Papers and published reports investigating the presence of pesticides in rainfall in Europe were reviewed. Approximately half of the compounds that were analysed for were detected. For those detected, most concentrations were below about 100 ng/l, but larger concentrations, up to a few thousand nanograms per litre, were detected occasionally at most monitoring sites. The most frequently detecte...

Organochlorine pesticides such as DDT, dieldrin and lindane are pesticides used in agriculture and public health. The chemicals persist in the environment and accumulate in fatty tissues of living organisms. Toxicity of organochlorines in nontarget organisms is mainly due to chronic exposure to sublethal doses of the chemicals. Some of the documented detrimental effects of the pesticides in the...