Priority pesticides not covered by GM Ordinance of the Ministry of Health No. 888, of 2021, on water potability standard in Brazil

Abstract

The intense use of pesticides can be harmful to the environment and human health, being necessary to monitor the environmental concentrations of pesticides. The legislation on drinking water for human consumption is one of the guiding regulations about monitoring priority. Therefore, a systematic review was carried out to compile information on the contamination of surface water, groundwater, and treated water in Brazil. Thereby, we selected those pesticides which, although they are authorized for use and are among the top-selling pesticides, are not regulated by GM Ordinance of the Ministry of Health (GM/MS) No. 888, of May 4, 2021. The databases used were PubMed, Scielo, Science Direct, Scopus, and Web of Science. Of the 122 pesticides in the market, 11 were selected. Analyses of environmental dynamics, concentration, and health effects were carried out. The Goss methodology and the Groundwater Ubiquity Score (GUS) index were used to estimate the risk of surface water and groundwater contamination, respectively. The concentrations found were compared with the values provided for in the guidelines adopted by international agencies, determining the Brazilian population’s margin of exposure (MOE) to the target pesticides. The results indicate a high probability of finding imidacloprid and hexazinone in the water, the prevalence of studies on surface waters, and the need to conduct additional studies as papers on some of the target pesticides were not found. It is concluded that the pesticides studied pose a low risk to human health, however, further studies are still required.