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Disposal of waste sludges produced in large amounts in the paper industry could generate significant environmental and health issues. One strategy to address them involves revalorization of deinking paper sludge (DPS) by reusing it as fertilizer. However, the possible human health risks associated with the use of DPS are still not well explored. The main objective of this report was to estimate DPS impacts on human toxicity. To achieve this goal, heavy metals analysis of the DPS waste (Cadmium; Cd, Copper; Cu; Molybdenum; Mo, Manganese; Mn; Lead; Pb; Cobalt; Co) was conducted. The assessment of human toxicity was performed by applying the UNEP/SETAC toxicity modelUSEtox 2.0to establish indicators that reflect the potential health damage of these chemicals when released into the environment. Laboratory analysis, revealed a very low concentration of the DPS by the metallic contaminants (Cd, Cu, Mo, Mn, Pb, Co). According to the USEtox model results, these quantities will not lead to either carcinogenic or non-carcinogenic risks on human health even if there is a use of very high quantities of DPS. Indeed, the number of cases /t DPS emitted in agricultural soils didn’t exceed 950.10-7for the non-carcinogenic effect and 3.71.10-7for the carcinogenic effect for Pb. For Mn and Co, we noticed no toxic effects (0 cases /t DPS emitted). Furthermore, we observed that Mo and Cu had very weak non-carcinogenic effects and led respectively to 445.10-7and 56.10-7cases /t DPS emitted.Regarding the effect of Cd toxicity, in order to have one case of this metal toxicity from DPS waste in our study, we had to use a very important quantity of DPS (≈2 821 680t). All these dataemphasizedon the absence of heath human toxicity risk after DPS waste industrial disposal, by ingestion or inhalation.

Pesticides are widely used in food production, yet the potential harm associated with their emission into the environment is rarely considered in the context of sustainable diets. In this study, a life cycle assessment was used to quantify the freshwater ecotoxicity, human toxicity carcinogenic effects, and human toxicity noncarcinogenic effects associated with pesticide use in relation to 9341 individual Australian adult daily diets. The three environmental indicators were also combined into a pesticide toxicity footprint, and a diet quality score was applied to each diet. Energy-dense and nutrient-poor discretionary foods, fruits, and protein-rich foods were the sources of most of the dietary pesticide impacts. Problematically, a dietary shift toward recommended diets was found to increase the pesticide toxicity footprint compared to the current average diet. Using a quadrant analysis, a recommended diet was identified with a 38% lower pesticide toxicity footprint. This was achieved mainly through a reduction in the discretionary food intake and by limiting the choice of fresh fruits. As the latter contradicts dietary recommendations to eat a variety of fruits of different types and colors, we concluded that dietary change may not be the best approach to lowering the environmental impacts of pesticides in the food system. Instead, targeted action in the horticultural industry may be more effective. Consumers might encourage this transition by supporting growers that reduce pesticide use and apply less environmentally harmful active ingredients.

There is a need by the European Commission (EC) regulations, as well as others, to reduce the in vivo toxicity tests made on animals. Conventional in vitro tests were designed for non-nanoparticle sized entities, and therefore do not necessarily assess the adverse impacts of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) on humans. Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a widely used methodology for evaluating the environmental performance of products. Nevertheless, the application of LCA on ENPs is difficult because the characterization factors (CFs) of ENPs, as significant input parameters in LCA, remain a major unknown. It is a premise of this study to monitor the chemiluminescence (CL) spectra resulting from the reactive oxygen species (ROS) trigger made from the presence of copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) to porcine neutrophils in vitro, thereby enabling to calculate the porcine and human toxicity CFs. The framework of a scientific consensus model, USEtox model, is selected and the midpoint of CF is set as the inflammation of pig or human. Finally, the present study recommends human and porcine inflammation CFs of CuNPs in Europe to be 1.07 and 2.90 CTU (comparative toxic units) respectively. China Scholarship Council (CSC)

Il lavoro qui presentato costituisce la prima fase di un progetto di ricerca sullo studio degli attuali metodi di caratterizzazione applicati nella metodologia LCA e sulla loro applicazione ai cosiddetti “inquinanti emergenti”. Durante questa fase, sono stati confrontati tre metodi di caratterizzazione (CML2001, EDIP97 e USEtox) allo scopo di: 1) identificare le principali differenze esistenti fra di essi e 2) selezionare fra essi il metodo da applicare successivamente alla determinazione del fattore di caratterizzazione (Q) della categoria di impatto “Ecotossicità acquatica”.