Applied pesticide toxicity shifts toward plants and invertebrates, even in GM crops

Pesticide impacts are usually discussed in the context of applied amounts while disregarding the large but environmentally relevant variations in substance-specific toxicity. Here, we systemically interpret changes in the use of 381 pesticides over 25 years by considering 1591 substance-specific acu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 372; no. 6537; p. 81
Main Authors: Schulz, Ralf, Bub, Sascha, Petschick, Lara L, Stehle, Sebastian, Wolfram, Jakob
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: United States 02.04.2021
Subjects:
Animals
Aquatic Organisms - drug effects
Crops, Agricultural
Glycine max
Herbicides - toxicity
Insecticides - toxicity
Invertebrates - drug effects
Neonicotinoids - toxicity
Pesticides - toxicity
Plants - drug effects
Plants, Genetically Modified
Pyrethrins - toxicity
Zea mays
ISSN:1095-9203, 1095-9203
Online Access:Get more information
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Summary:Pesticide impacts are usually discussed in the context of applied amounts while disregarding the large but environmentally relevant variations in substance-specific toxicity. Here, we systemically interpret changes in the use of 381 pesticides over 25 years by considering 1591 substance-specific acute toxicity threshold values for eight nontarget species groups. We find that the toxicity of applied insecticides to aquatic invertebrates and pollinators has increased considerably-in sharp contrast to the applied amount-and that this increase has been driven by highly toxic pyrethroids and neonicotinoids, respectively. We also report increasing applied toxicity to aquatic invertebrates and pollinators in genetically modified (GM) corn and to terrestrial plants in herbicide-tolerant soybeans since approximately 2010. Our results challenge the claims of a decrease in the environmental impacts of pesticide use.
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ISSN:1095-9203
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.abe1148