For the first time, scientists from the University of Amsterdam and a Spanish university have developed a method to quickly determine the exposure of people to pesticides via the analysis of wastewater. The researchers published their work in the scientific journal Chemosphere this Summer.
September 6, 2022
For the first time, scientists from the University of Amsterdam and a Spanish university have developed a method to quickly determine the exposure of people to pesticides via the analysis of wastewater. The researchers published their work in the scientific journal Chemosphere this Summer.
The analysis of sewage water and application of wastewater-based epidemiology is already done for drugs such as cocaine and for viruses such as COVID-19. Now, a reliable and accurate method has been added of tracing the exposure to pesticides of a population living for example near flower bulb fields.
Flower bulb and fruit cultivation
Chemical analyst and expert in wastewater-based epidemiology Lubertus Bijlsma says that «in flower bulb cultivation, local residents can ingest pesticides by breathing it in, after which they end up in the human body. But the pesticides are also used in, for example, fruit cultivation and are part of their daily diet»
Until recently, Bijlsma was a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute for Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) at the University of Amsterdam (UvA) and is now working at the University Jaume I in the Spanish coastal city of Castellón.
