Ecological risk assessment of pesticides in urban streams of the Brazilian Amazon.

The use of pesticides in households and peri-urban areas of the Amazon has increased notably during the last years. Yet, the presence of these contaminants in Amazonian freshwater ecosystems remains unexplored. Here, we assessed the exposure to 18 pesticides and 5 transformation products in the Amazon River and in the urban streams of Manaus, Santarém, Macapá, and Belém (Brazil).

Pharmaceuticals and other urban contaminants threaten Amazonian freshwater ecosystems.

Urban areas in the Brazilian Amazon have grown at an unprecedented rate during the last years. About 90% of the wastewater produced by these urban areas are discharged untreated into Amazonian freshwater ecosystems, constituting a potential environmental pathway for pharmaceuticals and other chemicals consumed by modern societies (e.g.

Use and fate of pesticides in the Amazon State, Brazil: risk to human health and the environment.

During the last 30 years, the increase of the human population in the Amazon introduced the need for additional food production and caused the state government to implement programs to increase and improve agricultural production. The production of nontraditional crops introduced several problems unknown to traditional farmers, since they are not well adapted to tropical conditions. Their susceptibility to insects, fungi and other plagues, and the competition with native vegetation forced farmers to use pesticides intensively.