Environmental risk assessment
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Quantifying ecological risks of aquatic micro- and nanoplastic Open
Diverse effects of nano- and microplastic (NMP) have been demonstrated in the laboratory. We provide a broad review of current knowledge on occurrence, measurement, modeling approaches, fate, exposure, effects, and effect thresholds as reg…
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Bayesian Networks in Environmental Risk Assessment: A Review Open
Human activities both depend upon and have consequences on the environment. Environmental risk assessment (ERA) is a process of estimating the probability and consequences of the adverse effects of human activities and other stressors on t…
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Guidance on allergenicity assessment of genetically modified plants Open
This document provides supplementary guidance on specific topics for the allergenicity risk assessment of genetically modified plants. In particular, it supplements general recommendations outlined in previous EFSA GMO Panel guidelines and…
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Risk assessment of environmental mixture effects Open
Determining interactions of multi-component environmental mixtures towards accurate risk assessment.
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The Role of Behavioral Ecotoxicology in Environmental Protection Open
For decades, we have known that chemicals affect human and wildlife behavior. Moreover, due to recent technological and computational advances, scientists are now increasingly aware that a wide variety of contaminants and other environment…
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Causes of Cancer in the World: Comparative Risk Assessment of Nine Behavioral and Environmental Risk Factors Open
[This retracts the article DOI: 10.7759/cureus.28875.].
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Organic Pollutants : An Ecotoxicological Perspective Open
Organic pollutants continue to be a major hazard in the environment. Often difficult to measure accurately and to deal with effectively, these compounds feature more and more prominently in courses on environmental toxicology and environme…
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Dawning of a new ERA: Environmental Risk Assessment of antibiotics and their potential to select for antimicrobial resistance Open
Antibiotics and antimicrobials are used, misused and overused in human and veterinary medicine, animal husbandry and aquaculture. These compounds can persist in both human and animal waste and then enter the environment through a variety o…
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Implications of microbial adaptation for the assessment of environmental persistence of chemicals Open
Persistency of organic chemicals is a key property in their environmental risk assessment. Information on persistency is often derived from the results of biodegradability screening tests such as the ready biodegradability tests (RBTs). RB…
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A Review of the Field on Children’s Exposure to Environmental Contaminants: A Risk Assessment Approach Open
Background: Children must be recognized as a sensitive population based on having biological systems and organs in various stages of development. The processes of absorption, distribution, metabolism and elimination of environmental contam…
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Literature review of baseline information on RNAi to support the environmental risk assessment of RNAi‐based GM plants Open
This report is the outcome of an EFSA procurement (OC/EFSA/GMO/2015/02) which aims at reviewing relevant scientific information on RNA interference (RNAi) that could serve as baseline information for the environmental risk assessment of RN…
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Research recommendations to better understand the potential health impacts of microplastics to humans and aquatic ecosystems Open
To assess the potential risk of microplastic exposure to humans and aquatic ecosystems, reliable toxicity data is needed. This includes a more complete foundational understanding of microplastic toxicity and better characterization of the …
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Engineered Polystyrene-Based Microplastics of High Environmental Relevance Open
Microplastic (MP) pollution-an emerging environmental challenge of the 21st century-refers to accumulation of environmentally weathered polymer-based particles with potential environmental and health risks. Because of technical and practic…
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Identifying and Managing Aqueous Film-Forming Foam-Derived Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Environment Open
The use of aqueous film-forming foam (AFFF) has resulted in the widespread occurrence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in groundwater, drinking water, soils, sediments, and receiving waters throughout the United States and oth…
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Probabilistic environmental risk assessment of microplastics in marine habitats Open
Microplastics are ubiquitous in the environment and given the large number of published hazard and exposure studies, quantitative environmental risks assessments of microplastics become feasible. We present here the first environmental ris…
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A Fuzzy Model of Risk Assessment for Environmental Start-Up Projects in the Air Transport Sector Open
The purpose of this paper is to develop a fuzzy model of the risk assessment for environmental start-up projects in the air transport sector at the stage of business expansion. The model developed for the following software will be a usefu…
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Environmental fate and exposure models: advances and challenges in 21<sup>st</sup> century chemical risk assessment Open
Twenty-five years of progress in modeling the environmental fate and exposure of organic contaminants is reviewed, and a strategy for more rapidly adopting scientific progress into regulatory models is proposed.
