Chemicals in fertilisers may be of a greater threat to the environment than predicted, in particular to water dwelling species.
Toxicologists at the North Carolina State University conducted a study showing that water fleas take up the primary ingredients found in agricultural fertilisers, nitrates and nitrites. These chemicals are then converted within the insect to nitric oxide, a compound known to be dangerous to many animals.
During the study water fleas were exposed to low concentrations of fertiliser chemicals, after which they were found to develop reproductive and developmental problems consistent with nitric oxide poisoning.
One of the authors of the paper, Dr Gerald LeBlanc was surprised that these deleterious effects were seen at minimal levels of chemical exposure. He said, “There’s only limited evidence to suggest that animals could convert nitrates and nitrites to nitric oxide, although plants can. Since animals and plants don’t have the same cellular machinery for this conversion, it appears animals use different machinery for this conversion to occur.”
Studies have shown that this increase in nitrogen release is detrimental to the environment. In the first European Nitrogen Assessment study, 21 countries came to the conclusion that the annual cost of damage caused by nitrogen across Europe is between £60 billion and £280 billion.
Professor Bob Watson, Chief Scientific Advisor to the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), spoke of the assessment saying it “emphasises how nitrogen links the different environmental issues that we have come to know so well: climate, biodiversity, air, water, and soil pollution. It develops the vision for a more holistic approach, which is vital if we are to make progress in tackling these issues”.
“It’s not possible to eliminate nitrates and nitrites from our lives- they do wonders in agricultural crop production,” LeBlanc says. “But we can take measures to ensure that the benefits of these chemicals outweigh their risks by keeping them out of surface waters.”
Image courtesy of Steve Partridge on Wikimedia Commons.
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