Comparison of two methods in deriving aquatic predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) for α-Amylcinnamaldehyde, 1-Tridecanol and Paracetamol

Abstract

This study is evaluating two methods in order to calculate predicted no effect
concentrations (PNECs) used in environmental risk assessment for three chemicals
(α-Amylcinnamaldehyde, 1-tridecanol and paracetamol). The methods used are
Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD) and the guideline from European Chemicals
Agency (ECHA): “Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety
assessment”. The later method was conducted using both acute and chronic data.
According to the PNEC value calculated the most toxic substance is 1-Tridecanol
followed by α-Amylcinnamaldehyde and then Paracetamol which is the least toxic
according to this study. A weakness using this kind of risk assessment is that the
calculations are based on single species testing at a low organisation level which forms
a gap in knowledge. When making an environmental risk assessment use the method
with the lowest uncertainty if enough data is available, which in this study was SSD.
The most toxic of the three evaluated chemicals was 1-tridecanol and the least toxic
was paracetamol. One weakness with the use of toxicology data is that the available
data usually are at the individual level on the organization hierarchy. This creates a gap
between the level measured the level you want to measure.

Popular Abstract

The problems with emissions started during the Industrial Revolution, when the scientific and technological development increased rapidly, giving the people better lives but also led to over utilization of the natural resources and creating vast amounts of hazardous substances from industrial processes, this have caused widespread contamination of the environment. Today we have a constant and quickly changing chemistry market which is growing around 3% each year, with a market driven by price and performance rather than the health of humans and the environment. This have created a need of evaluating risk.
This thesis are investigating different methods of evaluating risk. Or more in detail, how to derive a safe concentration, also called “predicted no effect concentration” of toxic chemicals. Because at a high concentration all substances are toxic. But the ones described as toxic are having a toxic effect even at low concentrations. Therefore, it is of great value to derive a safe concentration for the chemicals of interest. This study is therefore focusing on how to derive the PNEC value of three chemicals (α-Amylcinnamaldehyde, 1-tridecanol and paracetamol) using two different methods: (1) Species Sensitivity Distributions (SSD) and (2) The Guidelines from European Chemicals Agency (ECHA 2008): ”Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety assessment”. These techniques will be compared to each other, discussing the difference in the PNEC values and strengths and weaknesses of the different techniques.
The results from this study indicates that the higher the uncertainty the method provides, the lower the PNEC value becomes. Hence, the lowest PNEC value was derived by the ECHA method using acute data, then the ECHA method using chronic data, and the highest PNEC was provided by using the SSD method. When making an environmental risk assessment use the method with the lowest uncertainty if enough data is available, which in this study was SSD.

• author: Holmén, Emma
• supervisor: Maria Hansson
• organization: Studies in Environmental Science
• course: MVEM02 20191
• year: 2019
• type: H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
• subject: Earth and Environmental Sciences
• keywords: PNEC, Environmental risk assessment, ERA, α-Amylcinnamaldehyde, 1- tridecanol, paracetamol, Species Sensitivity Distributions, SSD, ECHA, Guidance on information requirements and chemical safety assessment
• language: English
• id: 8981781
• date added to LUP: 2019-07-02 09:30:01
• date last changed: 2019-07-02 09:30:01