Managing PMT/vPvM substances in consumer products through the concepts of essential-use and functional substitution: a case-study for cosmetics.

Measures are needed to protect water sources from substances that are mobile, persistent and toxic (PMT) or very persistent and very mobile (vPvM). PMT/vPvM substances are used in a diverse range of applications, including consumer products. The combined application of the essential-use and functional substitution concepts has been proposed to phase out substances of concern and support the transition to safer and more sustainable chemicals, a key goal of the European Commission's Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. Here, we first identified the market share of PMT/vPvM containing cosmetic products. We found that 6.4% of cosmetic products available on the European market contain PMT or vPvM substances. PMT/vPvM substances were most often found in hair care products. Based on their high occurrence, the substances Allura red (CAS 25956-17-6), benzophenone-4 (CAS 4065-45-6) and climbazole (CAS 38083-17-9) were selected as case-studies for assessment of their functionality, availability of safer alternatives and essentiality. Following the functional substitution framework, we found that the technical function of Allura red was not necessary for the performance of some cosmetic products, making the use non-essential. For other applications of Allura red, as well as all applications of benzophenone-4 and climbazole, the technical function of the chemical was considered necessary for the performance. Via the alternative's assessment procedure, which used experimental and in silico data and three different multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) strategies, safer alternatives were identified for all case-study chemicals. All assessed uses of PMT/vPvM substances were thus deemed non-essential and should consequently be phased out.

Hazard screening of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Sweden's three largest lakes and their associated rivers.

Persistent, mobile, and toxic (PMT) substances have recently garnered increased attention by environmental researchers, the water sector and environmental protection agencies. In this study, acute and chronic species sensitivity distributions (SSDs) were retrieved from literature data for previously quantified contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) in Swedish surface waters (n = 92) and risk quotients (RQ) were calculated. To better understand the characteristics of the detected CECs in non-urban lake sites (n = 71), these compounds were checked against established criteria for potentially toxic PMs (PM(T)s) and occurrence in the aquatic environment, respectively. For the CECs with missing SSDs (n = 15 [acute], n = 41 [chronic]), ecotoxicity data were extracted for eight taxonomic groups, and if data were sufficient (n ≥ 3), SSDs were derived. The retrieved and newly developed SSDs were then used in an environmental hazard assessment (EHA) in the investigated Swedish rivers and lakes. In the rivers, 8 CECs had RQ> 1 in at least one location, and 20 CECs posed a moderate risk (0.01 < RQ < 1). In total, 21 of the 71 detected substances had already been identified as PM(T)/vPvM substances. Our study shows the importance of studying field data at large spatial scale to reveal potential environmental hazards far from source areas.

Risk-based screening for prioritisation of organic micropollutants in Swedish freshwater.

Concerns about environmental contamination by organic micropollutants (OMPs) are increasing, due to their potential bioaccumulative and toxic properties. This study evaluated the risk posed by OMPs to aquatic ecosystems in Swedish freshwaters. The assessment was based on measured environmental concentrations (MEC) of OMPs in surface waters upstream and downstream of Swedish wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs). A novel optimised risk quotient (RQf) was used to identify potential high-risk substances in the aquatic environment. A secondary objective was to assess the impact of WWTP effluent on aquatic ecosystems using a novel impact factor (I) based on the risk quotient (RQ). Among the 126 substances investigated, four compounds (metformin, N,N-dimethyltetradecylamine, oxazepam, and venlafaxine) were identified as likely to pose a risk to aquatic ecosystems in Swedish surface waters (RQf>1), and five compounds (clindamycin, gemfibrozil, sertraline, o-desmethylvenlafaxine, and diclofenac) were identified as posing a moderate risk to aquatic ecosystems ( 0.1 

Predicting chronic algal toxicity from 1- to 48-h pulsed exposures to mine site waters using time-averaged concentrations.

Despite concentrations often fluctuating in aquatic systems that receive contaminant inputs, there has only been a relatively small number of studies investigating the toxicity of intermittent exposures. This is particularly the case for industrial and mine effluents that may contain complex mixtures of contaminants and other stressors. The lack of information is impeding the regulation of such contaminant exposures, whose risk is often assessed by comparison to continuous exposures in whole effluent toxicity (direct toxicity assessment) testing. The current study compared the toxicity from continuous (72-h) and pulsed (1- to 48-h) exposures of two neutralised mine waters (NMWs) to the freshwater algae, Chlorella sp. When the algal toxicity of the different exposures was related to the time-averaged concentration (TAC) of contaminants, it was found that the TAC was a good predictor of toxicity in any given test, with variability in toxicity between tests mainly related to differences in contaminant concentrations from the neutralisation of the acidic mine waters. When the data from tests on two samples were combined on a whole-effluent TAC basis, the EC50 values (95% confidence intervals) for the continuous and pulsed exposures were 0.68% (0.36-1.3) and 0.63% (0.38-1.1) respectively, for NMW sample one, while the corresponding EC50 values for NMW sample two were 1.3% (1.0-1.7) and 1.9% (1.6-2.2), respectively. The toxicity of the second water was strongly influenced by the zinc, and probably copper, concentrations, while the toxicity of the first appeared to be related to additive or synergistic toxicity from Al, Cd, Mn and Pb. The findings are discussed in relation to using a contaminant TAC-approach to revise water quality guideline values derived for continuous exposures for application to pulsed exposures, where higher concentrations may be permissible for short durations.