The most important factors influencing the human development and health condition are nutrition habits. The quality of food including first of all health safety as well as usable attributes of products often decides about the consumer choice. Safe food should be characterized by both, adequate nutritive value and the tolerably low content of substances which presence could be a risk and threat for health, e.g. pesticide residues. The aim of the study was to estimate long-term and short-term intake of pesticide residues in Polish fruit and vegetables in 2006. The estimation of dietary exposure was based on pesticide residue data from official control of domestic crops carried out by Institute of Plant Protection and on British food consumption data.The estimated dietary intake has shown the chronic dietary exposure of consumers to the pesticide residues in 2006 in Polish crops was relatively low. For fourteen pesticide residues found in apples the long-term intake did not exceed for adult 1.4% and for toddlers 7.6% of the ADI calculated for each compound and respectively 5.1% and 28.3% of the ADI for all compounds total. For eleven residues found in black currants the data were respectively for adult 1.1% and for toddlers 3.3% of the ADI calculated for each compound and 3.3% and 10.3% of the ADI for all compounds total. The long-term exposure values for other 29 commodities were much lower than those for black currant. An acute dietary exposure was estimated for residues of endosulfan in black currants, fenhexamid in raspberries and captan in sour cherries. An acute dietary exposure did not exceed 18.9% for adults and for toddlers 43.2% of the ARfD. The results show that Polish fruit and vegetables are safe in long- as well as in short-term nutrition.

Fruit and vegetables constitute an essential part of human diet and that is why they should be “safe”.

Chemical contaminants of plant origin in food, including the pesticide residues, are defined as critical differentiators of quality and food safety. Pesticide residues are found in fruits, vegetables, cereals and herbs chemically

protected at low concentrations, but they are one of the elements that affect the quality of healthcare.

The aim of this study was to assess the pesticide residues in apples from the north-eastern Poland (Lubelskie,

Podlaskie and Warmińsko-Mazurskie provinces) and get an answer whether any contamination in fruit from the

region is similar to that in other countries and whether it can lead to exposure of consumer’s health. Also assessed compliance of used pesticides with applicable law and found residues were compared with the Maximum

Residue Levels (MRLs). The study showed that 59% of the samples of apples from the north-eastern Poland

contain pesticide residues below the MRL, and 7% above the limits. The estimated dietary intake has shown

the chronic dietary exposure of the most vulnerable groups - children and adults to the pesticide residues in

Polish apples was relatively low and does not constitute a health risk to. The results show that apples from

north-eastern Poland are safe.

The selection of bioremediation techniques is important for purification of contaminated soil for agricultural use. Studies on soil contaminated with petroleum substances have indicated that the applied method of remediation has a bigger impact on the development of oat seedlings than the level of contamination. A yeast inoculum appeared to be a technique which was the friendliest to vegetation of oat

In literature as well as in the university debate, we can observe the increase of interest regarding converting agricultural residues into energy. Furthermore, the energy and climate policies have encouraged the development of biogas plants for energy production. One of the most significant reasons of this escalation is that this technology may be both convenient and beneficial. The produced biogas is not only supposed to cover the energy demand like heat and electricity, the resulting digestate has the prospect of a beneficial fertilizer and can thereby influence the energy management plans. This technology is widely introduced to countries, which have large income from agriculture. Not only does this reduce the use of industrial fertilizers, but also finds use for agricultural residues. One of the countries of this type is Vietnam, which is the fifth largest exporter of rice in the world. Over 55% of greenhouse gas emission in Vietnam comes from agriculture. Using innovative technologies such as biogas, may decrease this value in near future. It may also contribute to more sustainable agriculture by decreasing traditional fields burning after the harvesting period. The goal of this research paper is to estimate the possible production of biogas from rice straw to cover the energy demand of the rice mill. Four possible scenarios have been considered in this paper, the present situation and where electricity, energy or both were covered by biogas from agricultural residues. An attempt was made to answer the question whether the amount of biogas produced from agricultural residues is enough for both: electricity and energy supply, for the rice mill. If not, how much rice straw must be delivered from other sources, from which rice is not delivered to the rice mill. The base of the assumptions during the estimation of various values were statistics from FAO and other organizations, secondary sources and data from the existing rice mill in Hậu Mỹ Bắc B in Mekong delta in Vietnam.

In view of the permanent increase of the municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) residues amount,

the numerous attempts to find a way of their recovery have been undertaken. In this paper the idea of the

recovery of the MSWI residues in Kłodawa salt mine is presented. The idea is to fill the waste in underground

workings, close and/or backfill the underground excavations with self-solidifying mixture prepared

on the basis of MSWI grained solid residues. Two techniques are proposed: 1) hydraulic backfill technique

(HBT) where the mixture is prepared in the surface installation and pumped down into the underground

workings through shaft and the pipelines and 2) dry waste technique (DWT), where dry grained waste is

dropped into the mine by pneumatic pipeline transport, then supplied to the underground mixture-preparing-

installation and pumped as a thin liquid or paste into the selected workings. The description of the

technology is preceded by general characteristic of the hardening backfill in underground mines and by

characteristic of MSWI residues, drafted on the basis of the literature review.

