Organochlorine pesticides in soil samples across urban, suburban, agricultural, and industrial sites were analyzed every year between 2013 and 2016 in South Korea. The study aims to understand the residual status, diminution of occurrence from the South Korean environment, and its risk to humans after three decades of the ban. A general decreasing trend of OCPs has been observed over the years. The OCP concentrations were below the guideline values prescribed for soil pollution. Metabolites like p,p’-DDD and endosulfan sulfate contributed a major portion to the total OCP concentration over the years. The agricultural sites showed higher OCP levels than other site types. Compositional profile and diagnostic ratios suggested that the occurrence of DDT and endosulfan residues were due to historical inputs, but those of HCH and chlordane reflect recent usage in some pockets. The calculated incremental lifetime cancer risk was within the safety limit for all age groups across the genders in the majority of the sites. It is evident that the OCP load on soil is decreasing since the ban on usage. However, regular monitoring with a special focus on metabolites can be an effective control measure to regulate and eliminate the contamination of OCPs.

A monitoring network was established in streams within a catchment near the Costa Rican Pacific coast (2008–2011) to estimate the impact of pesticides in surface water (84 samples) and sediments (84 samples) in areas under the influence of melon and watermelon production. A total of 66 (water) and 47 (sediment) pesticides were analyzed, and an environmental risk assessment (ERA) was performed for four taxa (algae, Daphnia magna, fish and Chironomus riparius). One fungicide and seven insecticides were detected in water and/or sediment; the fungicide azoxystrobin (water) and the insecticide cypermethrin (sediments) were the most frequently detected pesticides. The insecticides endosulfan (5.76 μg/L) and cypermethrin (301 μg/kg) presented the highest concentrations in water and sediment, respectively. The ERA revealed acute risk in half of the sampling points of the melon-influenced area and in every sampling point from the watermelon-influenced area. Safety levels were exceeded within and around the crop fields, suggesting that agrochemical contamination was distributed along the catchment, with potential influence of nearby crops. Acute risk was caused by the insecticides chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and endosulfan to D. magna, fish and C. riparius; the latter was the organism with the overall highest/continuous risk. High chronic risk was determined in all but one sampling point, and revealed a higher number of pesticides of concern. Cypermethrin was the only pesticide to pose chronic risk for all benchmark organisms. The results provide new information on the risk that tropical crops pose to aquatic ecosystems, and highlight the importance of including the analysis of sediment concentrations and chronic exposure in ERA.

We investigated the levels and distributions of organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) in 159 background soil samples collected from 30 forested mountain sites across China. The sum of DDT was the most abundant OCP, with the concentrations of 0.197–207 ng/g and 0.033–122 ng/g in the O-horizon and A-horizon, respectively. High concentrations of OCPs usually occur near agricultural regions or high consumption areas. The spatial distribution was mainly influenced by the emission sources and soil total organic contents (TOC). The chiral compounds were generally nonracemic in the soils and showed preferential degradation of (−) o,p′- dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, (+) trans-chlordane, and (−) cis-chlordane in both the O- and A-horizons. The enantiomeric fraction (EF) distributions of chiral OCPs displayed no differences across the forest sites in the O-horizon or the A-horizon. Comparing the deviation of EFs from racemic (DEVrac = absolute value of 0.500 - EF) with environmental parameters, we found that DEVrac of cis-chlordane demonstrated a strong positive correlation with TOC (p < 0.05) and the C/N ratio (p < 0.01). This relationship suggests that these factors could affect the microbial activity and significantly impact the extent of enantioselective degradation of chiral compounds in the soils. Fresh and historical applications of DDT and historical chlordane and endosulfan uses may be prominent sources of OCP accumulation in Chinese forest soils.

