Biocides defined

Intrinsic resistance may than be defined as a natural, chromosomally controlled property of a bacterial cell that enables it to circumvent the action of a biocide (see Table 13.2). A summary of intrinsic resistance mechanisms is provided in Table 13.4. 

Existing chemical substances do not have to be notified. These are defined as those listed on the European Inventory of Existing Chemical Substances (EINECS) (a. 1), a list of approximately 100,000 substances reported as being supplied in the EU during the reporting period of 1 January 1971 to 18 September 1981 (389, 394). Also the DSD does not apply to medicinal products, cosmetic products, wastes, foodstuffs, pesticides, biocides and radioactive substances. 

The new Biocidal Products Directive is examined, which closes the gap in European legislation for products such as disinfectants and anti-foulants where there has not, until now, been a Europe-wide standard. The basic goals of the directive are to simplify and harmonise Europe s regulatory framework for biocides, and to remove trade barriers within the EU, and to improve the protection of both human health and the environment. The new directive must be enforced as national legislation in all member countries by 14 May 2000. Details are given of products defined within the directive, and ways in which the directive will be put into practice in the UK are discussed. The implications of the legislation on the industry in terms of time and money spent on testing for each active substance involved are examined. 

Producers/formulators and Competent Authorities defining the data and studies required for authorisation of a biocidal product (Annexes IIB and IIIB). 

Define the exposure scenarios for each product type i.e. establish which environmental compartments are exposed as a result of using a biocidal product in any product type. 

The provision of efficacy data on biocidal products is a core data requirement for all product types. This information takes on central importance within the overall legislation. It not only indicates that a biocidal product can adequately control microorganisms in an application but in defining an efficacy concentration (or range) and method of application it also describes the playing field limits for the development of the associated human and environmental risk assessments. 

The BPD defines biocides as materials intended to destroy, deter, render harmless, prevent the action of or otherwise exert a controlling effect on harmful organisms. Moreover, as indicted within Annex VI (paragraph 89) the biocidal product must he shown to give a defined benefit in terms of the level, consistency and duration of control or protection or other intended effects during normal use. Efficacy is therefore defined within the directive as the ability of a biocidal product to fulfill the label claims made for it on the proposed label. While there appears to be no official guidance of what constitutes an efficacy claim for the 23 product types the UK draft TGD tentatively listed the parameters that could constitute such a claim. For illustrative purposes the suggested claims are summarised in Table 1 below. 

Only a minority of methods defined an internal standard biocide. 

On the EU level, biocidal products are mainly regulated by the Biocidal Products Directive (98/8/EG), which came into force in 2000. A biocidal substance or product is defined as Active substances and preparations containing one or more... 

The term biocides (referred to as antimicrobials in North America) is not defined consistently across all countries. In some regulatory jurisdictions, this term includes all non-agricultural uses associated with the control of a variety of pests, including microbes, insects, rodents, etc., which are found in industrial and residential settings. In certain jurisdictions, biocides can also include products regulated as public health products e.g. disinfectants. In other jurisdictions, biocides only include industrial and residential pesticides used to control... 

The word biocide encompasses a broad class of chemical agents and literally means an agent that destroys life. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines the term biocide as follows ... 

Key terms such as disinfection, sterilization and preservation are defined in Chapter 17 but other terms are often employed to describe the antimicrobial activity of agents. Hence, terms such as biocidal, bactericidal, virucidal and fungicidal describe a killing activity, whereas bacteriostatic and fungistatic refer to inhibition of growth of the organism... 

Cellulose based plastics and certain PVC formulations are vulnerable to attack from microorganisms. Specific biocides are targeted at particular organisms and can be more precisely defined as bactericides, fungicides, etc. Antimicrobial additives are now widely used in polyolefin kitchenware and bathroom accessories to act in defence of substances coming into contact with the polymer. EUROPEAN COMMUNITY EUROPEAN UNION UK WESTERN EUROPE... 

Typical concentrations for biocides in indoor air obtained under defined conditions either directly during or after application and up to 20 years after an incident have been compiled by Pluschke (1996) and are given in Table 3.5-3. For non-volatile biocides, i.e. pyrethroids, base levels in indoor air are < 20 ng/m, and even for semivolatile biocides such as pentachlorophenol and lindane they are < 50 ng/m. ... 

Schieweck et al. (2007) analyzed biocides in dust samples in different rooms of a museum. A distinction between old and fresh dust was made. While the age of old dust is unknown, fresh dust was defined as dust whose age is determined by the measurement planning and it is known exaetly, usually 1-2 weeks. The concentrations of pentachlorophenol (PCP) and lindane in a sample of old dust taken direetly firom a sculpture were exceptionally high with 117 and 14 pg g , respectively. In the fresh dust samples taken from the floor, considerably high concentration up to 30 for PCP and 5 pg g for lindane were also found, which probably resulted from the intensive treatment of the wooden sculpture for purposes of conservation. This result gave evidence for a possible exposure of museum staff and visitors. 

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