Can lessons from pharmaceutical monitoring help to improve pesticide regulation? Agricultural pesticides are an important component of intensive agriculture and, therefore, of global food production. In the European Union, ∼500 active substances used in pesticides are approved, including insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and plant growth regulators. When used at industrial scales, pesticides can harm the environment (1), but there is a trade-off between this effect and the need to produce food. Recent uncertainties about the health and environmental effects of glyphosate herbicide and neonicotinoid insecticides underline the need for regulation to be sensitive to this trade-off (2, 3). Better regulation is needed to control how pesticides are used and affect the environment at a landscape scale.

中文翻译：

---

对农药的警戒

药物监测的经验教训是否有助于改进农药监管？农药是集约化农业的重要组成部分，因此也是全球粮食生产的重要组成部分。欧盟批准了约 500 种用于杀虫剂的活性物质，包括杀虫剂、杀菌剂、除草剂和植物生长调节剂。当以工业规模使用时，杀虫剂会危害环境 (1)，但在这种影响与生产食物的需求之间需要权衡。最近草甘膦除草剂和新烟碱类杀虫剂对健康和环境影响的不确定性凸显了监管需要对这种权衡保持敏感 (2, 3)。需要更好的监管来控制农药的使用方式并在景观范围内影响环境。