Title

Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009 and upcoming challenges for exposure assessment of plant protection products – Harmonisation or national modelling approaches?

Reference

Environmental Pollution
Volume 159, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 3357-3363

Author(s)

Elisabeth Erlacher, Magnus Wang

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

In the new European Pesticide Regulation (EC) No. 1107/2009, the harmonisation of approaches for estimation of the environmental exposure of pesticides is considered a major goal. Several member states currently require their own models for the calculation of predicted environmental concentrations (PEC) in surface water. The variety of methods makes risk evaluations rather time-consuming for both notifiers and evaluating authorities. In the present study we compare surface water concentrations of 19 compounds using EU and country-specific models and risk assessment approaches to evaluate to which extent the resulting estimated exposure concentrations differ. Our results show that EU and country specific approaches and the resulting surface water concentrations differ considerably regarding basic model assumptions and assessment methods. The results indicate that the aimed harmonisation of risk assessment approaches within the EU will be difficult based on current models. New scenarios may help to achieve a harmonisation taking country-specific features into account.

Policy theme(s)

Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides
Risk assessment >> Risk assessment methodologies     
Risk assessment >> Hazards >> Hazardous substances

Keywords

(EC) No. 1107/2009; Exposure assessment; Predicted environmental concentrations; Surface water; Risk mitigation; Harmonisation; Environmental fate

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749111004696                  
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Elisabeth.erlacher@rifcon.de

Title

Prenatal Exposure to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB) and Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) and Birth Weight: A Meta-analysis within 12 European Birth Cohorts

Reference

Author(s)

Eva Govarts, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Greet Schoeters, Ferran Ballester, Karolien Bloemen, Michiel de Boer, Cécile Chevrier, Merete Eggesbø, Monica Guxens, Ursula Krämer, Juliette Legler, David Martinez, Ľubica Palkovicová;, Evridiki Patelarou, Ulrich Ranft, Arja Rautio, Maria Skaalum Petersen, Rémy Slama, Hein Stigum, Gunnar Toft, Tomáš Trnovec, Stephanie Vandentorren, Pál Weihe, Nynke Weisglas Kuperus, Michael Wilhelm, Jurgen Wittsiepe, Jens Peter Bonde, on behalf of OBELIX/ENRIECO

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

Objectives: Exposure to high concentrations of persistent organochlorines may cause fetal toxicity, but the evidence at low exposure levels is limited. Large studies with substantial exposure contrasts and appropriate exposure assessment are warranted. Within the framework of the EU ENRIECO and EU OBELIX projects, we examined the hypothesis that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene (DDE) adversely affects birth weight.
Methods: We used maternal and cord blood and breast milk samples in 7,990 women enrolled in 15 study populations from 12 European birth cohorts from 1990-2008. Using identical variable definitions, we performed for each cohort linear regression of birth weight on estimates of cord serum concentration of PCB 153 and p,p’-DDE adjusted for gestational age and a priori selected covariates. We obtained summary estimates by meta-analysis and performed analyses of interactions.
Results: The median concentration of cord serum PCB 153 was 140 ng/L (range of cohort medians 20-484) and that of p,p’-DDE was 528 ng/L (range of cohort medians 50-1208). Birth weight decreased with increasing cord serum concentration of PCB 153 after adjustment for potential confounders in 12 of 15 study populations. The meta-analysis including all cohorts indicated a birth weight decline of 150 g (95% CI -250, -50) per 1-µg/L increase in PCB 153, an exposure contrast that is close to the range of exposuress across the cohorts. A 1-µg/L increase in p,p’-DDE was associated with a 7 g decrease in birth weight (95% CI -18, 4 g).
Conclusions: The findings suggest that low-level exposure to PCB (or correlated exposures) impairs fetal growth, while p,p’-DDE exposure does not. The study adds to mounting evidence that low-level exposure to PCBs is inversely associated with fetal growth.

Policy theme(s)

Chemicals >> Impacts >> Health impacts
Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides
Environment and health >> Health risks >> Human biomonitoring

Keywords

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N/A

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1103767  
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jpb@bbh.regionh.dk

Title

Comparing the sensitivity of soil invertebrates to pesticides with that of Eisenia fetida

Reference

Chemosphere doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2011.07.032

Author(s)

