Reducing Ecotoxicity

Handbook of Green Chemistry Volume 9 Designing Safer Chemicals, First Edition. Edited by Robert Boethling and Adelina Voutchkova. 

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With improvements in scientific knowledge and related technology, there is an expectation that more environmentally friendly pesticides will continue to be introduced, and that ecotoxicity testing procedures will become more sophisticated. There is much interest in the introduction of better testing procedures that work to more ecologically relevant end points than the lethal toxicity tests that are still widely used. Such a development should be consistent with the aims of organizations such as FRAME and ECVAM, which seek to reduce toxicity testing with animals. Mechanistic biomarker assays have the potential to be an important part of... 

ThermoWood is not resistant to exterior weathering and the colour will gradually change to the grey that is characteristic of outdoor exposed wood. In addition, exposure in exterior conditions results in the formation of small cracks on the surface of uncoated wood. Unpigmented or low-build stain coatings do not protect the surface of the wood, but solvent-borne alkyds and water-borne acrylic paints have been found to exhibit better performance than on unmodified wood. VOC emissions from the heat-treated wood are lower compared to unmodified wood and the compositions of the emissions differ. The level of emissions is lower when the wood is treated at a higher temperature. Emissions of terpenes are reduced to very low levels, and the VOC content is dominated by furfural, hexanal and acetic acid (treated at 180 °C), and by acetic acid (treated at 230 °C). ThermoWood passes ecotoxicity tests. 

Again, this approach can be applied to substances that are either rich or poor in ecotoxicity data. The prerequisites are knowledge of the soil parameter values influencing bioavailability of the substance in the individual ecotoxicity tests and applicability of the model for the species that is tested. This approach further reduces uncertainty and increases the ecological relevance of the SQS. 

Hutchinson T.H., Barrett S., Buzby M., Constable D., Hartmann A., Hayes E., Huggett D., Laenge R., Lillicrap A.D., Straub J.O. Thompson R.S. (2003) A strategy to reduce the numbers of fish used in acute ecotoxicity testing of pharmaceuticals. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 22 3031-3036. 

For hazard classification purposes the results of the dissolution/transformation protocol are compared with existing ecotoxicity data for metals and metal compounds. However, for purposes such as data validation, there might be cases where it may be appropriate to use the aqueous medium from a completed transformation test directly in an OECD 202 and 203 daphnia and fish ecotoxicity test. If the CaCl2.2H20 and MgS04.7H20 concentrations of the transformation medium are reduced to one-fifth of the ISO 6341 medium, the completed transformation medium can also be used (upon the addition of micronutrients) in an OECD 201 algae ecotoxicity test. 

Similar to other fluoropolymers and fluoroelasto-mers, such as PTFE, FEP, PFA, etc., low-level perfluorinated surfactants or chemicals, such as ammonium perfluoro-octanoate (APFO), etc. may be used in some fluoropolymer production as an emulsifier. These perfluorinated compounds are mostly extremely stable, degrade slowly, and therefore persist in the environment. These surfactants have varying ecotoxicity profiles, and users should contact their supplier for a more detailed ecotox information for their particular product.Industrial efforts are being made to reduce or even eliminate the use of such perfluorinated surfactants in their products and/or manufacturing processes. 

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