Determination of Carbamate Insecticides, their Degradation Products and Phenylurea Herbicides in Atmospheric Samples in the Prairie Agricultural Region

Abstract

Saskatchewan has the highest provincial pesticide usage in Canada. With the drought expected in Saskatchewan due to climate change, there will be increased crop production pressures and in turn, increased pesticide use. Increased pesticide use impacts human health, the environment, and resource management, among other things. Because of this, it is important to determine the amount of pesticides in the environment. This presentation introduces a new analytical method using liquid chromatography-positive electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of carbamate insecticides, their degradation products, and phenylurea herbicides in atmospheric samples. Atmospheric samples were collected at Bratt's Lake, Saskatchewan located in the prairie agricultural region. At present, there has been little to no atmospheric sampling of these pesticides, especially in western Canada and the objective is to provide the first detection for some of the target pesticides in the atmosphere.