Work

France’s Pesticide Load Index: Decreasing Ecotoxicity, Persistent Human Toxicity, Rising Concern For Environmental Fate

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Pesticide use has strong adverse effect on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and human health . Numerous policies have been proposed to reduce their use and associated risk but evaluations of changes in pesticide risk over time and space are still rare. Here, we evaluate temporal and spatial trends of pesticide risks in France between 2012-2022 using the Pesticide Load Index. The Pesticide Load Index assesses ecotoxicity, human health and fate risks of pesticides, and has been previously employed in Denmark and the UK. The Pesticide Load Index was evaluated accounting for 293 different active substances and 2977 commercial products (99% of sold pesticides mass). We found that pesticide risks have decreased by 29% from 2012 to 2022, mainly due to a reduction in the Ecotoxicity Load (-37.4%) linked to the ban of some of the most toxic active substances, while the Fate Load increased by 13.2% and no significant change was observed in the Human Health Load. Insecticides contributed nearly half (47.6%) of the Pesticide Load Index despite accounting for only 11.2% of the total mass of commercial pesticide products. We also found that the Pesticide Load Index and its three sub-indices were spatially correlated, with higher risks consistently observed in the North and West of France, where beet crops, vineyards, and vegetables cultivation are predominant. Our study identifies priority areas for the mitigation of pesticide risks, and provides data for public policies to further reduce the use of the most toxic pesticides, focusing not only on ecotoxicity, but also on human health risks and the environmental persistence, mobility and bioaccumulation of pesticides.

Source: Peer Community Journal

DOI: 10.24072/pcjournal.817

Authors: Thomas Perrot, Colin Fontaine, Niklas Möhring