Michiel A. Daam, Sara Leitão, Maria José Cerejeira, J. Paulo Sousa

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

The sole routine testing of the standard earthworm Eisenia fetida for the terrestrial risk assessment of pesticides has been under much debate since other soil invertebrates may be more sensitive than this standard test species. However, the very low availability of laboratory toxicity data for taxa other than E. fetida has greatly hampered sensitivity comparisons. In the present study, the relative tolerance (Trel) approach was used to enable comparing toxicity thresholds obtained from the US-EPA ECOTOX database, for main terrestrial taxonomic groups and pesticidal types of action (insecticides, fungicides, herbicides, and other) separately. Analyses confirmed previously reported lower and higher sensitivity of collembolans to fungicides and insecticides, respectively. However, various other discrepancies in susceptibility relative to E. fetida were encountered as indicated by species sensitivity distributions and/or calculated 95% confidence intervals of Trel values. Arachnids and isopods were found to be more sensitive to insecticides, and nematodes to fungicides, as compared to E. fetida. Implications of study findings for the terrestrial risk assessment of pesticides are discussed.

Policy theme(s)

Agriculture >> Agricultural pollution >> Pesticide pollution
Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides
Chemicals >> Impacts >> Ecosystem impacts
Soil >> Soil biodiversity

Keywords

Environmental risk assessment; Soil invertebrates; Eisenia fetida; Relative tolerance; Terrestrial ecotoxicology

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N/A

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S004565351100868X
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madaam@utl.pt

Title

Triclosan-the forgotten priority substance?

Reference

Environmental Science and Pollution Research
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-011-0580-7
EU funded

Author(s)

Peter Carsten von der Ohe, Mechthild Schmitt-Jansen, Jaroslav Slobodnik and Werner Brack

Study type

Peer Review Journal  

Abstract

Introduction
Triclosan (TCS) is a multi-purpose biocide. Its wide use in personal care products (PCPs) fosters its dispersal in the aquatic environment. Despite enhanced awareness of both scientists and the public in the last decade with regard to fate and effects, TCS received little attention regarding its prioritisation as a candidate river basin-specific pollutant or even priority substance, due to scarce monitoring data.
Methods
Applying a new prioritisation methodology, the potential risk of TCS was assessed based on a refined hazard assessment and occurrences at 802 monitoring sites in the Elbe River basin.
Results
The suggested acute-based predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) of 4.7 ng/l for the standard test species Selenastrum capricornutum was in good agreement with effect concentrations in algal communities and was exceeded in the Elbe River basin at 75% of the sites (limit of quantification of 5 ng/l). The 95th percentile of the maximum environmental concentrations at each site exceeded the PNEC by a factor of 12, indicating potential hazards for algal communities. Among 500 potential river basin-specific pollutants which were recently prioritised, triclosan ranks on position 6 of the most problematic substances, based on the Elbe River data alone.
Conclusion
Considering the worldwide application of PCPs containing triclosan, we expect that the TCS problem is not restricted to the Elbe River basin, even if monitoring data from other river basins are scarce. Thus, we suggest to include TCS into routine monitoring programmes and to consider it as an important candidate for prioritisation at the European scale.

Policy theme(s)

Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides
Water >> River basin management (WFD)
Water >> Water quality >> Water pollution and safety

Keywords

Triclosan - Prioritisation - Priority substance - River basin-specific pollutant - Biocide

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http://www.springerlink.com/content/k4x2h73x77213l38/
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peter.vonderohe@ufz.de

Title

Widely Used Pesticides with Previously Unknown Endocrine Activity Revealed as in Vitro Antiandrogens

Reference

Environ Health Perspect 119:794-800. doi:10.1289/ehp.1002895.

Author(s)

Frances Orton, Erika Rosivatz, Martin Scholze, Andreas Kortenkamp

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that there is widespread decline in male reproductive health and that antiandrogenic pollutants may play a significant role. There is also a clear disparity between pesticide exposure and data on endocrine disruption, with most of the published literature focused on pesticides that are no longer registered for use in developed countries.
Objective: We used estimated human exposure data to select pesticides to test for antiandrogenic activity, focusing on highest use pesticides.
Methods: We used European databases to select 134 candidate pesticides based on highest exposure, followed by a filtering step according to known or predicted receptor-mediated antiandrogenic potency, based on a previously published quantitative structure–activity relationship (QSAR) model. In total, 37 pesticides were tested for in vitro androgen receptor (AR) antagonism. Of these, 14 were previously reported to be AR antagonists (“active”), 4 were predicted AR antagonists using the QSAR, 6 were predicted to not be AR antagonists (“inactive”), and 13 had unknown activity, which were “out of domain” and therefore could not be classified with the QSAR (“unknown”).
Results: All 14 pesticides with previous evidence of AR antagonism were confirmed as antiandrogenic in our assay, and 9 previously untested pesticides were identified as antiandrogenic (dimethomorph, fenhexamid, quinoxyfen, cyprodinil, λ-cyhalothrin, pyrimethanil, fludioxonil, azinphos-methyl, pirimiphos-methyl). In addition, we classified 7 compounds as androgenic.
Conclusions: Due to estimated antiandrogenic potency, current use, estimated exposure, and lack of previous data, we strongly recommend that dimethomorph, fludioxonil, fenhexamid, imazalil, ortho-phenylphenol, and pirimiphos-methyl be tested for antiandrogenic effects in vivo. The lack of human biomonitoring data for environmentally relevant pesticides presents a barrier to current risk assessment of pesticides on humans.

