Farmers distribute pesticides specifically on usable areas, but the sprays also land far away from the fields, as a new study confirms. In the Upper Rhine moat, researchers have demonstrated the chemicals on all examined areas, from the lowlands to the altitudes of the Black Forest and Palatinate Forest. According to this, our entire landscape is contaminated with pesticides, including nature reserves. This is not only environmentally, but also harmful to the environment-especially for farmers, but also for walkers, park visitors and garden owners.
Since the 1970s, conventional farmers have been using chemical-synthetic pesticides to combat pest insects, weeds and fungal diseases on their usable areas. They often combine different active ingredients and inject their fields, orchards and vineyards several times a year. Due to this intensive use, adjacent areas that are not sprayed directly are increasingly contaminated with insecticides, herbicides and fungicides. Affairs such as hedges, field bushes or meadows are also unintentionally affected. But how far are the chemicals in the environment?
All areas are contaminated
In order to find out, a team around Ken Mauser from the Rhineland-Palatinate Technical University (RPTU) has now examined Kaiserslautern-Landau how much the Upper Rhine lowlands is loaded with pesticides. This southern German agricultural landscape extends on about 300 kilometers between Bingen and Basel. The climate is particularly suitable for grain, vegetables, wine and fruit. For their study, the researchers systematically samples of 78 locations in six regions during the spray season in June and July. These ranged from the neighboring low mountain ranges to the lowlands. Mauser and his colleagues took ground, plant and water samples and analyzed them on residues of 93 common pesticides. With the help of geostatist analyzes, they determined how the substances are distributed throughout the examination area.
The result: Almost all measuring locations on the Upper Rhine were contaminated. In 97 percent of the soil and vegetation samples and 83 percent of the water samples, the researchers found pesticide residues, also several hundred meters from agricultural, sprayed acreage. Flower strips, hedges and adjoining grassland were as contaminated as well as designated nature reserves or national parks in the Black Forest and Palatinate Forest. Even supposedly remote areas are therefore not free of pesticides. “Our results are clear: pesticides spread far beyond fields,” states Mauser.
The pesticide pollution thus endangers many animals and plants, self -protected species, and undermines the efforts to protect biodiversity. The extent determined is also questionable for us, because pesticides can be harmful to health and, among other things, cause cancer as well as neurological and skin diseases. The farmers themselves who have direct contact with the chemicals are particularly at risk. “Parkinson’s through pesticides” has now been recognized as an occupational disease in viticulture. But pesticides are also a danger for other people, especially for children, pregnant women and the elderly. “This is more than an agricultural problem – it is a reality that affects us all. We can meet pesticides while walking, on playgrounds or in our own garden, ”explains Mauser.
Danger for groundwater and combined effects?
One of the most frequently proven pesticides was Fluopyram, which the researchers found in over 90 percent of all samples. The fungicide is classified as a PFAS and is therefore one of the environmentally harmful eternal slide chemicals, the mining products of which can also contaminate the groundwater. Whether fluopyram contains the drinking water resources in the Upper Rhine ditch has not yet been examined. However, the environmental scientists consider that they have proven the substance in almost all samples on the surface to the residents.
In many samples, Mauser and his colleagues also found complex mixtures of several active ingredients. Soil samples contained an average of five pesticides, vegetation samples six and the water was contaminated with ten substances on average. Viticulture regions such as the Südpfalz and the Kaiserstuhl showed ten to 20 pesticides in the ground and vegetation particularly intensely. The researchers showed a total of 63 chemicals, in 140 different combinations of at least two active ingredients. “Pesticide cocktails are particularly problematic because interactions occur and effects can increase,” explains senior author Carsten Brühl from the RPTU. This applies to both our health and that of other living things.
For example, another team from Heidelberg has proven that insects polluted with pesticide mixtures in the laboratory lay less than 50 percent of their normal eggs. Mauser and his team now found pesticide cocktails with similar concentrations on the Upper Rhine, although the valleys were more stressed than the mountains. “So you can assume that these mixtures have an impact on the environment, especially if they are available all year round, as we could show in another study,” concludes Brühl. Accordingly, plants are particularly stressed all year round and almost consistently.
Pesticity reduction required
The study shows that pesticides not only remain on agricultural areas, but also put a strain on the entire landscape. In particular, the “cocktail load” and the contamination of protected areas are worrying. The real stress could be even higher, since they have only tested 93 of the active ingredients approved in Germany in 281 The team therefore calls for the overall pesticide use to significantly reduce and to monitor the strain on landscapes in order to protect people and the environment. In addition, agricultural chemicals should in future not only be tested and approved as previously, but also as mixes.
In addition, pesticide -free fields are necessary as a transition zone between agriculture and nature reserves. Farmers who generally want to work without pesticide should operate larger usable areas in order to avoid negative effects through the environment. “Now politics is required to develop large and effective, pesticide -free approaches, promote and to promote transformation towards sustainable agriculture,” said Mauser.
Sources: Rhineland-Palatinate University of Kaiserslautern-Landau; Specialist articles: Communications Earth & Environment, DOI: 10.1038/S43247-02118-2; Scientific reports, DOI: 0.1038/S41598-024-84811-4