and surface waters and their exposures in humans and nontarget animal species. This report represents a few perspectives with detailed data from Japan into perspective.