Contamination of soil by pesticide wastes a case study

Soil samples contaminated with pesticide wastes were tested with three different earthworm tests: Earthworm Acute Test (ISO 11268-1, 1993), Earthworm Reproduction Test (PN-ISO 11268-2, 2001) and Earthworm Avoidance Response Test (ISO/DIS 17512-1, 2005). Soil samples were taken from the area of a landfill site, where expired drugs, chemicals and other hazardous waste were collected without any separation. Chemical analysis showed presence of different active substances of pesticide formulations. Even more important was the detection of banned pesticides or their metabolites. Statistically important differences in mortality, production of cocoons and hatching success were observed between sampled and reference soils. The highest sensitivity was observed in avoidance-response test, where escape of earthworms to the reference soil was noticeable. Sublethal tests proved to be useful methods for assessing the contamination of soil better than acute tests.