Pesticide drift

[11] Conversely, wind drift is also an efficient mechanism for moving droplets of an appropriate size range to their targets over a wide area with ultra-low volume (ULV) spraying.

[15] Other ways to mitigate spray drift is to apply the pesticide directly to the desired treatment area, as well as paying attention to where surface waters, gutters, drainage ditches, and storm drains are located.

"Endo-drift" is volumetrically more significant and may therefore cause greater ecological contamination (e.g. where chemical pesticides pollute ground water).

A topical approach is integrated pest management, which involves fewer chemicals but often greater manual work.

Although these salts are of lower volatility in laboratory tests, in the field the situation is more complicated, and drift remains a problem.

[17] Much public concern has led to research into spray drift, point source pollution (e.g. pesticides entering bodies of water following spillage of concentrate or rinsate) can also cause environmental harm.

[25][26] Insecticides sprayed on crop fields can also have detrimental effects on non-human lifeforms that are important to the surrounding ecosystems like bees and other insects.

For example, the American Soybean Association and various land-grant universities are cooperating in the race to find ways to preserve the usability of dicamba while ending drift injury.

[28] Application of herbicides later in the season to protect herbicide-resistant genetically modified plants increases the risk of volatilisation as the temperature is higher and incorporation into the soil impractical.

[31] Pesticides can have long-term negative health impacts, including cancer, lung diseases, fertility and reproductive problems, and neurodevelopmental issues in children, when exposure levels are high enough.

[34] The USDA and EPA are working together to examine new studies and how to improve scientific models to estimate the exposure, risk, and drift of pesticides.