GreenUPorto’s team from the Laboratory of Risk Assessment of Contaminated Soil and Waters (LABRISK) just published a new paper in the high-impact journal «Science of The Total Environment», focused on nanobiopesticides as alternatives for phytosanitary treatments.

Nanobiopesticides, especially those based on plants, are appearing as promising alternatives to synthetic pesticides. However, their hazard assessment to non-target organisms is still limited and needs further research.

The paper, entitled «Nanobiopesticides: Are they the future of phytosanitary treatments in modern agriculture?», presents a literature review that critically analyzes the existing literature concerning nanoformulations of biopesticides from natural sources, their synthesis techniques, and potential ecotoxicological effects. The paper also covers regulatory aspects of the authorization and commercialization of nanobiopesticides.

As  main conclusions, the authors state that:

– There isn’t enough trustworthy ecotoxicological data for risk assessment purposes and to establish safety doses;

– Registration and authorization requirements for these new products are more complicated than those for synthetic chemicals and take a long time.

This paper results from collaborative work between GreenUPorto/FCUP and CITAB – Centre for the Research and Technology of Agro-Environmental and Biological Sciences, from UTAD.

The main author of the paper, Sofia Machado, is currently pursuing the Doctoral Program in Biology at FCUP and GreenUPorto, developing her thesis entitled «Novel micro and nano-based formulations incorporating botanical pesticides: assessment of their fate and ecotoxicological impacts».

Read the paper here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.166401