Diclofenac: New data on chronic toxicity and bioconcentration in fish

Diclofenac (DCF) is a widely used nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug that is regularly detected in surface waters. To support a robust aquatic risk assessment, two early life stage (ELS) tests, compliant with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) test guideline 210, were conducted in rainbow trout and in zebrafish. Population relevant endpoints, such as hatching, growth, and survival, and in the trout study, histopathological effects in potential target organs, were examined. The bioconcentration of DCF in rainbow trout was measured in a separate study according to OECD test guideline 305. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) in rainbow trout remained below 10, demonstrating no relevant bioconcentration of DCF in fish. In the rainbow trout ELS test, the no observed effect concentration (NOEC) including histopathology was 320μg/L. The effect of DCF on zebrafish growth was less clear, and the NOEC can be interpreted as 10μg/L. However, for a number of reasons, the authors consider the moderately reduced growth of zebrafish exposed to concentrations of up to 320μg/L not a repeatable, treatment-related effect of DCF. This leads us to a conclusion that DCF has, with high probability, no adverse effect on both fish species up to 320μg/L. This NOEC indicates a sufficient safety margin for fish populations, because concentrations of DCF in European rivers are in the range of ng/L to low μg/L. © 2013 SETAC.Novartis International AG, Switzerland

In situ pond mesocosms for ecotoxicological long-term studies.

The structural and functional properties of an experimental field station for the evaluation of the ecotoxic potential of xenobiotics in static freshwaters are introduced. Eight mesocosms of one cubic metre seize were installed in a natural pond representing a set of small, almost identical test biotopes. By regular measurements of the biotic and abiotic parameters the usefullness of this systems to determine toxic threshold limits under realistic conditions was documented

Flexible Baugruppen-Vormontage Bericht ueber das EUREKA-FAMOS-Projekt HIFAS (High-Flexible Assembly Systems)

The international competition and thus the pressure on product costs is continuously increasing. Shorter product lifetimes, increasing numbers of variants and decreasing batch sizes are the background for the EUREKA-FAMOS-HIFAS-Project. In this project high automated, flexible assembly systems for units, were developed and implemented to face the high costs in assembly. Key items for the Italian and German project partners had been: the assembly orientated product structure, the planning and evaluation of assembly structures, the development of assembly technologies and components, the qualification of the workers in assembly, the material flow, the information flow and the implementation of pilot systems. (orig.)Available from TIB Hannover: RN 8592(168) / FIZ - Fachinformationszzentrum Karlsruhe / TIB - Technische InformationsbibliothekSIGLEBundesministerium fuer Forschung und Technologie (BMFT), Bonn (Germany)DEGerman

Toxicity of Lindane to Freshwater Insect Larvae in Compartments of an Experimental Pond.

The acute and chronic toxicities of lindane to larvae of the freshwater insects Chironomus riparius Meigen, Chaoborus flavicans (Meigen), and Sigara striata (L.) were investigated in mesocosm compartments of an experimental pond. The following median lethal concentrations (LC50s) were determined: 240-hr LC50 of 2.0 μg lindane liter−1 for second instar C. riparius, 72-hr LC50 of 6.5 μg lindane liter−1 for fourth instar C. riparius, and 96-hr LC50s of 4.0 and 3.9 μg lindane liter−1 for fourth instar C. flavicans and fourth or fifth instar S. striata, respectively. Lindane significantly reduced the growth over 10 days of second instar C. riparius compared to that of the control at the treatment concentrations where larvae survived (1.0, 2.5, and 7.0 μg lindane liter−1). A significant increase in the median emergence time in comparison to that of the control was observed for C. riparius exposed to 0.8 and 2.0 μg lindane liter−1, with higher concentrations causing 100% mortality. The findings compare well with previously reported laboratory data on the toxicity of lindane to insects and support the methodology and results of a laboratory growth test for C. riparius

Development of methods for evaluating toxicity to freshwater ecosystems

This article presents a summary of a collaborative research program involving five European research groups, that was partly funded by the European Commission under its Environmental Research Program. The objective of the program was to develop aquatic toxicity tests that could be used to obtain data for inclusion at Level 2 of the Risk Evaluation Scheme for the Notification of Substances as required by the 7th Amendment to EC Directive 79/831/EEC. Currently only a very limited number of test methods have been described that can be used for this purpose and these are based on an even smaller number of test species. Tests based upon algae (Chlamydomonas reinhardi, Scenedesmus subspicatus, and Euglena gracilis), protozoa (Tetrahymena pyriformis), rotifera (Brachionus calyciflorus), crustacea (Gammarus pulex), and diptera (Chironomus riparius) were developed. The tests encompassed a range of end points and were evaluated against four reference chemicals: lindane, 3, 4-dichloroaniline (DCA), atrazine, and copper. The capacity of the tests to identify concentrations that are chronically toxic in the field was addressed by comparing the effects threshold concentrations determined in the laboratory tests with those determined for similar and/or related species and end points in stream and pond mesocosm studies. The lowest no-observed-effect concentrations (NOEC), EC(x), or LC(x) values obtained for lindane, atrazine, and copper were comparable with the lowest values obtained in the mesocosms. The lowest chronic NOEC determined for DCA using the laboratory tests was approximately 200 times higher than the lowest NOEC in the mesocosms

The development of toxicity tests for freshwater pollutants and their validation in stream and pond mesocosms

The number and variety of freshwater species and bioassay procedures currently recommended in European Directives for assessing the risk posed by pollutants to freshwater ecosystems is rather limited. The aim of the three consecutive European Commission-sponsored programmes described here was to modify or develop new laboratory methods that could be used for evaluating toxicity to freshwater species and which would be suitable for incorporation into the current "notification scheme" for new substances. An essential phase of each project was a validation process in which results of laboratory tests were compared with values obtained in the field using structural and functional responses of communities. The laboratory tests were developed by Fraunhofer-Institut für Umweltchemie und Ökotoxikologie (FhG) Potsdam-Rehbrücke with algae, protozoa and a variety of in vitro cellular/subcellular preparations; by the State University of Ghent with water column invertebrates, and by Cardiff University with benthic invertebrates. The laboratory tests included in vitro procedures, conventional whole organism single species tests, simple multi-species systems and microcosms. The field validation was carried out by Shell Research Sittingbourne employing artificial streams and by FhG Schmallenberg and GSF-Forschungszentrum für Umwelt und Gesundheit, Munich with artificial ponds and included single species responses but also structural and functional community responses. The same reference chemicals: lindane, copper, 3,4-dichloroaniline and atrazine were used by all laboratories. A comparison of the most sensitive toxicity response determined for each reference chemical using the laboratory toxicity tests, with that determined by the field simulation procedures revealed that for the reference chemicals lindane, copper and atrazine, adverse effects were not detected either for single organisms or for structural and functional characteristics of the community or ecosystem, at concentrations below those identified in the laboratory toxicity tests. In the case of dichloroaniline, however, effects on the population dynamics of one species in the pond mesocosm were recorded at a concentration ×16 below that reported in the laboratory. We conclude that appropriately designed, relatively simple and inexpensive laboratory toxicity tests with a selection of test species are generally adequate, with small application factors, for predicting the environmental risk of polluting chemicals to freshwater ecosystems