ABSTRACT
This publication presents major changes in the assessment of the risks of chemicals to human health and the environment as implemented in the second version of the European Union System for the Evaluation of Substances, EUSES 2.0. EUSES is a harmonised quantitative risk assessment tool for chemicals. It is the PC-implementation of the technical guidelines developed within the framework of EU chemical legislation for industrial chemicals and biocides. As such, it is designed to support decision making by risk managers in government and industry and to assist scientific institutions in the risk assessment for these substances. The development of EUSES 2.0 is a co-ordinated project of the European Chemicals Bureau, EU Member States and the European chemical industry. Several model concepts, the technical background and the user interface of EUSES have been improved considerably. Major changes in the environmental assessment such as the implementation of emission scenario documents for industrial chemicals and biocides, the addition of the marine risk assessment, the enhancement of the regional model to include global scales, and improvements in the secondary poisoning and environmental effects modelling will be discussed. The update of the human risk assessment module in EUSES focuses on the risk characterisation for both threshold and non-threshold substances with, among others, the introduction of assessment factors. The performance of EUSES is illustrated in an example showing the human and environmental risk assessment of a sanitation disinfectant for private use.
Subject(s)
Environmental Exposure/adverse effects , Environmental Health/standards , Environmental Monitoring/methods , Food Contamination , Hazardous Substances/adverse effects , Animals , Environmental Monitoring/legislation & jurisprudence , European Union , Food Chain , Humans , Industry , International Cooperation , Risk Assessment , Threshold Limit ValuesABSTRACT
A study was made of the clastogenic effect of the herbicide alachlor using the micronucleus test on root tips of seeds of Vicia faba that had been placed in 2 soils with different characteristics. No significant increase in micronuclei was observed in the seeds planted in the soil with a high content of organic matter. In those planted in soil with a low content, an increase in micronuclei proportional to dose and exposure time was observed. HPLC analysis of the alachlor residues in the 2 soils showed that they have a different capacity for absorbing the herbicide, which would account for the different genotoxic responses observed.
