Background
It is recognised that the amount of existing data on the toxicity of chemicals varies very much between environmental compartments and the proposals need to address to what extent data from one compartment (e.g. flowing fresh waters) can be used to estimate the hazard of the chosen chemical to another compartment (e.g. soils and sediments). The purpose of the research is to examine the ability to extrapolate data for risk assessment from the water columns of the freshwater and marine environments to soils and sediments and to extrapolate between the soil and sediment data, in order to minimise additional testing costs in risk assessment for these latter compartments where persistence may become an issue.
Objectives
Proposals
Proposals submitted for consideration should follow the format of the application form'Application for a CEFIC-LRI Grant' and should address the following areas under individual sub-headings:
- The title of the research proposal
- The name and affiliation of the principal investigator and the laboratory or laboratories in which the research will be conducted
- Evidence of the principal investigator's knowledge of, and contribution to, current understandings of the role of the environmental media on the toxicity of chemicals across different species, and in particular the soil and sediment compartments.
- A clear definition of the research objectives, including a description of the mechanistic basis for the proposed research.
- A clear plan of investigation, including a clearly defined milestone plan which identifies all critical decision points in the research programme.
- A detailed breakdown of costs
Monitoring
The successful applicant(s) will be required to submit a progress report every 6 months during the course of the programme. At the end of the project a detailed review of the project and the achievements made will be provided by the principal investigator. The successful applicant or applicants will also be required to prepare for publication a manuscript describing the work undertaken and the results achieved.
Scope
Review the test methods available for studying the toxicity of persistent and bioaccumulating substances and of more easily studied substances in the soil and in sediments, drawing on the existing documents of the OECD as far as possible. Review existing toxicity data on chemicals studied in pairs of environmental compartments: fresh and saline waters, soil and sediments utilising and supplementing the work of the ECETOC Task Force on aquatic hazard assessment. Analyse the data for their use in environmental risk assessment. Fill the gaps in (a) test methods and (b) toxicity data through experimental work.
