Search

Around the world, many ambitious environmental conventions and regulations have been implemented over recent decades. Despite this, the environment is still deteriorating. An increase in the volume and diversity of chemicals is one of the main drivers of this deterioration, of which biodiversity loss is a telling indicator. In response to this situation, in October 2020, a chemicals strategy for sustainability (CSS) was published in the EU. The CSS is the first regional framework aiming to address chemical pollution in a holistic manner. The CSS covers the complete lifecycle of a chemical, including the design of better substances and remediation options, to remove chemicals from the environment. The strategy contains terms, such as a “toxic‐free environment,” for which no clear definition exists, potentially hampering the implementation of the CSS. In this paper, a definition for a “toxic‐free environment” is proposed on the basis of a survey and a discussion held at the 2020 SETAC Europe Annual Meeting. In addition, key issues that are absent from the CSS but are considered to be key for the realization of a toxic‐free environment are identified. To achieve the policy goals, it is recommended to align the definition of risk across the different chemical legislations, to establish a platform for open data and data sharing, and to increase the utility and use of novel scientific findings in policymaking, through the development of a strong science to regulation feedback mechanism and vice versa. The paper concludes that environmental scientists have the tools to address the key challenges presented in the CSS. However, an extra step is needed by both policymakers and scientists to develop methods, processes and tools, to increase the robustness and transparency of deliberation processes, and the utility of science. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1105–1113. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., KEY POINTS A definition for a ‘toxic‐free environment’ is proposed based on an analysis of a survey and a discussion held at the 2020 SETAC Europe Annual Meeting.Key issues are identified based on discussions that are absent from the European Commission's chemicals strategy for sustainability but are considered to be key for the realisation of a toxic‐free environment.Scientists have the tools to address key environmental challenges, but an extra step is needed by both policymakers and scientists to make these applicable.

The assessment of the exposure of aquatic wildlife to complex environmental mixtures of chemicals originating from both point and diffuse sources and evaluating the potential impact thereof constitutes a significant step towards mitigating toxic pressure and the improvement of ecological status. In the current proof-of-concept study, we demonstrate the potential of a novel Aggregated Biomarker Response (ABR) approach involving a comprehensive set of biomarkers to identify complex exposure and impacts on wild brown trout (Salmo trutta fario). Our scenario used a small lowland river in Germany (Holtemme river in the Elbe river catchment) impacted by two wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) and diffuse agricultural runoff as a case study. The trout were collected along a pollution gradient (characterised in a parallel study) in the river. Compared to fish from the reference site upstream of the first WWTP, the trout collected downstream of the WWTPs showed a significant increase in micronucleus formation, phase I and II enzyme activities, and oxidative stress parameters in agreement with increasing exposure to various chemicals. By integrating single biomarker responses into an aggregated biomarker response, the two WWTPs' contribution to the observed toxicity could be clearly differentiated. The ABR results were supported by chemical analyses and whole transcriptome data, which revealed alterations of steroid biosynthesis and associated pathways, including an anti-androgenic effect, as some of the key drivers of the observed toxicity. Overall, this combined approach of in situ biomarker responses complemented with molecular pathway analysis allowed for a comprehensive ecotoxicological assessment of fish along the river. This study provides evidence for specific hazard potentials caused bymixtures of agricultural and WWTP derived chemicals at sublethal concentrations. Using aggregated biomarker responses combined with chemical analyses enabled an evidence-based ranking of sites with different degrees of pollution according to toxic stress and observed effects.

Sve češće uočena izloženost pesticidima u okolišu ukazuje na potrebu procjene štetnih učinaka kako bi se razumjeli mehanizmi i umanjili negativni utjecaji. Istraživanja pokazuju da preporuka EU propisa na procjenu učinaka aktivnog sastojka, umjesto komercijalnog pripravka, može podcijeniti rizike i učinke izloženosti pesticidima na okoliš. Nadalje, važno je utvrditi treba li koristiti akutne i/ili kronične testove kako bi se precizno predvidjela toksičnost jer pesticid koji ne pokazuje akutne učinke i dalje bi mogao pokazati dugoročnu toksičnost. U ovom istraživanju testirano je djelovanje četiri komercijalna pripravka pesticida i njihovih aktivnih tvari, od čega su dva insekticida i dva herbicida. Akutna i kronična toksičnost na gujavice (Eisenia andrei) testirana je praćenjem mortaliteta, promjena u ponašanju (izbjegavanje), te mjerenjem različitih biomarkera i uspješnosti razmnožavanja. Usporedba akutne toksičnosti aktivnog sastojka s akutnom toksičnosti komercijalnog pripravka pokazala je nižu toksičnost aktivnog sastojka. Učinci uočeni na substaničnoj razini, zajedno s promjenama u ponašanju i reprodukciji (broju kokona), ukazuju na potencijalne štetne učinke istraživanih pesticida na gujavice u okolišu. Dobiveni rezultati upućuju na potrebu sveobuhvatnog ispitivanja toksičnosti pesticida uključujući istraživanje i komercijalnih pripravaka, kao i primjenu kratkoročnih i dugoročnih testova.

Around the world, many ambitious environmental conventions and regulations have been implemented over recent decades. Despite this, the environment is still deteriorating. An increase in the volume and diversity of chemicals is one of the main drivers of this deterioration, of which biodiversity loss is a telling indicator. In response to this situation, in October 2020, a chemicals strategy for sustainability (CSS) was published in the EU. The CSS is the first regional framework aiming to address chemical pollution in a holistic manner. The CSS covers the complete lifecycle of a chemical, including the design of better substances and remediation options, to remove chemicals from the environment. The strategy contains terms, such as a “toxic-free environment,” for which no clear definition exists, potentially hampering the implementation of the CSS. In this paper, a definition for a “toxic-free environment” is proposed on the basis of a survey and a discussion held at the 2020 SETAC Europe Annual Meeting. In addition, key issues that are absent from the CSS but are considered to be key for the realization of a toxic-free environment are identified. To achieve the policy goals, it is recommended to align the definition of risk across the different chemical legislations, to establish a platform for open data and data sharing, and to increase the utility and use of novel scientific findings in policymaking, through the development of a strong science to regulation feedback mechanism and vice versa. The paper concludes that environmental scientists have the tools to address the key challenges presented in the CSS. However, an extra step is needed by both policymakers and scientists to develop methods, processes and tools, to increase the robustness and transparency of deliberation processes, and the utility of science. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1105–1113.

In the last decades the negative effects of pesticides on the environment have been increasingly observed worldwide. A widely known example is overall biodiversity decline often due to effects on non-target organisms. A vast biodiversity decline not only affects ecosystems and food chains but consequently also ecosystem services. In this study, we assessed the effects of four pesticides on earthworm (Eisenia andrei) in standardised soil: namely, insecticides thiacloprid (Calypso), esfenvalerate (Sumialfa) and herbicides prosulfocarb (Filon), and dimethenamid-p (Frontier). As current regulations only include standardised toxicity testing of the active substances, important data is missing on the different modes of action and possibly varying toxicity of commercial formulations. Hence, we investigated the effects of the commercially available pesticide formulations after 7, 14, and 28-day exposures. After determining sublethal concentrations in preliminary tests, a comprehensive test-battery, including biomarkers, fluorescence-based oxidative stress-related markers, multixenobiotic resistance and reproduction, has been used to determine the sublethal toxicity of the investigated pesticides. All pesticides showed effects on oxidative stress- related markers and multixenobiotic resistance. Prosulfocarb (Filon) and esfenvalerate (Sumialfa) both showed significant effects on multixenobiotic metabolism and cocoon production.