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Study · Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Conflicts declared

Chlorfenapyr residues on radish and dietary risk in China

Sun M, Yi X, Tong Z, et al · Free full text

What it found

In field trials in China, chlorfenapyr broke down quickly on radish leaves, and the authors calculated that the amounts left on radish and radish leaves 14 days after spraying posed a low dietary risk to the general population.

What they found

Breakdown on leaves

On radish leaves, chlorfenapyr dropped by more than 90% within 21 days of spraying, with a half-life of 6.0 to 6.4 days. The authors call it an easily degradable pesticide.

Residues in radish

At 14 days after the last spray, the median chlorfenapyr residue in radish was 0.12 mg/kg, with individual values from 0.025 to 0.42 mg/kg. At 21 days the median was also 0.12 mg/kg.

Residues in leaves

At 14 days after the last spray, the median chlorfenapyr residue in radish leaves was 3.92 mg/kg, with values from 1.09 to 7.24 mg/kg. At 21 days the median was 2.41 mg/kg.

Metabolite tralopyril

Tralopyril was detected in radish, and in radish leaves from five of the six sites, with the highest amount in the Guangdong samples. No tralopyril was found in the Chongqing leaf samples.

Dietary risk estimate

Using the 14-day median residues and Chinese vegetable intake data, the authors calculated a risk quotient of 0.012 for radish and 0.147 for radish leaves. Both are below 1, which they say means the chronic dietary risk is low and acceptable.

What the authors conclude

“The results of this study provided data support and a theoretical basis for guiding the scientific use of chlorfenapyr in radish production and evaluating the dietary risk of chlorfenapyr in vegetables.”
Sun M, Yi X, Tong Z, et al, 2023

Also in their conclusions

  • They say the degradation rate of chlorfenapyr in radish leaves was fast, with a half-life of 6.0 to 6.4 days, indicating that chlorfenapyr is an easily degradable pesticide.
  • They conclude that when applied at 108 and 162 g a.i./ha two to three times with a 7-day interval, the chlorfenapyr left in radish and radish leaves 14 days after the last application had little risk for the health of the general population in China.
  • They say their results provide a data basis for establishing the maximum residue limit of chlorfenapyr in radishes in China.

How it was done

Chlorfenapyr is used on cruciferous vegetables in China, and the authors say its residues threaten human health. No previous work had looked at how chlorfenapyr breaks down on radish or assessed the dietary risk for the population.

They sprayed radish in six fields across China with a 240 g/L chlorfenapyr suspension at 108 and 162 g a.i./ha, two to three times with a 7-day interval. They collected radish and radish leaves at 7, 14 and 21 days after the last spray and measured chlorfenapyr and its metabolite tralopyril.

What it can’t tell you

  • This was a field residue study, not a study of health outcomes in people. It measured how much pesticide remained on the crops and used those numbers to estimate dietary intake.
  • The risk estimate relies on average vegetable consumption figures for the Chinese population, so it does not show what happens in any one person or in people who eat much more radish or radish leaves than average.
  • The trials were done in six fields in one year, so the residue levels may differ under other weather, soil or farming conditions.

The paper

Title
Residual Behavior and Dietary Risk Assessment of Chlorfenapyr and Its Metabolites in Radish
Type
Study
Summarised from
Full text
Licence
CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
Cite
Sun M, Yi X, Tong Z, et al (2023). Residual Behavior and Dietary Risk Assessment of Chlorfenapyr and Its Metabolites in Radish. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland). doi:10.3390/molecules28020580Free full textPubMed 36677638DOI

Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error