Figure 4 - uploaded by Lars Neumeister
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Treatment Frequency Index (TFI) In Germany over time (Graphs A, B, C) and pesticide load (toxicity & fate x amounts sold) per hectare in Denmark 2013. The TFI reflects the number of applications at full recommended dose. A higher TFI shows higher pesticide use intensity.
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The report examines the use of synthetic chemical pesticides in Europe and their widespread and severe environmental impacts. It describes how pesticides degrade some essential ecosystem services
and suggests tighter regulations and recommends key measures towards more sustainable agriculture.
Citations
... Further, land use issues can amplify adverse effects on ecosystems and ecosystem services (Christ & Burrit, 2013). Further, as illustrated by research summarized by Reuter & Neumeister (2015), health risks arising from the use of toxic agrochemicals can extend from the people working and living on farms to people living in the region. Meanwhile, wine is central to the culture and the economy of the world`s wine-growing areas. ...
... Extensive studies of their potential toxicity to biological systems highlight direct or indirect harmful effects on soil, environment, surface and ground water, natural flora and fauna and aquatic life, putting essential ecosystem services such as pollination, natural pest control, purification of water, nutrient cycling, and soil fertility at stake (e.g. Reuter & Neumeister, 2015;Rashid et al., 2010;Boutz and Stack, 1986). ...
... Via leaching and drainage, an average of 1% and up to 5% can reach the groundwater by lateral and vertical infiltration (Carter 2000). From contaminated soil water or contaminated small water bodies, pesticides can infiltrate ground water, surface waters including rivers, sediments and oceans, depending on solubility and persistence (Reuter & Neumeister, 2015). In the Western Cape, pesticides were detected in the Berg River. ...
At the onset of this project in 2017, key elements of sustainability in South
African vineyards were neither broadly implemented nor adequately analysed.
This report seeks to objectively expand our understanding of how best to
advance environmental and social objectives. In doing so, we considered
future climate change impacts, which will shape grape production in the
upcoming decades. In fact, while the production potential of South African
vineyards has already been limited by water availability, the projected increase
in water scarcity will put additional strain on the agricultural sector, but also
on other human activities and the natural ecosystems. Therefore, we argue that
adapting to the expected changes is of utmost importance to the South African
wine industry and has to be integrated in any sectoral or individual
sustainability strategy.
Our interdisciplinary research project based on an on-farm trial addresses the
following questions for vineyards in the Western Cape:
1. Do winter cover crops, a key measure to increase biodiversity and reduce
herbicide applications, reduce yields?
2. What is the effect of a mulch cover on yield and main soil parameters?
3. How can human toxicity and environmental toxicity be reduced while
effectively protecting the crop?
4. What is the Carbon Footprint of South African wine grapes and what are
effective mitigation options?
5. What is the water usage of wine grapes and what are the related effects on
the ecosystem and human activities (Water Footprint Assessment)?
... Limitations and ongoing/planned activities to address them Although considered the strictest pesticide regulatory system in the world (Handford et al., 2015), even the European pesticide system has shortcomings (Buckwell et al., 2020;EC-SAM, 2018;Neumeister and Reuter, 2015;Zeitlin et al., 2021). The main ones relate to: i) Low representativity of pre-approval risk assessments. ...
... Biomonitoring and environmental monitoring data of pesticides could provide some insights on use and risk, but data are limited to certain matrices and substances (ECA, 2020). Environmental risk characterization in RMS/EFSA reports is performed with exposure proxies missing field validation [e.g., predicted environmental concentrations in soil, PECs; (Neumeister and Reuter, 2015)]. ...
... The acute earthworm toxicity was replaced by toxicity to beneficial organisms (parasitoids, invertebrate predator) important for natural pest control. Pesticides disrupting natural pest control can have severe effects on the agro-ecosystem and lead to even more pesticide use (see Reuter & Neumeister 2015). Additionally, the data on acute earthworm toxicity are less differentiated: Most values for Active Ingredients authorized in the EU given are ">500" or ">1000" (mg/kg; LC50 14 days) and the commonly tested compost worm (Eisenia fetida) is a rather insensitive test species (Shahla & D'Souza 2010, Pelosi et al. 2014). ...
... Pesticides and other chemicals commonly occur together in the human body as well as in the environment (e.g. Reuter & Neumeister 2015), but an evaluation of potential cumulative effects would require an exposure assessment, because it is impossible to evaluate each combination of each chemical. A grey italic 10 is for information only -no cut-off criterion (see Chapter "Blacklist Criteria"). ...
The third edition of “The Blacklist of Pesticides” focuses on the 520 active ingredients authorized
for use in the European Union. This catalogue of pesticides is not just a list of substances classified
according to their potential human health and environmental hazard but foremost a tool to
identify and discourage the use of pesticides with high toxicity. Since no criteria has been adopted
yet to define endocrine disrupting chemical (EDC) pesticides the blacklist could not cover all
potentially EDC pesticides. The list will in the future be broadened to include all pesticides with
endocrine disrupting properties.
The study is an essential tool for producers, retailers and others in the food chain to immediately
ban the most hazardous pesticide agents from the production chain. This first step is a vital one
towards minimizing and ultimately replacing synthetic pesticides in farming with non-chemical
practices where pests and diseases can be effectively managed.
Compared to the two previous versions of “The Blacklist of Pesticides”, this new one takes into
account extra criteria for hazard evaluation, updates all existing data and supplements the content
with new material. For instance, further criteria to assess environmental impacts such as toxicity
to aquatic and beneficial organisms have been added. New criteria have been included to judge
pesticides’ environmental fate, such as plant half life, leaching potential and volatility.
Synthetic pesticides are indispensable in intensive agricultural productions. For decades these compounds served as backbone in insect pest management. Due to persistence and pervasiveness of millions of tonnes of synthetic chemical pesticides applied, almost every ecosystem has received a negative impact. In the present chapter an effort has been made to highlight the environmental contaminations caused by synthetic chemical pesticides, their adverse effects on human health and other non target organisms, the development of resistance in target insect pests, along with the degradation of synthetic pesticides.
