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This information is extracted from the publication “Comprehensive study of insecticides in atmospheric particulate matter in Hanoi, Vietnam: Occurrences and human risk assessment” in the journal Chemosphere. The study was funded by the NAFOSTED Foundation.
In recent years, several monitoring stations have been installed to track air quality, but environmental data on microorganic pollutants, the composition of particulate matter in the atmosphere (APMs), and particularly volatile organic compounds (PAHs) and persistent organic pollutants (POPs) have received less attention.
To investigate the level of APM pollution in Hanoi and predict its potential impact on public health, the authors collected air samples at two locations: Pham Van Dong Street in Cau Giay District – a high-traffic area – and Phu Do in Nam Tu Liem District – an area where residents are primarily engaged in farming and handicrafts, from April to September 2017. They collected samples six days a week, during both the dry and rainy seasons.
As a result, the authors found 19 types of pesticides, most of which are widely used in Vietnam, except for carbofuran and omethoate. Notably, for the first time they discovered 16 types not previously documented in the literature, such as propargite, midacloprid, cyromazine, etc. Looking closely at the frequency of occurrence of these compounds, it can be seen that half of them were detected in 49% of the samples, especially propargite at 100%, imidacloprid at 91%, and omethoate at 83%, with the highest concentrations being 8.60 ng m-3, 2.12 ng m-3 and 0.85 ng m-3 respectively.
Previously, according to a preliminary survey by the National Institute of Environmental and Occupational Health Research (2018), nearly half of the 67 blood samples collected in Hanoi contained pesticides. However, to date, there have been no further surveys or studies on the risks of human exposure to pesticides.
In this study, through the total daily inhalation intake and the risk ratio from pesticide exposure, researchers found the health risks to be negligible. The authors also suggest that further studies are needed to conduct large-scale screening and analysis of pesticide compounds in both liquid and granular phases in Hanoi and neighboring provinces.
