Waiving chronic fish tests: possible use of acute-to-chronic relationships and interspecies correlations

Abstract

EU chemicals legislation requires the use of all available information for hazard and risk assessment before new tests on vertebrates are proposed or conducted. In this context, extrapolation approaches for avoiding chronic fish testing on the basis of existing data have been explored. Simple linear relationships and interspecies sensitivity ratios between Daphnia and fish were calculated and acute-to-chronic relationships and ratios were calculated for fish, taking into consideration the mode of action. The best fitted relationships for the prediction of chronic fish toxicity are obtained based on acute fish and Daphnia data. Chemicals acting by unspecific reactivity and non-polar narcosis give the strongest acute and chronic Daphnia-to-chronic fish relationship. With acute fish data, strong relationships are obtained for all mode of action. Daphnia was found to be more sensitive than fish to several aniline derivatives and pesticides acting through cholinesterase inhibition, and less sensitive than fish to known endocrine disruptors. Extreme (i.e. <1 or >100) interspecies sensitivity ratios were mainly evident for chemicals acting by polar narcosis and specific reactivity. The safety factor of 100 commonly applied in environmental risk assessment does not seem to be equally protective for each mode of action.

Comparing Options for Deriving Chemical Ecotoxicity Hazard Values for the European Union Environmental Footprint, Part II

“…As observed previously, the ratios based on per-taxon derivation of acute-to-chronic ratios can vary by orders of magnitude. The ratios for fish and crustaceans are consistent with values proposed in the literature (ECETOC 2003;Azimonti et al 2015;May et al 2016;Kienzler et al 2016Kienzler et al , 2017. The ratios for algae (being about half of the ratio for fish and crustaceans, which is similar to the ratio of chronic EC50 to chronic NOEC for fish and crustacean; see Figure 3), however, suggests that the "Algae Acute EC50" should not be considered as an acute endpoint but rather as a chronic one because the algae are going through several full life cycles during the 72-h exposure period.…”

“…; Kienzler etal. , ). The ratios for algae (being about half of the ratio for fish and crustaceans, which is similar to the ratio of chronic EC50 to chronic NOEC for fish and crustacean; see Figure ), however, suggests that the “Algae Acute EC50” should not be considered as an acute endpoint but rather as a chronic one because the algae are going through several full life cycles during the 72‐h exposure period.…”

Use of acute and chronic ecotoxicity data in environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals

“…For step 5, standard linear regression was used to model chronic toxicity as a function of acute toxicity, similar to previous authors . Log10(chronic PNEC) was modeled as a function of log10(acute PNEC) and APTC group.…”

Pesticides Curbing Soil Fertility: Effect of Complexation of Free Metal Ions

“…Pesticides are integral part of modern agriculture (David, 1998; Chen et al, 2014), which increased tremendous chemical pressure on agricultural soil and in turn has affected entire ecosystem (Karpouzas et al, 2014; Kumar et al, 2015c; Kienzler et al, 2016; Rivera-Becerril et al, 2017). Environmental Protection Agencies (Gallegos Saliner et al, 2006; Balderacchi et al, 2014) are very cautious and place several checks before passing any chemical to act as a pesticide (Krupadam et al, 2003; Gallegos-Saliner et al, 2008).…”