Pesticide fate and transport in the atmosphere and implications for risk assessment.

Abstract

Atmospheric transport of pesticides is a globally significant yet widely underestimated driver of human and ecological exposure, with contamination documented far beyond treated fields. This review provides a novel integrated synthesis, bridging emission pathways, atmospheric transformation processes, monitoring evidence, model limitations, and regulatory gaps to deliver a comprehensive understanding of the fate and impacts of pesticides in the atmosphere. The review consolidates current knowledge on emissions via spray drift and volatilization, emphasizing how physicochemical properties and environmental conditions control atmospheric transformations and influence the potential for short‑, medium‑, and long‑range transport. It further evaluates state‑of‑the‑art monitoring and modeling approaches, showing that regulatory assessments frequently underestimate atmospheric contamination and related exposure risks for ecosystems and human populations. This underestimation is reflected in the widespread detection of both current‑use and banned pesticides in environmental matrices far from their application. Implications for human health, environmental integrity, and the coexistence of organic and conventional farming systems are examined, alongside the positioning of these issues within the European Union regulatory framework. Research needs and critical deficiencies in current risk assessment approaches are identified, and necessary improvements are outlined. Taken together, the synthesis underscores a primary conclusion: urgent action is required to modernize atmospheric fate modeling, strengthen air-monitoring strategies, and update regulatory frameworks so they adequately account for the spatio-temporal scales and complexity of pesticide distribution in the atmosphere.