Biomedical subjects

E J van de Plassche

Publications and source records attributed to E J van de Plassche.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1997

Environmental quality objectives for 10 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).

Environmental quality objectives (EQOs) for water, soil, and sediment are derived for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). EQOs are an important instrument in the effects-oriented environmental policy of the Dutch Ministry of the Environment. These EQOs should be set in such a way that protection of organisms in all compartments is ensured. As intermedia transport of chemicals occurs, this means that EQOs derived for individual compartments have to be harmonized. EQOs are based on scientifically derived risk limits: maximum permissible concentrations (MPCs) and the negligible concentrations (NCs). MPCs are concentrations above which the risk of adverse effects is considered unacceptable. The NC is defined as the MPC/100 and takes possible effects of combination toxicity due to the presence of other substances into account. In this paper MPCs are derived for haphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, fluoranthene, benzo[a]anthracene, chrysene, benzo[k]fluoranthene, benzo[a]pyrene, benzo[ghi]perylene, and indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene. The MPCs for these PAHs are for water 1.2, 0.07, 0.30, 0.30, 0.01, 0.34, 0.04, 0.05, 0.03, and 0.04 micrograms/liter, respectively; for soil 0.14, 0.12, 0.51, 2.6, 0.25, 10.7, 2.4. 0.26, 7.5, and 5.9 mg/kg, respectively; and for sediment 0.14, 0.12, 0.51, 2.6. 0.36, 10.7, 2.4, 2.7, 7.5, and 5.9 mg/kg, respectively.

Air Pollutants↗

PubMed1997

Environmental risk assessment of musk ketone and musk xylene in The Netherlands in accordance with the EU-TGD.

An environmental risk assessment has been carried out for musk ketone and musk xylene according to the EU Technical Guidance Document for Environmental Risk Assessment for New and Existing Substances [1]. Musk ketone and musk xylene are used in fragrances for cosmetics and household products. For the fragrance industry these are important fragrance ingredients because of their excellent substantivity as well as for their unique smell, which determines largely the odor of a product. The initial environmental risk assessment is based on information provided by the fragrance industry as represented in the Netherlands by its association NEA, by the Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM) and data reported in the international open literature. The risk assessment includes and evaluation of the risks for aquatic organisms in surface water and sediment and for soil organisms in soil after application of sewage sludge. Secondary poisoning of fish-eating birds and mammals is considered as well. For each compartment the Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC) is compared to the Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC) to obtain PEC/PNEC ratios. Since monitoring data are available in water, sediment and fish, similar ratios are obtained with measured concentrations instead of the predicted ones. For both substances, PEC/PNEC ratios are at or below 0.1 for organisms in the aquatic environment, including sediment organisms. PEC/PNEC ratios for fish-eating predators are 0.01. Ratios based on monitoring data are below 0.01 for all of these organisms. For soil organisms the PEC/PNEC ratio is 0.5 for musk ketone and 1.3 for musk xylene. Although in the Netherlands (as well as in some other European countries), sewage sludge presently finds no application as fertilizer on agricultural soil, the aim of environmental policy is to upgrade the sludge quality to enable future applications on agricultural and grassland. The reliability of the predicted soil concentrations can be greatly improved by obtaining experimental data on fate and behaviour of musk ketone and musk xylene in digested sludge and soil. The risk assessment provides reassurance for the aquatic compartment while pointing the way for obtaining additional data for the soil compartment.

Animals↗

PubMed1993

Validation of some extrapolation methods with toxicity data derived from multiple species experiments.

For effects assessment several extrapolation methods are used which can be applied to estimate the concentration of toxic chemicals above which ecosystems may be affected. At present, however, it is uncertain whether the values calculated with these methods really represent concentrations harmless to ecosystems. Therefore, a validation is carried out by comparing no-observed-effect concentrations derived from multiple species experiments with extrapolated values. In this study validation was restricted to the methods of Aldenberg and Slob (1993) and Wagner and Løkke (Water Res. 25, 1237-1242, 1991), and a modification of the method of the Environmental Protection Agency (Slooff, 1992). Also, only organic compounds were studied. With restrictions, due to the paucity of data, it is concluded that single species toxicity data are a good starting point for establishing "safe" values for the aquatic ecosystem. Furthermore, extrapolation methods seem to be a good basis for determining these values if sufficient toxicity data are available for sensitive taxonomic groups. From the results of this study it was not possible to give preference to one of the validated extrapolation methods, but on theoretical ground the methods of Aldenberg and Slob and Wagner and Løkke are perferred.

Animals↗