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Tris(chloropropyl) phosphate (TCPP) is a characteristic and widely used organophosphorus flame retardant. TCPP is comprised of four isomers and the most abundant is tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate. TCPP can be released into the environment, with potential impacts on living organisms and humans due to its extensive industrial use. Aiming to assess the potential risks of TCPP on human health and the environment, its toxic and genotoxic effects-using organisms from different trophic levels, i.e., bacteria, green microalgae, and human cells-were investigated. TCPP exposure at nominal concentrations of 10, 20, 30 and 40 μg mL -1 was studied to identify the potential risk of inducing genotoxic effects in cultured human lymphocytes. Treatment with 30 and 40 μg mL -1 of TCPP induced marginally significant micronuclei (MN) frequencies as well as cytotoxic effects. Freshwater microalgae species treated with TCPP (0.5, 1, 10, 20 and 50 μg L -1 ) showed different growth rates over time. All the tested microalgae species were adversely affected after exposure to TCPP during the first 24 h. However, differences among the microalgae species' sensitivities were observed. In the case of the freshwater species, the most sensitive was found to be Chlorococcum sp . The marine algal species Dunaliella tertiolecta and Tisochrysis lutea were significantly affected after exposure to TCPP. The effects of TCPP on Aliivibrio fischeri that were observed can classify this flame retardant as a "harmful" compound. Our results suggest a potential risk to aquatic organisms and humans from the wide utilization of TCPP and its consequent release into the environment. These results highlight that further research should be conducted to investigate the effects of TCPP individually and in combination with other organophosphorus flame retardants in various organisms. In addition, the concern induced by TCPP points out that measures to control the introduction of TCPP into the environment should be taken.

L-ascorbate (ASC) is essential for human health. Therefore, there is interest in increasing the ASC content of crops like tomato. High irradiance induces accumulation of ASC in green tomato fruits. The D-mannose/L-galactose biosynthetic pathway accounts for the most ASC in plants. The myo-inositol and galacturonate pathways have been proposed to exist but never identified in plants. The D-mannose/L-galactose starts from D-glucose. In a series of experiments, we tested the hypothesis that ASC levels depend on soluble carbohydrate content when tomato fruits ripen under irradiances that stimulate ASC biosynthesis. We show that ASC levels considerably increased when fruits ripened under light, but carbohydrate levels did not show a parallel increase. When carbohydrate levels in fruits were altered by flower pruning, no effects on ASC levels were observed at harvest or after ripening under irradiances that induce ASC accumulation. Artificial feeding of trusses with sucrose increased carbohydrate levels, but did not affect the light-induced ASC levels. We conclude that light-induced accumulation of ASC is independent of the carbohydrate content in tomato fruits. In tomato fruit treated with light, the increase in ASC was preceded by a concomitant increase in myo-inositol.