Policy theme(s)

Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides  
Chemicals >> Impacts >> Health impacts
Environment and health >> Health risks >> Product safety

Keywords

antiandrogen, AR-Lux, biomonitoring, endocrine disruption, fungicide.

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N/A

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http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/fetchArticle.action?articleURI=info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.1002895
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francesorton@gmail.com

Title

A new risk assessment approach for the prioritization of 500 classical and emerging organic microcontaminants as potential river basin specific pollutants under the European Water Framework Directive

Reference

Science of The Total Environment
Volume 409, Issue 11, 1 May 2011, Pages 2064-2077

Author(s)

Peter Carsten von der Ohe, Valeria Dulio, Jaroslav Slobodnik, Eric De Deckere, Ralph Kühne, Ralf-Uwe Ebert, Antoni Ginebreda, Ward De Cooman, Gerrit Schüürmann and Werner Brack

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

Given the huge number of chemicals released into the environment and existing time and budget constraints, there is a need to prioritize chemicals for risk assessment and monitoring in the context of the European Union Water Framework Directive (EU WFD). This study is the first to assess the risk of 500 organic substances based on observations in the four European river basins of the Elbe, Scheldt, Danube and Llobregat. A decision tree is introduced that first classifies chemicals into six categories depending on the information available, which allows water managers to focus on the next steps (e.g. derivation of Environmental Quality Standards (EQS), improvement of analytical methods, etc.). The priority within each category is then evaluated based on two indicators, the Frequency of Exceedance and the Extent of Exceedance of Predicted No-Effect Concentrations (PNECs). These two indictors are based on maximum environmental concentrations (MEC), rather than the commonly used statistically based averages (Predicted Effect Concentration, PEC), and compared to the lowest acute-based (PNECacute) or chronic-based thresholds (PNECchronic). For 56% of the compounds, PNECs were available from existing risk assessments, and the majority of these PNECs were derived from chronic toxicity data or simulated ecosystem studies (mesocosm) with rather low assessment factors. The limitations of this concept for risk assessment purposes are discussed. For the remainder, provisional PNECs (P-PNECs) were established from read-across models for acute toxicity to the standard test organisms Daphnia magna, Pimephales promelas and Selenastrum capricornutum. On the one hand, the prioritization revealed that about three-quarter of the 44 substances with MEC/PNEC ratios above ten were pesticides. On the other hand, based on the monitoring data used in this study, no risk with regard to the water phase could be found for eight of the 41 priority substances, indicating a first success of the implementation of the WFD in the investigated river basins.

Policy theme(s)

Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides
Risk assessment >> Risk assessment methodologies
Water >> River basin management (WFD)
Water >> Water quality >> Water pollution and safety

Keywords

PNECacute; PNECchronic; P-PNEC; Prioritization; River basin specific pollutants; Pesticides

Entry Source:

N/A

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Selected for Science for Environment Policy News Alert

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969711001136
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peter.vonderohe@ufz.de

Title

The potential impacts of insecticides on the life-history traits of bees and the consequences for pollination

Reference

Basic and Applied Ecology
Volume 12, Issue 4, June 2011, Pages 321-331

Author(s)

Claire Brittain and Simon G. Potts

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

Maintaining the relationships between plants and pollinators is vital to ecosystem stability. Insecticides may disturb these interactions with poorly understood consequences for pollination. Community level research is essential, if we are to understand the wider effects of insecticides on a variety of pollinating taxa and the impacts on the plants they pollinate. In this article we discuss the potential effects of both the lethal and sub-lethal impacts of insecticide use in agro-ecosystems on pollination services by bees. In particular, we consider how particular life-history traits of pollinators, such as sociality and floral specialisation may be differentially affected by insecticides. We discuss how this might translate through to pollination services. We propose that a trait-based approach can give insight into the potential impacts of insecticides on plant–pollinator communities.

