Pesticide Contamination: Working Together to Find a Common Solution. The Current State of Affairs

The need to detect a broader range of pesticides and to develop more quantitative analyses has grown as the repatriation of Aboriginal objects has become more frequent and commonplace. This paper summarizes information from literature surveys and object testing that shows the extent and type of pesticide contamination on museum objects. Global objectives for assessing pesticide-contaminated cultural objects are outlined. The most recent developments in X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (a common methodology for detecting inorganic pesticide residues) and the detection of organic pesticide residues such as naphthalene, para-dichlorobenzene, and DDT amongst others are presented. Future steps include developing collaborations that can lead to providing meaningful toxicological assessments of the artifacts to the users along with handling guidelines or recommendations. Mitigation is currently being studied, but not by these authors, and remains an area for future research.