Newsletters

From April to June 2023, a knowledge integration study was conducted by the Research Institute for Nature and Forest (INBO), in collaboration with the Agency for Nature and Forest (ANB), the Department of Environment, and the Flemish Environment Agency (VLM), examining the impact of pesticides on Flemish nature and the nature objectives, as well as their effect on humans.

Recent research sheds light on plastic microparticles originating from vehicle tyres as a significant environmental pollutant, potentially surpassing chronic safety limits in contaminated areas.

Proportionally high levels of pesticides are found in the blood of Dutch farmers, and house dust on farms contains a large amount of agricultural toxins. As European standards do not take into account overall health effects of simultaneous exposure to multiple agents, researchers fear numerous diseases.

Issue 596 from the News Alert Service of the European Commission draws the attention to research showing that commonly used chemicals all enter the environment. Levels in groundwater across the world highlight the need to assess the risk posed by these substances.

After the successful first edition (which focused on addressing the Flemish PFAS crisis), the 2^nd series of EmConSoil webinars addressed more general aspects of dealing with emerging soil contaminants.

Agricultural plastic products are mostly single use and can persist in the environment long after their intended use, threatening food safety and potentially human health. A new FAO report provides irrefutable evidence to support action towards the better management of plastics in agrifood systems.

As more new chemicals occur in the environment there is a growing need for reference standards to be able to assess toxicity, set limits and develop policies.

Biochar is well known for its positive effect on treating polluted soils, but on the other hand a negative impact on biota in the soil can be observed also. 

The study takes a closer look at leaching and retention of PFAS from contaminated soils collected in the field and tested under different rainfall conditions.

Research shows that bacteria can aid in the biodegradation of microplastics in soils and that the result can be boosted with microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation.