Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach

Pesticides typically co-occur in agricultural surface waters and pose a potential threat to human and ecosystem health. As pesticide screening in global agricultural surface waters is an immense analytical challenge, a detailed risk picture of pesticides in global agricultural surface waters is larg...

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Main Authors: Jian Chen, Li Zhao, Bin Wang, Xinyi He, Lei Duan, Gang Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-12-01
Series:Environment International
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024007402
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author Jian Chen
Li Zhao
Bin Wang
Xinyi He
Lei Duan
Gang Yu
author_facet Jian Chen
Li Zhao
Bin Wang
Xinyi He
Lei Duan
Gang Yu
author_sort Jian Chen
collection DOAJ
description Pesticides typically co-occur in agricultural surface waters and pose a potential threat to human and ecosystem health. As pesticide screening in global agricultural surface waters is an immense analytical challenge, a detailed risk picture of pesticides in global agricultural surface waters is largely missing. Here, we create the first global maps of human health and ecological risk from pesticides in agricultural surface waters using random forest models based on 27,411 measurements of 309 pesticides and 30 geospatial parameters. Our global risk maps identify the hotspots, mainly in Southern Asia and Africa, with extensive pesticide use and poor wastewater management infrastructure. We identify 4 and 5 priority pesticides for protecting the human and ecosystem health, respectively. Importantly, we estimate that 305 million people worldwide are at potential health risk associated with the surface-water pesticide mixture exposure, with the vast majority (86%) being in Asia. We further identify the hotspots in the Ganges River basin in India, where more than 170 million people are at potential health risk. As pesticides are increasingly used to ensure the food production due to future population growth and climate change, our findings have implications for raising awareness of pesticide pollution, identifying the hotspots and helping to prioritize testing.
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issn 0160-4120
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publisher Elsevier
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spelling doaj-art-4415fd20e9fd48dca10c556c943b66df2024-12-19T10:52:06ZengElsevierEnvironment International0160-41202024-12-01194109154Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approachJian Chen0Li Zhao1Bin Wang2Xinyi He3Lei Duan4Gang Yu5State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Beijing Laboratory for Environmental Frontier Technologies, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaGuangdong Institute for Drug Control, Guangdong, Guangzhou 510180, ChinaState Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Beijing Laboratory for Environmental Frontier Technologies, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaSchool of Biomedical Sciences, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX 77030, USAState Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Beijing Laboratory for Environmental Frontier Technologies, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, ChinaState Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, Beijing Key Laboratory for Emerging Organic Contaminants Control, Beijing Laboratory for Environmental Frontier Technologies, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China; Advanced Interdisciplinary Institute of Environment and Ecology, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Wastewater Information Analysis and Early Warning, Beijing Normal University, Zhuhai 519087, China; Corresponding author.Pesticides typically co-occur in agricultural surface waters and pose a potential threat to human and ecosystem health. As pesticide screening in global agricultural surface waters is an immense analytical challenge, a detailed risk picture of pesticides in global agricultural surface waters is largely missing. Here, we create the first global maps of human health and ecological risk from pesticides in agricultural surface waters using random forest models based on 27,411 measurements of 309 pesticides and 30 geospatial parameters. Our global risk maps identify the hotspots, mainly in Southern Asia and Africa, with extensive pesticide use and poor wastewater management infrastructure. We identify 4 and 5 priority pesticides for protecting the human and ecosystem health, respectively. Importantly, we estimate that 305 million people worldwide are at potential health risk associated with the surface-water pesticide mixture exposure, with the vast majority (86%) being in Asia. We further identify the hotspots in the Ganges River basin in India, where more than 170 million people are at potential health risk. As pesticides are increasingly used to ensure the food production due to future population growth and climate change, our findings have implications for raising awareness of pesticide pollution, identifying the hotspots and helping to prioritize testing.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024007402Pesticide pollutionRisk quotientHuman exposureEcosystem securityGlobal prediction
spellingShingle Jian Chen
Li Zhao
Bin Wang
Xinyi He
Lei Duan
Gang Yu
Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
Environment International
Pesticide pollution
Risk quotient
Human exposure
Ecosystem security
Global prediction
title Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
title_full Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
title_fullStr Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
title_full_unstemmed Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
title_short Uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
title_sort uncovering global risk to human and ecosystem health from pesticides in agricultural surface water using a machine learning approach
topic Pesticide pollution
Risk quotient
Human exposure
Ecosystem security
Global prediction
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024007402
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