News

Publication on global data on earthworm abundance, biomass and diversity

Data collected by ECT in the frame of various research projects in the last decades contributed to a publication on the global abundance and diversity of earthworms. Earthworms are an important soil taxon as ecosystem engineers, providing a variety of crucial ecosystem functions and services. Little is known about their diversity and distribution at large […]

New project started: ‘Prioritisation and risk evaluation of medicines in the environment’ (PREMIER)

The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) project PREMIER aims to develop a centralised, user-friendly digital assessment system accessible for all relevant stakeholders. PREMIER will also explore options to incorporate environment considerations earlier in the drug development process to inform drug design and to reduce the need of animal testing. ECT is involved in this project as […]

Review on the environmental fate and effects of water-soluble synthetic organic polymers

Because of their usually high molecular weight, polymers are generally considered as being of low environmental concern and are, therefore, exempted from registration and evaluation within REACH. This exemption is currently being reviewed by the European Commission. Against this background, data on the environmental fate and effects of selected water-soluble synthetic organic polymers used in […]

Report published on adaptations for a harmonized field-testing procedure and risk assessment of earthworms

A project funded by the German Environment Agency was performed to provide scientifically robust and practical information on the variability of the endpoints assessed in earthworm field studies, the statistical significance of the results and the level of the statistically detectable effects of the chemicals tested with the aim of developing suggestions for improving the […]