Policy theme(s)

Biodiversity >> Threats to biodiversity >> Human impacts
Biodiversity >> Ecosystem services
Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides
Chemicals >> Impacts >> Ecosystem impacts

Keywords

Biodiversity, Disturbance, Ecosystem service, Environmental chemicals, Pesticide pressure, Pollinator

Entry Source:

Shortlisted for Science for Environment Policy News Alert

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N/A

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http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1439179110001623
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claire.brittain@uni.leuphana.de

Title

Loss rates of urban biocides can exceed those of agricultural pesticides

Reference

Science of The Total Environment
Volume 409, Issue 5, 1 February 2011, Pages 920-932

Author(s)

Irene K. Wittmer, Ruth Scheidegger, Hans-Peter Bader, Heinz Singer and Christian Stamm

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

Biocides and pesticides are used to control unwanted organisms in urban and agricultural areas. After application, they can be lost to surface waters and impair water quality. Several national consumption studies have shown that urban and agricultural use may be in the same range. It is difficult to judge whether this results in similar loadings of surface waters because there is a lack of sound, comparative studies addressing urban and agricultural losses simultaneously.
The aim of this study is thus to relate the biocide and pesticide loads found in surface waters to their respective urban and agricultural usage (loss rates). To simultaneously assess the loss rates, we conducted a comprehensive
field study in a catchment of mixed land use on the Swiss Plateau. The study area was divided into four subcatchments with different degrees of urban and agricultural land use. In addition, we studied the only wastewater treatment plant, a combined sewer overflow and a stormsewer within the area. Rain events were sampled at high temporal resolution from March to November, 2007. Information on agricultural applications was gained from local farmers. For urban uses, consumption estimations were conducted based on statistical and product information. Despite substantially lower amounts used, the measured loads of urban biocides were in the same range as the most widely-used agricultural pesticides. The lower usage was compensated by urban loss rates that were up to ten times higher than agricultural ones (0.6 to 15% for urban, 0.4 to 0.9% for agricultural compounds). For most biocides and pesticides, the loads were controlled by rain events. Besides the rain-controlled losses, some urban-used biocides(e.g. diazinon) showed a continuous load independent of rain events and season. This study demonstrates that in catchments with mixed land use, mitigation strategies have to pay sufficient attention to the urban sources.

Policy theme(s)

Water >> Water quality >> Water pollution and safety
Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides

Keywords

Urban drainage system, Storm water, Load, Combined sewer overflow, Micropollutant, Agriculture

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Selected for Science for Environment Policy News Alert

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View this study at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969710012623
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irene.wittmer@eawag.ch

Title

Loss rates of urban biocides can exceed those of agricultural pesticides

Reference

Science of The Total Environment
Volume 409, Issue 5, 1 February 2011, Pages 920-932

Author(s)

Irene K. Wittmer, Ruth Scheidegger, Hans-Peter Bader, Heinz Singer and Christian Stamm

Study type

Peer Review Journal

Abstract

Biocides and pesticides are used to control unwanted organisms in urban and agricultural areas. After application, they can be lost to surface waters and impair water quality. Several national consumption studies have shown that urban and agricultural use may be in the same range. It is difficult to judge whether this results in similar loadings of surface waters because there is a lack of sound, comparative studies addressing urban and agricultural losses simultaneously.
The aim of this study is thus to relate the biocide and pesticide loads found in surface waters to their respective urban and agricultural usage (loss rates). To simultaneously assess the loss rates, we conducted a comprehensive
field study in a catchment of mixed land use on the Swiss Plateau. The study area was divided into four subcatchments with different degrees of urban and agricultural land use. In addition, we studied the only wastewater treatment plant, a combined sewer overflow and a stormsewer within the area. Rain events were sampled at high temporal resolution from March to November, 2007. Information on agricultural applications was gained from local farmers. For urban uses, consumption estimations were conducted based on statistical and product information. Despite substantially lower amounts used, the measured loads of urban biocides were in the same range as the most widely-used agricultural pesticides. The lower usage was compensated by urban loss rates that were up to ten times higher than agricultural ones (0.6 to 15% for urban, 0.4 to 0.9% for agricultural compounds). For most biocides and pesticides, the loads were controlled by rain events. Besides the rain-controlled losses, some urban-used biocides(e.g. diazinon) showed a continuous load independent of rain events and season. This study demonstrates that in catchments with mixed land use, mitigation strategies have to pay sufficient attention to the urban sources.

Policy theme(s)

Water >> Water quality >> Water pollution and safety
Chemicals >> Pollutants/hazardous substances >> Pesticides

Keywords

Urban drainage system, Storm water, Load, Combined sewer overflow, Micropollutant, Agriculture

Entry Source:

Selected for Science for Environment Policy News Alert

Referred to in EC doc:

View this study at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969710012623
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Contact the study author at:

irene.wittmer@eawag.ch