Tag Archive for: plant protection products

New project started: ARISTO

As acknowledged by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) soil microorganisms play a key role in ecosystem functioning and there is a lack of appropriate methods to assess impacts on them. ARISTO, the European Industry-Academia Network for Revising and Advancing the Assessment of the Soil Microbial Toxicity of Pesticides, started in 2021 and addresses this […]

The European industry-academia network for revising and advancing the assessment of the soil microbial toxicity of pesticides (ARISTO)

The European Commission has imposed a stringent regulatory scheme for pesticide authorisation, which includes an assessment of potential risks for aquatic organisms and terrestrial macro-organisms. However, the assessment of the toxicity of pesticides on soil microorganisms relies on a protocol that does not identify effects on key microbial functions and on microbial diversity. As acknowledged […]

Review: Environmental risk assessment of pesticides in tropical terrestrial ecosystems

Despite the increasing use of pesticides in tropical countries, research and legislative efforts have focused on their temperate counterparts. In the present publication, the literature on environmental risk assessment of pesticides in tropical terrestrial ecosystems is reviewed. Potential differences in pesticide risks between temperate and tropical regions are evaluated, and research needs for tropical regions […]

Lumbriculus test recommended by EFSA

The newly proposed EFSA guidance document on risk assessment for plant protection products for aquatic organisms1 recommends the Lumbriculus test (instead of the Chironomus test) specifically for pesticides with fungicidal activity. ECT coordinated the validation ring test for the Lumbriculus OECD test guideline […]

Development of a classification and assessment concept based on biodiversity of water and soil organisms regarding the effects of climate change and anthropogenic stressors

In July 2008, a new interdisciplinary research centre was founded in Frankfurt am Main (Germany) within the framework of the LOEWE Programme, a State Government of Hesse initiative for the development of scientific and economic excellence. The mission of the new centre (BiK-F) is to carry out internationally outstanding research on the interactions of organismic […]

Ecotoxicological joint effects of mixtures – relevance and appropriate consideration in the environmental risk assessment of plant protection products and biocides

The aim of this project was to assess the relevance of joint effects related to plant protection products and biocidal products. Based on a general analysis of the concepts of mixture toxicity and their application, as well as a detailed analysis of the current environmental risk assessment schemes and their limitations, options were developed for […]

Development of a web-based pesticide risk assessment module for below-ground invertebrates

The overall objective of this project (WEBFRAM-5) was to investigate whether the application of probabilistic methods of uncertainty analysis can improve the risk assessment for effects of pesticides on below-ground invertebrates. The project addressed this objective in two ways: First, analysis of existing pesticide effects data was used to examine which methods of uncertainty analysis […]