International audience | Chapters: 1) Public goods and farming. 2) Pesticides and sustainable agriculture. 3) Nitrogen use efficiency by annual and perennial crops. 4) Microalgae for bioremediation of distillery effluent. 5) No-till direct seeding for energy-saving rice production in China. 6) Agricultural water poverty index for a sustainable world. 7) Participatory rural appraisal to solve irrigation issues. 8) Bioavailability of soil P for plant nutrition. 9) Animal manure for smallholder agriculture in South Africa. 10) Vermicompost and soil quality.

Chapters: 1) Public goods and farming. 2) Pesticides and sustainable agriculture. 3) Nitrogen use efficiency by annual and perennial crops. 4) Microalgae for bioremediation of distillery effluent. 5) No-till direct seeding for energy-saving rice production in China. 6) Agricultural water poverty index for a sustainable world. 7) Participatory rural appraisal to solve irrigation issues. 8) Bioavailability of soil P for plant nutrition. 9) Animal manure for smallholder agriculture in South Africa. 10) Vermicompost and soil quality.

Chapters: 1) Public goods and farming. 2) Pesticides and sustainable agriculture. 3) Nitrogen use efficiency by annual and perennial crops. 4) Microalgae for bioremediation of distillery effluent. 5) No-till direct seeding for energy-saving rice production in China. 6) Agricultural water poverty index for a sustainable world. 7) Participatory rural appraisal to solve irrigation issues. 8) Bioavailability of soil P for plant nutrition. 9) Animal manure for smallholder agriculture in South Africa. 10) Vermicompost and soil quality.

The obvious advantages of the use of pesticides is hampered by the risks they can pose to humans and the environment. Sound evaluations of pesticides and easy access to these evaluations will help nations to choose those pesticides that will create the fewest risks. There are now about 50 international organizations, approximately 15 of them within the United Nations system, with some engaging in pesticide evaluations and regulations. The present survey of 72 pesticides of major global economic importance reveals that there is a lack of data for many of these pesticides, whereas others might be subjected to duplicate work and even confusing regulations. More joint programs and intensified information on ongoing activities, both internationally and nationally, should be encouraged. WHO has classified 71 of the 72 pesticides according to hazard for people handling them. International cancer risk classifications exist for three of them (IARC 1987), and U.S. EPA cancer classifications for 18. The availability of pesticides impacts humans and the environment. FAO/WHO has recommended different degrees of restrictions on the availability of 16 of the pesticides. According to United Nation Headquarters (1987), 20 of the 72 pesticides have been banned, withdrawn, or severely restricted in one or more countries. AIDs have been suggested for 31 of the 72 pesticides by FAO/WHO. Nationally, U.S. EPA has established reference doses for 44 of the pesticides. MRLs have been set by FAO and WHO for 31 of the pesticides in food and by WHO for 12 in drinking water. Nationally, there are great variations in tolerance levels as well as in rules for setting these tolerances, including group tolerances for related pesticides

Water quality in China is becoming a severe challenge for agriculture and food safety, and it might also impact health of population via agriculture and food. Thus, it is causing widespread concern. Based on extensive literatures review and data mining, current situation of water pollution in China and its effects on food safety were analyzed. The 2nd National Water Resource Survey in China show that the surface water all over the country was under slight pollution and about 60% of groundwater is polluted. Drinking water quality is basically guaranteed in urban area but it is worrisome in rural areas. In addition, China is the largest consumer of fertilizer and pesticide in the world and the amounts of application still show increasing trends. Fertilizers and pesticides are the most important sources of pollution, which affect human health as persistent organic pollutants and environmental endocrine disruptors. Eutrophication of surface water and nitrate pollution of groundwater are serious threats to drinking water safety. Sewage irrigation is becoming a pollution source to China's water and land because of lacking of effective regulations. Although, with the advance in technology and management level, control of nitrogen and phosphorus emissions and reducing water pollution is still a major challenge for China.

Recently, reports have been published on the occurrence of chlorate mainly in fruits and vegetables. Chlorate is a by-product of chlorinating agents used to disinfect water, and can be expected to be found in varying concentrations in drinking water. Data on potable water taken at 39 sampling points across Europe showed chlorate to range from < 0.003 to 0.803 mg l –¹ with a mean of 0.145 mg l –¹. Chlorate, however, can also be used as a pesticide, but authorisation was withdrawn in the European Union (EU), resulting in a default maximum residue limit (MRL) for foods of 0.01 mg kg –¹. This default MRL has now led to significant problems in the EU, where routinely disinfected water, used in the preparation of food products such as vegetables or fruits, leaves chlorate residues in excess of the default MRL, and in strict legal terms renders the food unmarketable. Due to the paucity of data on the chlorate content of prepared foods in general, we collated chlorate data on more than 3400 samples of mainly prepared foods, including dairy products, meats, fruits, vegetables and different food ingredients/additives. In total, 50.5% of the food samples contained chlorate above 0.01 mg kg –¹, albeit not due to the use of chlorate as a pesticide but mainly due to the occurrence of chlorate as an unavoidable disinfectant by-product. A further entry point of chlorate into foods may be via additives/ingredients that may contain chlorate as a by-product of the manufacturing process (e.g. electrolysis). Of the positive samples in this study, 22.4% revealed chlorate above 0.1 mg kg –¹. In the absence of EU levels for chlorate in water, any future EU regulations must consider the already available WHO guideline value of 0.7 mg l –¹ in potable water, and the continued importance of the usage of oxyhalides for disinfection purposes.

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