Traces of insecticides detected in rainwater in Japan
Japanese researchers say certain insecticides are also present in rainwater. (Envato Elements pic)
PARIS : Pesticides don't just contaminate the air humans breathe or the food they eat. According to recent research conducted in Japan, certain insecticides are also present in rainwater.
Scientists at Japan's University of Tokyo recently made a worrying discovery. Residues of several insecticides belonging to the well-known neonicotinoid family have been detected in rainwater.
In Japan, neonicotinoids were introduced on a large scale in the 1990s, particularly in rice fields and pine forests.
To reach this conclusion, the scientists collected and analysed rainwater samples from the cities of Tsukuba and Kashiwa, both located northeast of Tokyo.
Their analyses were carried out between April 2023 and September 2024. They reveal that 91% of samples contained several insecticides from the neonicotinoid family.
The highest total concentration was detected in August 2024, the study authors note.
Acetamiprid is the predominant insecticide, having been identified in 82% of samples, followed by thiacloprid (73%) and dinotefuran (45%), two other insecticides from the neonicotinoid family.
'This research is the first report on neonicotinoid presence in precipitation, suggesting that neonicotinoids, as low volatile matter, can still be dispersed to the environment via precipitation,' warned the researchers, whose work is published in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research.
Potential effects on human health
In 2019, another study (also conducted by researchers at the University of Tokyo), published in the journal Science, explained in detail how the large-scale use of neonicotinoids contributed to the destruction of several species of fish, crustaceans, and zooplankton in Lake Shinji (southwestern Japan).
Starting in 1993, several rice farmers began spraying imidacloprid on their fields. According to the study, the introduction of this insecticide in areas geographically close to the lake coincided with an 83% decrease in the average zooplankton biomass.
While the harmful effects of neonicotinoids on insects (particularly bees) and several other animal species are increasingly well documented, doubts remain about their impact on human health.
Given that neonicotinoids target the nervous system, scientists fear (among other things) that exposure to these substances may be linked to neurological disorders.
However, these risks remain uncertain at present due to a lack of large-scale studies on the subject.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Malay Mail
an hour ago
- Malay Mail
Education Ministry to ramp up sex ed in schools by 2027 to curb harassment, online predators
KUALA LUMPUR, June 13 — The teaching time for the Reproductive and Social Health Education Guidelines (PEERS) module will be increased in the implementation of the 2027 School Curriculum. Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the module, which was launched in November last year, among other things, aims to increase reproductive health awareness among the community, especially students, teachers and parents. 'All MOE (Ministry of Education) educational institutions are requested to comply with the guidelines to address the issue of sexual harassment. Psychosocial support services also need to be further strengthened to provide support to students,' she said in a statement today. Fadhlina said MOE takes seriously media reports on the existence of paedophile pages on social media featuring school students and urged that such pages be reported immediately. 'The existence of social media pages that display pornographic and immoral content needs to be curbed,' she said. At the same time, she also urged parents to play a proactive role at home by educating and protecting children from the threat of sexual harassment. 'They are also responsible in ensuring that the dignity of children is preserved,' she said. — Bernama
Malay Mail
a day ago
- Malay Mail
New T-Rex ancestor discovered in drawers of Mongolian institute
PARIS, June 12 — Misidentified bones that languished in the drawers of a Mongolian institute for 50 years belong to a new species of tyrannosaur that rewrites the family history of the mighty T-Rex, scientists said yesterday. This slender ancestor of the massive Tyrannosaurus Rex was around four metres (13 feet) long and weighed three quarters of a tonne, according to a new study in the journal Nature. 'It would have been the size of a very large horse,' study co-author Darla Zelenitsky of Canada's University of Calgary told AFP. The fossils were first dug up in southeastern Mongolia in the early 1970s but at the time were identified as belonging to a different tyrannosaur, Alectrosaurus. For half a century, the fossils sat in the drawers at the Institute of Palaeontology of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences in the capital Ulaanbaatar. Then PhD student Jared Voris, who was on a trip to Mongolia, started looking through the drawers and noticed something was wrong, Zelenitsky said. It turned out the fossils were well-preserved, partial skeletons of two different individuals of a completely new species. 'It is quite possible that discoveries like this are sitting in other museums that just have not been recognised,' Zelenitsky added. 'Messy' family history They named the new species Khankhuuluu mongoliensis, which roughly means the dragon prince of Mongolia because it is smaller than the 'king' T-Rex. Zelenitsky said the discovery 'helped us clarify a lot about the family history of the tyrannosaur group because it was really messy previously'. The T-Rex represented the end of the family line. It was the apex predator in North America until 66 million years ago, when an asteroid bigger than Mount Everest slammed into the Gulf of Mexico. Three quarters of life on Earth was wiped out, including all the dinosaurs that did not evolve into birds. Around 20 million years earlier, Khankhuuluu — or another closely related family member — is now believed to have migrated from Asia to North America using the land bridge that once connected Siberia and Alaska. This led to tyrannosaurs evolving across North America. Then one of these species is thought to have crossed back over to Asia, where two tyrannosaur subgroups emerged. One was much smaller, weighing under a tonne, and was nicknamed Pinocchio rex for its long snout. The other subgroup was huge and included behemoths like the Tarbosaurus, which was only a little smaller than the T-rex. One of the gigantic dinosaurs then left Asia again for North America, eventually giving rise to the T-Rex, which dominated for just two million years — until the asteroid struck. — AFP
Free Malaysia Today
a day ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Traces of insecticides detected in rainwater in Japan
Japanese researchers say certain insecticides are also present in rainwater. (Envato Elements pic) PARIS : Pesticides don't just contaminate the air humans breathe or the food they eat. According to recent research conducted in Japan, certain insecticides are also present in rainwater. Scientists at Japan's University of Tokyo recently made a worrying discovery. Residues of several insecticides belonging to the well-known neonicotinoid family have been detected in rainwater. In Japan, neonicotinoids were introduced on a large scale in the 1990s, particularly in rice fields and pine forests. To reach this conclusion, the scientists collected and analysed rainwater samples from the cities of Tsukuba and Kashiwa, both located northeast of Tokyo. Their analyses were carried out between April 2023 and September 2024. They reveal that 91% of samples contained several insecticides from the neonicotinoid family. The highest total concentration was detected in August 2024, the study authors note. Acetamiprid is the predominant insecticide, having been identified in 82% of samples, followed by thiacloprid (73%) and dinotefuran (45%), two other insecticides from the neonicotinoid family. 'This research is the first report on neonicotinoid presence in precipitation, suggesting that neonicotinoids, as low volatile matter, can still be dispersed to the environment via precipitation,' warned the researchers, whose work is published in the journal Environmental Monitoring and Contaminants Research. Potential effects on human health In 2019, another study (also conducted by researchers at the University of Tokyo), published in the journal Science, explained in detail how the large-scale use of neonicotinoids contributed to the destruction of several species of fish, crustaceans, and zooplankton in Lake Shinji (southwestern Japan). Starting in 1993, several rice farmers began spraying imidacloprid on their fields. According to the study, the introduction of this insecticide in areas geographically close to the lake coincided with an 83% decrease in the average zooplankton biomass. While the harmful effects of neonicotinoids on insects (particularly bees) and several other animal species are increasingly well documented, doubts remain about their impact on human health. Given that neonicotinoids target the nervous system, scientists fear (among other things) that exposure to these substances may be linked to neurological disorders. However, these risks remain uncertain at present due to a lack of large-scale studies on the subject.
