Endosulfan, a global pesticide: a review of its fate in the environment and occurrence in the Arctic.

Cypermethrin has the potential to induce hepatic oxidative stress, DNA damage and apoptosis in adult zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Worldwide use of pesticide has increased dramatically during the last two decades. As a consequence, pesticide residues and their transformation products are frequently found in groundwater and surface waters. This review summarizes information about polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), some chlorophenols; it mainly empathizes on pesticides, their incorporation into the environment, microorganisms involved in their degradation and, some physicochemical aspects of pesticides behavior in soils. Details about residues of pesticides in groundwater and superficial water found in some foreign countries and in Chile are reported, as well. The fungal degradation of organic pollutants (xenobiotics) is considered as an effective method to remove these pollutants from the environment by a process which is currently known as bioremediation. Therefore, the degradation of pesticides by soil microorganisms with particular attention to white-rot fungi is also addressed. Finally, a simple and effective system (biobed) to minimize environmental contamination from pesticide manipulation, especially when filling the spraying equipment, a typical point source of contamination, is presented here.

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Biological aspects involved in the degradation of organic pollutants

Screening 31 endocrine-disrupting pesticides in water and surface sediment samples from Beijing Guanting reservoir.

Pesticide levels in surface waters in an agricultural-forestry basin in Southern Chile.

Within the last 25 years an intensive agriculture has developed in the highland regions of Mato Grosso state (Brazil), which involves frequent pesticide use in highly mechanized cash-crop cultures. To provide information on pesticide distribution and dynamics in the northeastern Pantanal basin (located in southern Mato Grosso), we monitored 29 pesticides and 3 metabolites in surface water, sediment, and rainwater of the study area during the main application season. In environmental samples, 19 pesticides and 3 metabolites were detected in measurable quantities, resulting in at least one pesticide detection in 68% of surface water samples (n = 139), 62% of sediment samples (n = 26), and 87% of rainwater samples (n = 91). Surface water samples were most frequently contaminated by endosulfan compounds (alpha-, beta-, -sulfate), ametryn, metolachlor, and metribuzin, although in low (< 0.1 microgram L-1) concentrations. Sediment samples exhibited concentrations up to 4.5 micrograms kg-1 of p,p'-DDT, p,p'-DDE, endosulfan-sulfate, beta-endosulfan, and ametryn. In contrast, rainwater was polluted with substantial amounts of endosulfan, alachlor, metolachlor, trifluralin, monocrotofos, and profenofos (maximum concentrations = 0.3 to 2.3 micrograms L-1) in the highlands. Lowland rainwater samples taken 75 km from the next application area contained 5- to 10-fold lower mean pesticide concentration than in the highlands. Cumulative deposition rates of the pesticide sum within the study period ranged from 423 micrograms m-2 in the highlands to 14 micrograms m-2 in the lowlands. The atmospheric input of pesticides to ecosystems seemed to be of higher relevance in the tropical study area than known from temperate regions.

Matthias Wantzen

Papers

Pesticides in surface water, sediment, and rainfall of the northeastern Pantanal basin, Brazil.