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R&D activities for private companies

ECT received formal approval for carrying out R&D activities for private companies, which enables a tax credit (Crédit d’Impôt Recherche, CIR) for our French customers.

In-house analytical services

In-house analytical services under GLP are now available at ECT. Analytical verification of actual test concentrations is essential in ecotoxicity studies, and we are now prepared to provide this service in-house.

Report published on the evaluation of soil biodiversity via DNA from soil organism samples

Germany still lacks a nationwide and standardised survey of soil organisms, although a comprehensive infrastructure for such a survey is available with approx. 800 permanent soil monitoring sites (Bodendauer­beobachtungsflächen, BDF). At present, not all federal states perform biodiversity surveys on their permanent soil monitoring sites. This is most likely due to the fact that the […]

New publication on chemical sensitivity of earthworms from field populations

The environmental risk of pesticides for nontarget soil macroorganisms has mainly been assessed using the compost earthworm Eisenia fetida. However, E. fetida does not occur in agroecosystems and it is generally less sensitive than other earthworm species. Thus, the extrapolation of its response to pesticides to other earthworm species may lead to uncertainties in the […]

ECT at the 3rd Global Soil Biodiversity Conference

Launched by the Global Soil Biodiversity Initiative, the 3rd Global Soil Biodiversity Conference will take place in Dublin on 13-15 March 2023. At this meeting, recent advances in the field of soil biodiversity will be presented and discussed addressing the urgency of meeting global challenges related to human, animal and plant health and a more […]

New project started: RATION

Low-risk pesticides including biopesticides such as plant extracts, semiochemicals and microbial pesticides shall play a large role in substituting synthetic pesticides according to the Green Deal initiative of the European Union. Further low-risk solutions (phages, protists, microbial consortia, and double-stranded RNA pesticides) are expected to reach the market in the next years. There are ongoing efforts by the European Commission to establish specific risk assessment schemes for such low-risk pesticides…