CleanGredients - Attribute Information

Additional Aquatic Toxicity - Chronic in Surfactants

Definition

Chronic aquatic toxicity means potential or actual properties of a substance to cause adverse effects to aquatic organisms during exposures which are determined in relation to the life-cycle of the organism.

Rationale

Additional Aquatic Toxicity information is included to supplement Acute Aquatic Toxicity data and to allow for the use of non-animal test methods where appropriate. The Microtox test may replace the use of fish for acute aquatic toxicity testing for the Environmental Choice Program in Canada.

Listing Requirements

Optional and environmentally relevant.

Data and Submission Guidance

Microtox Assay
Environment Canada's Environmental Choice Program calls for the Toxicity Test Using Luminescent Bacteria (Photobacterium phosphoreum) as an option for testing for aquatic toxicity. It is Environment Canada's test method EPS 1/RM/24 which is equivalent to the Microtox test. Environment Canada's test method EPS 1/RM/24 can be found at http://www.ec.gc.ca/publications/index.cfm.

The Microtox® Test is a trade name for a company (AZUR) that produced analytical equipment to perform the test. Their website is http://www.azurenv.com/mtox.htm.
More information on Microtox® testing services including a round robin test of the method can be found at http://www.dreamscape.com/aquatox/microtox.html.
Visit the Bibliography at http://www.azurenv.com for over 500 publications covering applications of the Microtox Test.
For a comparison of the Microtox assay to traditional acute aquatic toxicity tests see: Klaus L.E. Kaiser and Virginia s. Palabrica. 1991. Photobacterium phosphoreum Toxicity Data Index. Water Poll. Res. J. Canada. Volume 26, No. 3. pp. 361-431.

Chronic Aquatic Toxicity
Use reporting cutoffs consistent with the Globally Harmonized System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals (GHS) as outlined in the GHS Chronic Aquatic Toxicity Categories below :

GHS Categories for substances hazardous to the aquatic environment

Chronic toxicity

Category: Chronic I

96 hr LC 50 (for fish) = 1 mg/l and/or
48 hour EC 50 (for crustacea) = 1 mg/l and/or
72 or 96 hr ErC 50 (for algae or other aquatic plants) = 1 mg/l
And the substance is not rapidly degradable and/or the log Kow = 4 (unless the experimentally determined BCF<500).

Category: Chronic 2

96 hr LC50 (for fish) > 1 to = 10 mg/l and/or
48 hr EC50 (for crustacea) > 1 to = 10 mg/l and/or
72 or 96hr ErC50 (for algae or other aquatic plants) > 1 to = 10 mg/l
and the substance is not rapidly degradable and/or the log Kow = 4 (unless the experimentally determined BCF <500), unless the chronic toxicity NOECs are > 1 mg/l.

Category: Chronic 3

96 hr LC50 (for fish) > 10 to = 100 mg/l and/or
48 hr EC50 (for crustacea) > 10 to = 100 mg/l and/or
72 or 96hr ErC50 (for algae or other aquatic plants) > 10 to = 100 mg/l
and the substance is not rapidly degradable and/or the log Kow = 4 (unless the experimentally determined BCF <500) unless the chronic toxicity NOECs are > 1 mg/l.

Category: Chronic 4

Poorly soluble substances for which no acute toxicity is recorded at levels up to the water solubility, and which are not rapidly degradable and have a log Kow = 4, indicating a potential to bioaccumulate, will be classified in this category unless other scientific evidence exists showing classification to be unnecessary. Such evidence would include an experimentally determined BCF < 500, or a chronic toxicity NOECs > 1 mg/l, or evidence of rapid degradation in the environment.

Implementation (User Interface)

Allow for:

Results of NOEC, EC/LC50 in mg/L
Method
Species
Duration
Reference data (links and uploads)