Spray drift is one of the main sources of pesticide contamination. For this reason, an accurate understanding of this phenomenon is necessary in order to limit its effects. Nowadays, spray drift is usually studied by using in situ collectors which only allow time-integrated sampling of specific points of the pesticide clouds. Previous research has demonstrated that the light detection and rangi...

Wild bee communities provide underappreciated but critical agricultural pollination services. Given predicted global shortages in pollination services, managing agroecosystems to support thriving wild bee communities is, therefore, central to ensuring sustainable food production. Benefits of natural (including semi-natural) habitat for wild bee abundance and diversity on farms are well document...

Pesticide transport by surface runoff depends on climate, agricultural practices, topography, soil characteristics, crop type, and pest phenology. To accurately assess the impact of climate change, these factors must be accounted for in a single framework by integrating their interaction and uncertainty. This article presents the development and application of a framework to assess the impact o...

BACKGROUND Telomere length (TL) in surrogate tissues may be influenced by environmental exposures. OBJECTIVE We aimed to determine whether lifetime pesticides use is associated with buccal cell TL. METHODS We examined buccal cell TL in relation to lifetime use of 48 pesticides for 1,234 cancer-free white male pesticide applicators in the Agricultural Health Study (AHS), a prospective cohort...

Potential Application to Studies of Pesticide Transport to California Ground Water. The purpose of this memo is to briefly summarize (i) methods for distinguishing different source contributions to shallow ground water using stable isotope markers, and (ii) methods for age-dating shallow ground waters using various environmental tracers. I. INTRODUCTION The Pesticide Contamination Prevention Ac...

Synthetic pesticides are extensively used in agriculture to control harmful pests and prevent crop yield losses or product damage. Because of high biological activity and, in certain cases, long persistence in the environment, pesticides may cause undesirable effects to human health and to the environment. Farmers are routinely exposed to high levels of pesticides, usually much greater than tho...

BACKGROUND Pesticides are widely used in agriculture, and off-target pesticide drift exposes workers and the public to harmful chemicals. OBJECTIVE We estimated the incidence of acute illnesses from pesticide drift from outdoor agricultural applications and characterized drift exposure and illnesses. METHODS Data were obtained from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health's...

The aim of this study was to evaluate the application of quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged and safe method for simultaneous determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and pesticide residues in fresh herbs. In the experiment two extraction solvents and standard types of sorbents were used. The extracts were analyzed using GC-SIM-MS. The results suggest that acetonitrile is more suitab...

Several Belgian beekeepers were asked to shut down their hives due to withering of the hive. The cause of the withering was unknown. A multi-factoral study was initiated, which included a multi-class pesticide residue study from honey, to determine if pesticides were the cause of the decline. The extensive distribution of pesticides causes bees that have been fed on contaminated blossoms to tra...

Pesticide use reduces the variation in crop yields at expense of potentially negative consequences to farmers and their family members. This article examines trade-off between decreasing production risk increasing health ambiguity because pesticide use. We find that under ambiguity, application decreases outcomes, whereas risk, it expected value outcomes. Health insurance protects from damage b...