HRI Weekly Seminar Series - "Modifications of Fungicide Toxicity by Photo-degradation"

Exposure to sunlight and certain fungicide can induce phototoxic responses of human and animals. However, assessment of fungicide phototoxicity is difficult. The structural changes of major fungicide compounds were identified in our previous studies. In the past few years, we developed several aquatic animal and cell culture models to assess the toxicity changes of fungicides under the effect of ultraviolet radiation (UVR). Although most of the fungicide chemicals tested in our study did not demonstrate lethal effects at low doses, their toxicities were significantly elevated with the UVR. Photoactivation increased the risk of human and aquatic animals exposed to fungicide contaminants in nature.