Project description
Assessing integrated risks and impacts of pesticides
The EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy aims to reduce the overall use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50 % and the use of more hazardous pesticides by 50 % by 2030. This is the first time a quantified pesticide reduction target has been set at the EU level. The EU-funded SPRINT project will assist in achieving these targets. Bringing together a world-class team of scientists from around Europe and Argentina, the project will develop, test, validate and deliver a Global Health Risk Assessment Toolbox for the integrated assessment of the impacts of pesticides on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems as well as on plant, animal and human health. It will also assess the sustainability of alternative strategies to pesticide use and develop transition pathways to more sustainable plant protection.
Objective
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.
Fields of science
Not validated
Not validated
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
RIA - Research and Innovation actionCoordinator
6708 PB Wageningen
Netherlands
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Participants (27)
NG7 2TU Nottingham
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
3012 Bern
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8000 Aarhus C
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6525 XZ Nijmegen
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43003 Tarragona
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40138 Bologna
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3810-193 Aveiro
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3584 CS Utrecht
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5070 Frick
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2800 Kongens Lyngby
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10717 BERLIN
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
GL50 2RH Cheltenham
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1000 Ljubljana
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6708 PB Wageningen
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C1033AAE BUENOS AIRES
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28040 MADRID
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52440 Porec
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30202 Cartagena
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00153 Roma
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601 77 Brno
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6525 ED Nijmegen
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
21502 Geesthacht
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33000 Bordeaux
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T12 YN60 Cork
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2000 Antwerpen
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70599 Stuttgart
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20123 Milano
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