Entries by wp_admin

Critical review: Standard methods for the assessment of structural and functional diversity of soil organisms

The lack of standardised methods to study soil organisms prevents comparisons across datasets and hampers the development of new global and regional experiments and assessments. Standardised methods are also needed to evaluate the impact of anthropogenic stressors, such as chemicals, on soil organism communities in the regulatory context. The objective of this critical review is […]

New publication: Use of prospective and retrospective risk assessment methods for chemical mixtures in wastewater discharges

The SETAC Pellston Workshop ‘Simplifying environmental mixtures – an aquatic exposure-based approach via exposure scenarios’ addressed the need to improve mixture assessments by considering different exposure scenarios related to land use. Recently, a series of papers from this workshop was published in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, including the work ‘Use of prospective and retrospective risk assessment methods that simplify chemical mixtures associated with treated domestic wastewater discharges’, to which Anja Coors contributed.

New publication: Proposal for a monitoring concept for veterinary medicinal products with PBT properties, using parasiticides as a case study

A proposal was prepared for the post-authorisation monitoring of veterinary medicinal products, in particular parasiticides. Such a monitoring might especially be useful for parasiticides identified as PBT substances, i.e., substances that are toxic (T), persist in the environment (P) and bioaccumulate (B). Based on a literature search, issues are discussed that have to be considered […]

New publication: Environmental risk assessment of biocidal products – identification of relevant components…

The recently published work ‘Environmental risk assessment of biocidal products: identification of relevant components and reliability of a component-based mixture assessment’ contributes to the currently ongoing debate on how to perform a mixture assessment in the environmental risk assessment within the authorisation process of biocidal products. Biocidal products are mixtures of one or more active […]

New publication: Effects of insecticides on survival and reproduction of microarthropods in African and European soils

In many parts of Africa, pesticides are used indiscriminately. Yet, ecotoxicological data relevant for the protection of soil organisms have usually been obtained under temperate conditions. In order to assess the effects of three commonly used insecticides (deltamethrin, dimethoate, chlorpyrifos) on microarthropods in African soils, uncontaminated natural soils were collected from Nigeria and Tunisia. In […]

Further news on the Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Environmental Integration

About 500 scientists representing more than 20 countries participated in the 1st Euro-Mediterranean Conference on Environmental Integration (EMCEI) that took place in Sousse (Tunisia) from 22 to 25 November 2017. ECT co-organised this conference, actively contributing via a keynote speech on environmental risk assessment of pesticides in soil, and by chairing two sessions on environmental […]

CNT-based nanoporous membranes with high flux for energy-efficient treatment of wastewater and process waters from natural gas and crude oil processing industries

Carbon nanotubes (CNT) represent an important group in the class of carbon-based nanomaterials. Their physical characteristics make them highly suitable for use in filtration methods, and lab-scaled applications have been very promising. However, large-scale CNT-based nanoporous membranes for application in industrial processes are not yet available. The objective of the present project is the development […]