We investigated the levels and distribution patterns of α- and β-endosulfan and endosulfan sulfate in air, soil, water, and sediment samples collected from the South Korean persistent organic pollutants (POPs) monitoring networks. In the air samples, the highest concentrations of the total (Σ₃) endosulfan (50.3–611 pg/m³, mean: 274 pg/m³) were observed during summer. Spearman analysis revealed a good correlation between agricultural land area and atmospheric concentrations of Σ₃ endosulfan except during winter. Regardless of the season, the ratio of the two isomers (α/β) was 3.6–4.9 in the air samples, higher than that observed in technical mixtures (2.0–2.3), possibly due to the higher volatility of α-endosulfan, compared to β-endosulfan. Concentrations of Σ₃ endosulfan in the soil samples (n.d.−13.4 ng/g, mean: 0.8 ng/g) were not significantly different except at some stations adjacent to large areas of farmland. The average levels of Σ₃ endosulfan in the water and sediment samples were 2.1 ng/L and 0.1 ng/g dw, respectively. In analyzing the four largest rivers, it was observed that a few water stations during spring and fall and sediment stations in fall had high concentrations of the two isomers and endosulfan sulfate, particularly around the Yeoungsan and Nakdong Rivers near large areas of agricultural land. Endosulfan sulfate was dominant at most water and sediment sampling stations. This study demonstrates that the endosulfan found in most environmental compartments most probably derives from agricultural areas despite its ban as a pesticide. On the other hand, given that it was also detected in industrial and urban areas, in which pesticide application does not occur, it can be conjectured that endosulfan is aerially transported at higher temperatures and continuously circulates within the environment.

The practice of incorporating post-harvest crop waste is widely used because it maintains soil fertility and avoids environmental pollution from straw burning. However, the practice of straw incorporation may also retain the pesticides that are applied to crop plants, which may pose a potential long term risk to local and regional environments if the applied pesticide is a Persistent, Bioaccumulative, and Toxic (PBT) substance or a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP). Here we investigate the influence of the “receiving-retention-release” route on the distribution of a POP pesticide (endosulfan) and the associated environmental risk among different environmental compartments. Our study indicates that most endosulfan enters the atmosphere (φatmosphere = 64.5–72.5%), which is dominated by the indirect route of volatilization from crop plants (φatmosphere, indirect = 54.7–70.3%). In contrast, soil releases are minor (φsoil = 10.8–20.5%), and are dominated by direct release during application (φsoil, direct = 8.0–18.0%). Under the practice of straw incorporation, the use of endosulfan posed an environmental risk to agricultural soil. In addition, the atmospheric deposition of endosulfan also posed an environmental risk to sediment. The study highlights the significance of the “receiving-retention-release” route by crop plants in determining the fate of POP pesticides associated with straw incorporation; hence complementing the current methodology for assessing the environmental risk of these compounds.

In Yucatan, Mexico, chronic exposure of Mayan population to pesticides is expected as about 30 per cent are drinking polluted water. Residues of organochlorine pesticides (OCP) were monitored in 18 municipalities of Yucatan with high mortality rates due to uterine cervix cancer. 70 blood samples collected from Mayan women living in livestock, agricultural and metropolitan area were analyzed for OCP. Solid Phase Extraction was performed on C18 cartridges and analyzed by Gas Chromatography with Electron Capture Detector. The results showed that the highest OCP levels were detected in blood of women living in the livestock area. OCP detected were endosulfan I (7.35 μg/mL), aldrin (3.69 μg/mL), 4,4′ DDD (2.33 μg/mL), 1.39 and 1.46 μg/mL of δ-HCH. Women from the agricultural area had high concentrations of OCP in their blood, particularly dieldrin (1.19 μg/mL), and 1.26 μg/mL of 4,4′ DDE. In the metropolitan area, 0.080 μg/mL of γ-HCH and 0.064 μg/mL of heptachlore were detected. This monitoring study was also based on epidemiological data of uterine cervical cancer. It was found that environmental factors may have facilitated the infiltration of OCP to the aquifer used for potable water supply. These factors in addition to poverty can have impacts on public health. This first exploratory study suggests that monitoring of OCP in human is important for the establishment of health promotion programs. The integrative analysis of both, environmental and social factors would be helpful to characterize the bioaccumulation of pesticides in humans.

Cardiovascular diseases is related to environmental pollution. Endosulfan is an organochlorine pesticide and its toxicity has been reported. However, the relationship between oxidative stress and autophagy induced by endosulfan and its underlying mechanism remain confusing. In this study, human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were chosen to explore the toxicity mechanism and were treated with 0, 1, 6, 12 μg/mL−1 endosulfan for 24 h, respectively. The present results showed that autophagy could be induced by endosulfan, which was verified by the monodansylcadaverine staining, autophagic ultrastructural observation, and LC3-I/LC3-II conversion. In addition, the levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the mitochondria membrane potential (MMP) were significantly decreased in a dose-dependent way. The expression of proinflammatory cytokines (tumor necrosis factor α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6) were significantly elevated, and the index of endothelial function such as monocyte chemotactic protein 1 (MCP-1), intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) increased. Moreover, endosulfan had an activation effect on the 5′AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/rapamycin (mTOR) signaling pathway. Our findings demonstrated that endosulfan could induce oxidative stress and mitochondria injury, activate autophagy, induce inflammatory response, and eventually lead to endothelial dysfunction via the AMPK/mTOR pathway. This indicates that exposure to endosulfan is a potential risk factor for cardiovascular diseases.

