If the current policy explores the utilization of active ingredients in use quickly and to the maximum, the same does not occur with the ban on the registration of products highly dangerous to both health and the environment. The current policy does not aim at reducing pesticide toxicity and ecotoxicity, required to reduce environmental contamination and human exposure. To this end, it is essential to adjust scientific evaluation parameters concerning lower concentration tolerance limits to modernity standards, in addition to banning products for which there is scientific evidence of carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic actions. In ecotoxicology, reducing the applicable concentration limits is paramount for preserving bees, birds, and other forms of domestic and wildlife. When evaluating active ingredients, it is imperative to prioritize more biodegradable molecules with low potential for environmental mobilization through volatilization and leaching, preserving both air and water quality. Another goal, among others, is a program for the generalized reduction of successfully implemented in several countries. Brazil, a tropical agriculture leader, should stand out by incorporating sustainability while preserving both health and the environment.

The Anthropocene has been characterised as an era in which man, with his anthropocentric thinking and attitudes, has the maximum influence on the environment. The presence of plastics in the environment is a problem that challenges all actors involved. This theme provokes important reflections on the role of sustainable development for a common future, in the constant search for coexistence between the interests of men who hold political and economic power and the limitations of the planet's carrying capacity. Even with advances in the field in recent decades, new questions have been proposed to better understand the issues and complexities of microplastics. Mathematical model simulations of microplastic particles (MPs) provide valuable strategies to better understand and predict the probable environmental effects of transport, settlement of and adsorption of pollutants, microorganisms, and antibiotic-resistance. In this review, 75 studies published between 2012 and 2022 were evaluated. Most of the studies focused on hydrodynamic modelling (42.6%), followed by simulations of pollutant adsorption kinetics by microplastics (26.7%). A third group of studies (30.7%) included simulations that employed approaches other than the first two, including regression, deep learning, and mass balance. Based on our review, we suggest that simulations that can unify the studies on the transport of MPs with those on the adsorption capacity for pollutants from these particles should be encouraged in the future.

As fontes contaminantes relacionadas à exploração, à produção, ao armazenamento, ao transporte, à distribuição e à destinação final de petróleo e seus derivados trazem riscos que ameaçam ambientes litorâneos frágeis, pouco estudados e que necessitam de atenção da comunidade científica.

Mercury (Hg) is a trace metal that is considered a major contaminant of fresh and marine waters due to natural sources and anthropogenic sources such as gold mining and industrial processes. From a toxicological point of view, Hg is one of the most widely studied elements, especially in the area of food, due to its high toxicity, high absorption levels, and low excretion rates, which lead to an increase in its concentrations in the food chain. It enters the human body through the consumption of fish, posing a risk to human health. Owing to these facts, this study aimed to determine total mercury (THg) concentrations in the tuna species, little tunny (Euthynnus alletteratus), to compare the concentrations between males and females, and to analyze whether these concentrations fall within the maximum limit established by Brazilian and international legislations for predatory (carnivorous) fish, which is 1.0 mg.kg-1. In our study, the Hg concentration found in males ranged from 0.034 mg.kg-1 to 1.930 mg.kg-1, while in females it ranged from 0.036 mg.kg-1 to 1.980 mg.kg-1. The maximum values discovered were nearly twice as high as the recommendations of Brazilian and international legislations for carnivorous fish. Therefore, it is concluded that regular consumption of this species may endanger human health.

Araruama lagoon is one of the largest permanent hypersaline lagoons in the world and has been impacted for twenty years by sewage dumping. In early 2005, a Prasinophyceae (Pseudoscourfieldia sp.) phytoplankton bloom occurred, leading to fish mortality during subsequent summers (2006 and 2007). In this context, the aim of the present study was to accompany this historical period through the use of biochemical biomarkers in mullet (Mugil liza) during and after the algal bloom. Mullet were collected from Araruama Lagoon in June and July 2005 and August 2007, as well as from a reference lagoon with no algal blooms, Saquarema Lagoon. Several enzymatic activities in liver were analyzed, namely glutathione peroxidase (GPX), catalase (CAT), total glutathione S-transferase (GSTt), specific GSTp (pi) and GST mu (mi) classes and ethoxyresorufin-O-deethylase (EROD), as well as muscle acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE). In 2005, only EROD activity was significantly increased at Araruama Lagoon, indicating induction of the biotransformation enzyme system (CYP 1A1). GSTp, on the other hand, was lower in the Araruama Lagoon, especially in 2005, when compared to mullet from Saquarema lagoon (reference area). These results highlight the importance of developing actions that go beyond the physical-chemical monitoring of these environments, since the study of ecological relationships and the physiology of organisms affected by algal blooms also include biochemical parameters to evaluate new approaches to icthyotoxicity.