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Recent research from SPRINT investigates which pesticides we excrete in our urine to help understand our exposure to pesticides in our diet. You can now read an accessible, quick-to-read summary of this study in a new factsheet. The factsheet is based on the peer-reviewed paper Relationship between dietary pesticide intake and urinary excretion: a pilot study using duplicate portion analysis by Wieland et al. which was recently published in the journal Regulatory Toxicology & Pharmacology. The findings show that people are routinely exposed to mixtures of pesticides through daily eating habits, even though individual residue levels are low. The study also indicates that although diet is a major exposure route for some pesticides, exposure to others appears to be largely non-dietary, and may stem from the indoor environment or occupational contexts.
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Recent research from SPRINT aims to make it easier for regulatory scientists to test the ecological safety of pesticide mixtures.
You can now read an accessible, quick-to-read summary of this study in a new factsheet.
The factsheet is based on the peer-reviewed paper Prioritization of currently used pesticides in soils of main European cropping systems and an Argentinian cropping system for assessment of mixture toxicity and risk on terrestrial biota by Jegede et al. which was recently published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials.
Key points:
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The study sets out a practical approach for selecting substances to include in ecological risk assessments of pesticide mixtures in soil.
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The environmental risks of individual pesticides may be greater when they mix with other pesticides. Yet regulatory tests tend to focus on assessing the risks of pesticides in isolation.
- However, there is no need to assess every pesticide in a mixture. The method allows regulatory scientists to identify which pesticides to include in their tests.
- The new factsheet presents this prioritisation approach, which is illustrated with scenarios that include earthworms, bees, plants and microbes.
We’re in the news!
SPRINT’s research on non-dietary pesticide exposure has been featured in The Guardian (24 October 2025) under the headline: “‘I was contaminated’: Study reveals how hard it is to avoid pesticide exposure.”
This international media coverage highlights the importance of our work measuring real-world pesticide exposure beyond diet, and the growing public interest in understanding how these substances move through our environment.
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What the article is about Why this matters For SPRINT, this reinforces our mission to develop a Global Health Risk Assessment Toolbox that better captures these complex, real-world exposures. |
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Read more:
📰 Read the Guardian article, by Ajit Niranjan
We are pleased to announce that a new peer-reviewed article, “Relationship between dietary pesticide intake and urinary pesticide metabolites” (Wieland et al., 2025) has just been published.
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This study explores how pesticide residues in our diet translate into measurable urinary biomarkers, highlighting the dietary pathway as a key route of exposure in the general population. Key points:
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Recent research from SPRINT provides important new evidence on an overlooked source of pesticides for humans: our daily surroundings.
You can now read an accessible, quick-to-read summary of this study in a new factsheet.
The factsheet is based on the paper Non-dietary personal pesticide exposure using silicone wristbands across 10 European countries by Figueiredo et al. which was recently published in the journal Environment International.
The study quantifies personal non-dietary exposure to pesticides with wristbands that absorb compounds from the wearer's environment.
- It shows that farmers and rural inhabitants are most exposed to non-dietary sources of pesticides.
- However, people who live far from farms are also affected.
- Individuals can reduce their exposure by regularly cleaning their homes, the results show.
- The study also indicates that policymakers need to consider new ways of reducing the spread of pesticides from farmland.