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Risk assessment of genetically engineered plants that can persist and propagate in the environment Open
New challenges arise in risk assessment when genetically engineered (GE) plants can persist and propagate in the environment as well as produce viable offspring. Next generation effects can be influenced by heterogeneous genetic background…
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Selected Pharmaceuticals in Different Aquatic Compartments: Part II—Toxicity and Environmental Risk Assessment Open
Potential risks associated with releases of human pharmaceuticals into the environment have become an increasingly important issue in environmental health. This concern has been driven by the widespread detection of pharmaceuticals in all …
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Incorporating evolutionary insights to improve ecotoxicology for freshwater species Open
Ecotoxicological studies have provided extensive insights into the lethal and sublethal effects of environmental contaminants. These insights are critical for environmental regulatory frameworks, which rely on knowledge of toxicity for dev…
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Environmental Risk Assessment of Nanomaterials in the Light of New Obligations Under the REACH Regulation: Which Challenges Remain and How to Approach Them? Open
Within the European regulation on the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH, EC No 1907/2006) specific provisions for nanomaterials were included, which have become effective on 1 January 2020. Althoug…
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An (Eco)Toxicity Life Cycle Impact Assessment Framework for Per- And Polyfluoroalkyl Substances Open
A framework for characterizing per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) is proposed. Thousands of PFASs are used worldwide, with special properties imparted by the fluorinated alkyl chain. Our fram…
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Fate, transport, and risk assessment of widely prescribed pharmaceuticals in terrestrial and aquatic systems: A review Open
Rapid development of pharmaceuticals outpaces the efforts to regulate and monitor their trace concentrations in the environment. This emerging issue can only be solved through field studies, solid fate and transport models, and adequate ri…
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The ‘SELection End points in Communities of bacTeria’ (SELECT) Method: A Novel Experimental Assay to Facilitate Risk Assessment of Selection for Antimicrobial Resistance in the Environment Open
The lack of evidence demonstrating environmental selection for AMR, and of associated human health risks, is a primary reason for the lack of action in the mitigation of release of antibiotics into the aquatic environment. We present a nov…
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Risk-based screening for prioritisation of organic micropollutants in Swedish freshwater Open
Concerns about environmental contamination by organic micropollutants (OMPs) are increasing, due to their potential bioaccumulative and toxic properties. This study evaluated the risk posed by OMPs to aquatic ecosystems in Swedish freshwat…
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A critical review on the evaluation of toxicity and ecological risk assessment of plastics in the marine environment Open
The increasing production of plastics together with the insufficient waste management has led to massive pollution by plastic debris in the marine environment. Contrary to other known pollutants, plastic has the potential to induce three t…
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Recovery in environmental risk assessments at EFSA Open
EFSA performs environmental risk assessments (ERAs) for single potential stressors such as plant protection products, genetically modified organisms and feed additives and for invasive alien species that are harmful for plant health. In th…
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Improving the Environmental Risk Assessment of Substances of Unknown or Variable Composition, Complex Reaction Products, or Biological Materials Open
Substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or biological materials (UVCBs) pose unique risk assessment challenges to regulators and to product registrants. These substances can contain many constituents, some…
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Knowledge gaps in the assessment of antimicrobial resistance in surface waters Open
The spread of antibiotic resistance in the water environment has been widely described. However, still many knowledge gaps exist regarding the selection pressure from antibiotics, heavy metals and other substances present in surface waters…
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Environmental Risk Assessment Strategy for Nanomaterials Open
An Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) for nanomaterials (NMs) is outlined in this paper. Contrary to other recent papers on the subject, the main data requirements, models and advancement within each of the four risk assessment domains ar…