Pesticide residues found over 2 km from nearest field all year round: study

Dozens of pesticides from agriculture and floriculture can be found in a radius of over 2 kilometers from the nearest field, according to new research by the citizen collective Meten=Weten. The pesticides aren’t only present during periods when they are the most used, but all year round, Trouw reports.

The study by Meten=Weten, a citizens’ collective that conducts research into pesticides, focused mainly on the harmful effects of floriculture. The researchers took regular measurements for a year at seven different locations in Gelderland and Drenthe - some close to agricultural land, others far away in protected nature reserves. They found pesticide residues over 2 kilometers away from the nearest field, and not just when they are actively in use but all year round.

At a measuring point in Diever (Drenthe), located 50 meters away from a field, the researchers found high peaks of the weedkillers pendimethalin and prosulfocarb, especially in the spring. The average concentration of pesticides in Diever was five times higher than in Wageningen, where the measuring point was in the protected part of the Veluwe, over 2 kilometers away from the nearest field. Yet here, too, researchers found pesticide residues all year round. In total, they traced around 70 different pesticides in the two provinces.

“These products are intended to kill plants and fungi,” Guido Nijland of Meten=Weten told Trouw. “We found dozens of substances in nature reserves.” Further research will have to show how harmful that is, but the presence of so many pesticides is at odds with European nature conservation rules, he pointed out.

When the Netherlands approves pesticides, the recognition committee CTGB always considers the consequences for health and the environment. However, it currently does not look at how far pesticides spread and how long they remain. Moreover, the CTGB only looks at the effects of individual substances and doesn’t take into account how combined substances may impact health and the environment.

More Dutch studies are underway into this. Wageningen University and Research, for example, is investigating pesticide residues in homes. The RVM has launched a new study into the health effects of locals living around agricultural and floricultural land, specifically looking at a link between pesticide exposure and Parkinson’s disease. Meten=Weten is contributing to that study.

However, Nijland pointed out that the RIVM study could take another seven years. He urged the government to already apply the precautionary principle. “We are not saying that all pesticides should be eradicated from the world. But if there is a chance that it is harmful, we should stop using it. Especially when it comes to lily cultivation: that has nothing to do with food production,” Nijland told Trouw.