Sustainable plant protection transition: a global health approach

General Information

SPRINT will develop and validate a Global Health Risk Assessment Toolbox to integrate assessments of the impacts of plant protection products (PPP) on ecosystem, plant, animal and human (EPAH) health, using three main attributes for health status: resilience, reproduction/productivity and manifestation of diseases. The goal is integrated risk assessment at the local, regional, national and European level, focusing on different PPP use patterns and detected residue mixtures in contrasting farming systems (conventional, integrated, organic). SPRINT consists of 9 interlinked work packages. The distribution and the impacts of PPP on EPAH health will be evaluated at 11 case study sites (CSS), ten located in diverse agricultural European landscapes, and one in Argentina (soy production for feed for EU market). PPP environmental pathways, and direct (food/feed ingestion) and indirect (air/dust inhalation and dermal uptake) animal and human exposure routes will be assessed to improve current fate, exposure, and toxicokinetic models (e.g. EFSA-FOCUS, BROWSE, BREAM). (Eco)toxicological assays will be performed based on CCS findings, using existing and improved procedures, including alternative testing criteria and new target organisms. Such assays will cover direct and indirect exposure to multiple PPP residues, realistic ranges of PPP concentrations, multi-species scenarios, and short- and long-term time horizons. Modelling of sustainability and cost-benefit analysis at the farm and macroeconomic level will be conducted to derive recommendations for sustainable transition pathways, and a research agenda on PPPs. SPRINT is based on a multi-actor approach with CCS platforms to engage stakeholders and identify respective needs, collaboration along relevant WPs, improving farmer and citizen awareness, joint development of novel management strategies for reduced reliance on PPP use, and creation of an enabling environment for adoption and change. Hereon’s part is the chemical analysis of PPPs in different matrices and assess the transport of plant PPPs by wind erosion of agricultural soils and spray drift to off-target areas impacting human and environmental health.

EU-Programme Acronym and Subprogramme Area	H2020-SFS-2018-2020
Project Type	Research & Innovation Action
Contract Number	Grant Agreement 862568
Co-ordinator	Wageningen University (NL)

Funding for the Project (€)	Funding for Hereon (€)
14,994,445	233,461

Contact Person at Hereon

Dr. Jürgen Gandraß, Institute of Coastal Environmental Chemistry, Organic Environmental Chemistry, KUO, Phone: +49 (0)4152 87-1857 E-mail contact

Participants

University College Cork-National University of Ireland (IE), Centro De Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales Y Tecnologicas-CIEM (ES), Cooperativa Sociale Istituto Nazionale Per Lo Studio E Il Controllo Dei Tumori E Delle Malattie Am (IT), Ecologic Institute GmbH (DE), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (IT), Forschungsinstitut für Biologischen Landbau Stiftung (CH), Fundacio Institut d'investigacion Sanitaria Pere Virgili (ES), Institut Za Poljoprivredu I Turizam Ustanova (HR), Instituto Nacional De Tecnologia Agropecuaria (AR), Land Quality Management Ltd (UK), Masarykova Univerzita (CZ), Steunstichting Vereniging voor Zoogdierkunde en Zoogdierbescherming (NL), Stichtung Katholieke Universiteit (NL), Technical University of Denmark (DK), Universidad Politecnica De Cartagena (ES), Universidade De Aveiro (PT), Universita Cattolica Del Sacro Cuore (IT), Universität Hohenheim (DE), Université de Bordeaux (FR), Universiteit Antwerpen (BE), University of Aarhus (DK), University of Bern (CH), University of Gloucestershire (UK), University of Ljubljana (SI), Utrecht University (NL), Wageningen Universiteit (NL), Wageningen University and Research (NL)

Last Update: 16. April 2021