User:Emmazwieg/Pesticide drift

Current Research:

Many things have previously been unknown regarding pesticide drift, including the direct health impacts on humans, effective ways to prevent pesticide drifts (other than placing the responsibility on the farmer), and if the public should be concerned about their general health being impacted by pesticide drift. Recent research has come out that has shed light on a lot of different subject surrounding pesticide drift that have made it much easier to understand, and therefore easier to control.

One recent study has compared cytotoxicity and genotoxicity of rural agricultural residents to that of a control group and have found that individuals in agricultural areas are at risk for increased genotoxicity because of pesticide drift from farmers in the area.

Despite this alarming diagnosis, more research has also gone into finding effective ways to reduce the effects of pesticide drift without placing all the responsibility on farmers. Farmers struggle to walk the line between reducing pesticide drift, but also still being a productive farmer, which has led to more research on alternative solutions for pesticide drift First, more effort has gone into developing specific pesticides that will not harm other species, will decrease the distance pesticides can travel, and will decrease the amount of chemical taken in the air before landing on the target field.

In addition to monitoring what farmers are spraying, more research has gone into what weather conditions are the best to spray. Researchers understand that farmers cannot hold off spraying crops for extended periods of time, so research has gone into determining which is the best combination of the worst weather conditions to help optimize spray time while also maintaining the health of nearby aquatic ecosystems. One-way researchers have begun to do this is using computer programs to simulate the efficiency of the spray and reach of the spray drift. The program is being developed in hopes that it can one day be available to farmers to help maximize the positive effects of spraying for their crops, while minimizing negative effects on other ecosystems nearby.

References:

1) Doğanlar Zeynep Banu, Doğanlar Oğuzhan, Tozkir H, et al. Nonoccupational exposure of agricultural area residents to pesticides: pesticide accumulation and evaluation of genotoxicity. Archives of environmental contamination and toxicology. 2018;75(4):530-544. doi:10.1007/s00244-018-0545-7

2) Daniel L. Moeller*

104 Iowa L. Rev. 1523 (2019). Superfund, Pesticide Regulation, and Spray Drift: Rethinking the Federal Pesticide Regulatory Framework to provide alternative remedies for pesticide damage. Iowa Law Review. https://ilr.law.uiowa.edu/print/volume-104-issue-3/superfund-pesticide-regulation-and-spray-drift-rethinking-the-federal-pesticide-regulatory-framework-to-provide-alternative-remedies-for-pesticide-damage/. Accessed April 15, 2022.

3) Brain R, Goodwin G, Abi-Akar F, et al. Winds of change, developing a non-target plant bioassay employing field-based pesticide drift exposure: a case study with atrazine. Science of the total environment. 2019;678:239-252. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.04.411

4) Desmarteau DA, Ritter AM, Hendley P, Guevara MW. Impact of wind speed and direction and key meteorological parameters on potential pesticide drift mass loadings from sequential aerial applications. Integrated environmental assessment and management. 2020;16(2):197-210. doi:10.1002/ieam.4221

5) Hong S-W, Zhao L, Zhu H. Saas, a computer program for estimating pesticide spray efficiency and drift of air-assisted pesticide applications. Computers and Electronics in Agriculture. 2018;155:58-68. doi:10.1016/j.compag.2018.09.031