Intensive and widespread use of pesticides raises serious environmental and human health concerns. The presence and levels of 209 pesticide residues (active substances and transformation products) in 625 environmental samples (201 soil, 193 crop, 20 outdoor air, 115 indoor dust, 58 surface water, and 38 sediment samples) have been studied. The samples were collected during the 2021 growing season, across 10 study sites, covering the main European crops, and conventional and organic farming systems. We profiled the pesticide residues found in the different matrices using existing hazard classifications towards non-target organisms and humans. Combining monitoring data and hazard information, we developed an indicator for the prioritization of pesticides, which can support policy decisions and sustainable pesticide use transitions. Eighty-six percent of the samples had at least one residue above the respective limit of detection. One hundred residues were found in soil, 112 in water, 99 in sediments, 78 in crops, 76 in outdoor air, and 197 in indoor dust. The number, levels, and profile of residues varied between farming systems. Our results show that non-approved compounds still represent a significant part of environmental cocktails and should be accounted for in monitoring programs and risk assessments. The hazard profiles analysis confirms the dominance of compounds of low-moderate hazard and underscores the high hazard of some approved compounds and recurring "no data available" situations. Overall, our results support the idea that risk should be assessed in a mixture context, taking environmentally relevant mixtures into consideration. We have uncovered uncertainties and data gaps that should be addressed, as well as the policy implications at the EU approval status level. Our newly introduced indicator can help identify research priority areas, and act as a reference for targeted scenarios set forth in the Farm to Fork pesticide reduction goals.

Agricultural Engineering School Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena Spain

Agronomy Department Biotechnical Faculty University of Ljubljana Jamnikarjeva 101 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia

Biometris Wageningen University The Netherlands

CESAM and Department of Biology University of Aveiro Portugal

Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center Ramazzini Institute Italy

Department of Agriculture and Nutrition Institute of Agriculture and Tourism K Huguesa 8 52440 Poreč Croatia

Department of Agroecology Aarhus University Blichers Allé 20 8830 Tjele Denmark

Department of Public Health Research Unit for Environment Occupation and Health Danish Ramazzini Centre Aarhus University Aarhus Denmark

Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences Utrecht University Utrecht The Netherlands

Institute of Geography University of Bern Hallerstrasse 12 3012 Bern Switzerland

Radboud Institute for Biological and Environmental Sciences Radboud University Nijmegen the Netherlands

RECETOX Faculty of Science Masaryk University Brno The Czech Republic

Soil Physics and Land Management Group Wageningen University and Research Netherlands

Unit of POPs and Emerging Pollutants in Environment Department of Environment CIEMAT Madrid Spain

Univ Bordeaux INSERM BPH U1219 F 33000 Bordeaux France

Wageningen Food Safety Research part of Wageningen University and Research Wageningen The Netherlands

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