Analyses of the ground waters in respect of presence of residues of plant protection products, i.e. active substances as well as environmental metabolites thereof are performed in the Institute of Plant Protection since the end of 80ties of the past Century. Based on the results obtained in 1993–1994 for 40 wells located in administrative territories of former Poznań, Toruń and Bydgoszcz voivodeships, in the vicinity of intensive agricultural production areas (orchards, farms), wells where significant amounts of residues of triazines group and dealkylated metabolites thereof had been found previously were qualified to further studies. There were 6 wells in which triazine residues were determined most often. Additionally, based on hydrogeological maps, directions of underflows in the areas of well’s locations were determined as well. The aim of the above was to find the additional places for sampling waters distant from pollution sources and estimation of the level of residues of target compounds depending on distance from the basic wells. Seven triazine compounds including basic active substances (atrazine, simazine) and their metabolites [desethyl atrazine, desisopropyl atrazine, desethyldesisopropyl atrazine, hydroxyatrazine and hydroxysimazine] were selected for the presented studies. Residues were analyzed using methodologies designed in the Institute, i.e. solid-phase extraction (SPE) followed by determination by chromatographic techniques HPLC-PDA, GC-NPD and GC-MS. Generally, during 11 years of investigations (1993–2003) samplings were performed 52 times and 323 samples of groundwater including that from additional wells were analyzed. Most often residues of atrazine and deethylatrazine in wells located in environs of Poznań were detected.

With the increase of agricultural production, residues of crop are the main source of organic matter in the soil and they are alternatives to inorganic fertilizers. For this purpose, effects of organic residues (cotton stalk, maize stalk, almond bark) commonly grown in Turkey were investigated for some soil microbial activity in clay soil. In this study, incubation experiment was set up. Five doses (0%, 2%, 4%, 6% and 8%) of organic residues (maize stalks, cotton stalks or almond bark) were applied to soil. Soil microbiological properties of soil samples such as CO2 respiration, dehydrogenase and urease activity were determined. According to the results obtained, maize stalk, cotton stalks and almond bark applications increased some soil microbiological activities, such as CO2 respiration, dehydrogenase and urease activities according to control soil. Maize stalk in comparison to other residues affects better on the biological properties of the soil. It is determined that enhancing effects of the added organic residues (maize stalk, cotton stalk, almond bark) into the soil were changed according to the type of organic residues, dosage and application terms.

The aim of this study was to monitor pesticide residues in the blood of agricultural workers (farmers, pesticide dealers, and spraying workers) living in the Dakahlia Governorate, Egypt. Residue analysis revealed that 48, 76, and 84% of the farmers, pesticide dealers, and spraying workers had pesticide residues in their bloods, respectively. Eleven compounds were detected in the blood of examined individuals. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, most of these pesticides (nine pesticides) were in moderately hazardous compounds. Carbofuran, a highlyhazardous compound was the most toxic. The compound with the lowest toxicity was hexytiazox, which is unlikely to pose an acute hazard in normal use. Chlorpyrifos was found in the blood of 38.3% of the study subjects, followed by acetamiprid (11.7%) and profenofos (10.7%), while fenvalerate was the lowest occurring compound (1.3%). Of the collected samples 41.3% was free of pesticide residues, while 58.7% of the samples was contaminated. Furthermore, the amounts of all detected pesticides were below the no observable adverse effect levels (NOAEL). Also, 38.7% of the samples had only one pesticide, while 8% of them contained residues of two pesticides, and 5.3% contained more than two compounds. The worker’s age did not affect the accumulations of pesticide residues in their bodies. However, there was a strong correlation between pesticide residues accumulation and an individual’s exposure time. Therefore, from these results it can be seen that encouraging greater awareness among pesticide users of the need to improve safe usage and handling of pesticides by education, advice, and warning them of the risks involved in the misuse of these poisonous materials is highly recommended.

This paper aims at presenting the possibilities of applying gas chromatography for the determination of pharmaceutical residues in different matrices. Section one of the study underscores the environmental advantages of employing GC for such analyses. Section two presents the innovative methods for determining pharmaceuticals in the environment. The last section discusses the results of the analysis of the GC and GC-MS market in Poland.

According to the literature data, the described methods were applied for the analysis of real samples: wastewaters, surface waters, soil samples. The samples were collected from the Pomerania region and the Gulf of Gdańsk. The pharmaceuticals were determined in various environmental samples. The highest concentrations were found in raw wastewater, medium – in a treated wastewater, and the lowest – in surface water. The most frequently detected pharmaceuticals were: ibuprofen, paracetamol, diclofenac and naproxen, all belonging to NSAIDs.

Furthermore, the results of the study of the Polish GC market indicate that a very limited number of entities are currently using chromatographic techniques, and pharmaceutical residues tests are exceptions, mainly due to the lack of the legal requirements in this field and the lack of own laboratories.

The sustainable development of human activities is directly related to the protection of the environment by lowering the anthropogenic stress. Pharmaceuticals – due to their growing consumption (use in medicine, veterinary, animal production, cosmetics) and their incomplete removal in wastewater treatment plants – are classified as a group of new and rapidly emerging pollutants which have been proven to have a negative impact onto water organisms. In order to ensure the proper protection of human health and the environment there is an urgent necessity of determining pharmaceuticals in clinical, cosmetic, food and environmental samples. Gas (GC) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) are valuable techniques for such determination, especially when they are coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS; LC-MS) or tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS; LC-MS/MS). The purpose of this paper is to present an analysis of sustainability features of analytical techniques in the light of necessity to determine trace amounts of pharmaceuticals in the aforementioned different matrices. Using the Delphi method we performed an analysis of the key sources of the competitive advantages of the application of GC and GC-MS techniques for determining the pharmaceutical residue in clinical, cosmetic, food and environmental samples – compared to techniques based on HPLC or LC-MS. The analysis covered the following areas: (i) the features of the technique, (ii) the price, and (iii) the applicability in various sectors of economy.