DISCLAIMER: The tools, as they currently stand, are provided for research and informational purposes only. The underlying models, assumptions, data sources, and methodologies are experimental and might have not yet been peer-reviewed or independently validated. Outputs may be incomplete, uncertain, or inaccurate and should be interpreted with caution. The tools do not provide regulatory, medical, legal, toxicological, or professional risk assessment advice. For the time being, it must not be used as a substitute for expert judgment, regulatory review, or established risk-assessment frameworks, nor relied upon for decision-making related to human health, environmental protection, occupational safety, product registration, compliance, or policy.
Use of these tools for unlawful, harmful, misleading, or unethical purposes—including but not limited to regulatory circumvention, misrepresentation of risk, or inappropriate application to real-world pesticide use decisions—is strictly prohibited. The tool is provided “as is,” without warranties of any kind, express or implied, including but not limited to accuracy, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement.

Environment (all CSS)

We collected various types of environmental samples to obtain a holistic overview of pesticide levels across the landscapes of our case study sites. The figure below illustrates the design of our sampling campaign.

tbl 3a environment 1

Grey blocks indicate samples from the SPRINT campaign that are not represented in this tool (mostly samples used for diversity or microbiome studies only).

Soil, water, sediment, indoor dust, and outdoor air samples were collected in the middle of the growing season, while crops were collected at harvest time. The middle of the growing season corresponded to the period when most pesticide applications for the year had already been completed. This timing varied across case study sites (CSS), depending on specific crop-region timelines. For most CSS, this corresponded to the end of May to early June. For CSS2 and CSS5, with a later growing season, this period occurred in September to October.

More detailed information about the sampling time and methodology can be found in:

  • Silva, V., Gai, L., Harkes, P., Tan, G., Ritsema, C. J., Alcon, F., Contreras, J., Abrantes, N., Campos, I., Baldi, I., Bureau, M., Christ, F., Mandrioli, D., Sgargi, D., Pasković, I., Polić Pasković, M., Glavan, M., Hofman, J., Huerta Lwanga, E., . . . Geissen, V. 2023. Pesticide residues with hazard classifications relevant to non-target species including humans are omnipresent in the environment and farmer residences. Environment International, 181, 108280. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2023.108280.
  • Alaoui, A., Christ, F., Silva, V., Vested, A., Schlünssen, V., González, N., Gai, L., Abrantes, N., Baldi, I., Bureau, M., Harkes, P., Norgaard, T., Navarro, I., De la Torre, A., Sanz, P., Martínez, M. Á., Hofman, J., Pasković, I., Pasković, M. P., . . . Geissen, V. 2024. Identifying pesticides of high concern for ecosystem, plant, animal, and human health: A comprehensive field study across Europe and Argentina. Science of The Total Environment, 948, 174671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.174671.