Pesticides

Pesticides are among the most concerning environmental pollutants due to their toxicity, stability, mobility, and long-term effects on living organisms. While there are a variety of analytical methods available to analyze pesticides in environmental samples, most of those methods available in the industry focus narrowly on meeting regulatory levels for specific pesticide groups in effluent and drinking water. As the understanding of pesticides evolve, there is a growing need for low detection limits for application to transport and pathway surveys, mass balance studies on large waterways, atmospheric tracking and deposition and other scientific studies. Given the nature of the sample matrices that are typically analyzed for pesticides in these more sophisticated studies, there is also a need for methods to have a high degree of specificity to allow detection and quantification of small amounts of pesticides in the presence of many other potentially interfering compounds.

  • From legacy chlorinated pesticides like DDT, to pesticides of emerging concern including neonicotinoids, SGS AXYS offers multiple pesticide options.
  • Our pesticide measurements are available in all environmental, biota and human matrices and include characterization of pesticide residues in honey, pollen, bee-bread and more.
  • Our expertise in method development is reflected in our publication of the EPA 1698 method for multi-residue pesticides.
  • With the chlorinated pesticides, we offer coextractions and sophisticated multiplexing with dioxins, PCBs and more to generate 100s of POPs measurements at low detection limits from a single, limited sample, and fully validated and benchmarked GC-MS/MS techniques for even better performance and future-proofing.

Pesticide Offering

Family

Targets

 Matrices
Organochlorines

36

 Aqueous, Solid, Tissue, Serum, Passive, Active
Triazines

7

 Aqueous, Solid, Tissue, Passive, Active
Organophosphates

19

 Aqueous, Solid, Tissue, Passive, Active
Organonitrogen

14

 Aqueous, Solid, Tissue, Passive, Active
Neonicotinoid

19

 Aqueous, Solid, honey, pollen
Acid Extractable Herbicides

10

 Aqueous, Solid, Passive
Fipronil

5

 Aqueous, Solid
Glyphosate

3

 Aqueous, Solid, Passive
Pyrethroid

18

 Aqueous, Solid

Application Spotlight

Neonicotinoid pesticides such as clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam have been linked to multiple ecological effects in vulnerable honeybee and songbird populations. SGS AXYS scientists recently developed sensitive methods for the analysis of 20 neonicotinoids, metabolites and adjuvants in multiple environmental matrices, honey, pollen and bee bread. Our sensitive instrumentation and isotope dilution approaches provide low reporting limits, 2.5 ng/L for imidacloprid in water, for example.