A systematic grid sampling method and geostatistics were employed to investigate the spatial distribution, inventory, and potential ecological and human health risks of the residues of hexachlorobenzene (HCB) and chlorinated cyclodiene pesticides in soils of the Campanian Plain, Italy, and explore their relationship with the soils properties. The geometric mean (Gmean) concentrations of HCB and cyclodiene compounds followed the order CHLs (heptachlor, heptachlor epoxide, trans-chlordane, and cis-chlordane) > DRINs (aldrin, dieldrin, and endrin) > SULPHs (α-endosulfan, β-endosulfan, and endosulfan sulfate) > HCB. The residual levels of most cyclodienes in agricultural soils were generally higher than those of corresponding counterparts in the other land uses. Significant differences in the concentration of HCB and cyclodienes in the soils across the region are observed, and the Acerra-Marigliano conurbation (AMC) and Sarno River Basin (SRB) areas exhibit particularly high residual concentrations. Some legacy cyclodienes in the Campanian Plain may be attributed to a secondary distribution. The Gmean inventory of HCB, SULPHs, CHLs, and DRINs in the soil is estimated to be 0.081, 0.41, 0.36, and 0.41 metric tons, respectively. The non-cancer and cancer risks of HCB and cyclodienes for exposed populations are deemed essentially negligible, however, endosulfan poses significant ecological risks to some terrestrial species.

The presence of organic pollutants in the aquatic environment, usually found at trace concentrations (i.e., between ng L−1 and μg L−1 or even lower, known as micropollutants), has been highlighted in recent decades as a worldwide environmental concern due to their difficult elimination by conventional water and wastewater treatment processes. The relevant information on constructed wetlands (CWs) and their application for the removal of a specific group of pollutants, 41 organic priority substances/classes of substances (PSs) and 8 certain other substances with environmental quality standards (EQS) listed in Directive 2013/39/EU as well as 17 contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) of the Watch List of Decision 2015/495/EU, is herein reviewed. Studies were found for 24 PSs and 2 other substances with EQS: octylphenol, nonylphenol, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate, trichloromethane, dichloromethane, 1,2-dichloroethane, pentachlorobenzene, benzene, polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, naphthalene, fluoranthene, trifluralin, alachlor, isoproturon, diuron, tributyltin compounds, simazine, atrazine, chlorpyrifos (chlorpyrifos-ethyl), chlorfenvinphos, hexachlorobenzene, pentachlorophenol, endosulfan, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (or DDT) and dieldrin. A few reports were also published for 8 CECs: imidacloprid, erythromycin, clarithromycin, azithromycin, diclofenac, estrone, 17-beta-estradiol and 17-alpha-ethinylestradiol. No references were found for the other 17 PSs, 6 certain other substances with EQS and 9 CECs listed in EU legislation.

We analyzed concentrations, distribution characteristics, and health risks of endosulfan (α and β isomers, and endosulfan sulfate) in soils (top soils and soil profiles) and air, at and around a typical endosulfan production site in Jiangsu, China. The air–soil surface exchange flux is calculated to investigate transport dynamics of endosulfan. Concentrations at the production site ranged from 0.01 to 114 mg/kg d.w. in soil and 4.81–289 ng/m3 in air, with very high concentrations occurring at the location of endosulfan emulsion workshop. In the surrounding area, endosulfan was detected in all samples, with concentrations ranging from 1.37–415 ng/g d.w. in soil and 0.89–10.4 ng/m3 in air. In the contaminated site, endosulfan concentrations fluctuated with depth in the upper soil layers, then decreased below 120 cm. Soil and air within a distance of 2.0 km appear to be affected by endosulfan originating from the site. Even the health risk at the location of the endosulfan emulsifiable solution workshop was over seven times the acceptable value, the risk to nearby adults and children was low.