Ecotoxicological and toxicological aspects of pesticides - From regulatory risk assessment to environmental monitoring

Abstract

Risk assessment is needed for registration of each new plant protection product at EU level. In France, the competent authority for registration is the Ministry of Agriculture, taking into account opinions from "Commission des toxiques" and "Comité d'homologation". In regulatory risk assessment, environmental risk is estimated by the usual approach, combining exposure and hazard to calculate risk. Exposure is characterized by estimation of Predicted Environmental Concentrations (PEC). Hazard is estimated from ecotoxicological assays with different plant and/or animal species. Risk is characterized as a toxicity/exposure ratio, which is compared to a trigger value. This approach is simple, probably efficient, and could be scientifically improved. However, the system is not perfect, the main limitation being the variety of local environmental conditions. Furthermore, authorizations are based on specific products, and cannot integrate a variety of agricultural practices. Biomonitoring is needed.