Avian risk assessment of eight pesticides commonly used in economic forests through the dietary, drinking water and inhalation routes

The exposure risk through the dietary, drinking water and inhalation routes of eight pesticides, namely propoxur, chlorfenapyr, dichlorvos, trichlorfon, malathion, fenitrothion, indoxacarb and emamectin benzoate to birds was evaluated using the exposure models including “guidelines on environmental risk assessment for pesticide registration—part 3: birds”, SIP model and STIR model. The registration of crops for pesticides and their application information were obtained from “China Pesticide Information Network”. The avian toxicological data were obtained from United States Environmental Protection Agency, European Food Safety Authority, PubChem and Pesticide Properties Database. Results showed that, through the dietary route, the primary acute risk of propoxur to birds was unacceptable. The primary long-term risk of propoxur to birds was acceptable. The primary acute, short-term and long-term risks of dichlorvos, chlorfenapyr, trichlorfon and fenitrothion to birds were unacceptable. The primary short-term and long-term risks of malathion to birds were unacceptable. The primary acute, short-term and long-term risks of indoxacarb and emamectin benzoate to birds were acceptable. Through the drinking water route, the acute and chronic risks of chlorfenapyr and indoxacarb to birds were not of concern, and the risks of the other 6 pesticides need to be concerned. Through the inhalation route, only the volatilized inhalation risk of dichlorvos to birds need to be concerned, and the droplet inhalation and volatile inhalation risks of the other 7 pesticides to birds are not of concern. In summary, among the 8 pesticides commonly used in forestry, only the risk of indoxacarb to birds was acceptable or not of conceren through all of the dietary, drinking water and inhalation routes. The risks of the other 7 pesticides to bird needed to be concerned. Our assessment could provide the references for the safe application of those 8 pesticides in the economic forest and proposals for the improvement of methods to assess the risk of pesticide to birds in China. However, only primary risk assessment was performed in this study, leading to conserved results. More accurate assessment results could be obtained by carrying out investigation and toxicology studies.