Greenhouse gas emissions in The Netherlands 1990-2012; National inventory report 2014

Total greenhouse gas emissions from the Netherlands in 2012 decreased by approximately 1.7 per cent, compared with 2011 emissions. This decrease is mainly the result of decreased fuel combustion in the Energy sector (increased electricity import) and in road transport. In 2012, total direct greenhouse gas emissions (excluding emissions from LULUCF – land use, land use change and forestry) in the Netherlands amounted to 191.7 Tg CO2 eq. This is approximately 10 per cent below the emissions in the base year (213.2 Tg CO2 eq.). The 51% reduction in the non-CO2 emissions in this period is counterbalanced by 4 per cent increase in CO2 emissions since 1990.This report documents the Netherlands’ 2014 annual submission of its greenhouse gas emissions inventory in accordance with the guidelines provided by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Kyoto Protocol and the European Union’s Greenhouse Gas Monitoring Mechanism.The report comprises explanations of observed trends in emissions; a description of an assessment of key sources and their uncertainty; documentation of methods, data sources and emission factors applied; and a description of the quality assurance system and the verification activities performed on the data.Keywords: greenhouse gases, emissions, trends, methodology, climate

The benchmark approach applied to a 28-day toxicity study with rhodorsil silane in rats : the impact of increasing the number of dose groups

The OECD study design, aimed at obtaining a no-observed-adverse-effect level (NOAEL), may be suboptimal for deriving a benchmark dose. Therefore the present subacute (28-day) study was carried out to evaluate a multiple dose study design and to compare the results with the common OECD design. Seven groups of 10 female rats each were intragastrically administered corn oil without (controls) or with 50, 150, 300, 450, 600 or 750 mg Rhodorsil Silane/kg body weight/day, once daily (7 days/week) for 4 weeks. From the complete dataset, two subsets were selected, one representing a study design with seven dose groups of five animals (7×5 design), the other representing a study design with four dose groups of 10 animals (4×10 design). Under the conditions of the present study, the NOAEL for Rhodorsil Silane 198 was assessed at 50 mg/kg body weight/day, based on the data of the 4×10 design. The benchmark approach resulted in a benchmark dose of 19 mg/kg body weight/day, based on the data of the 7×5 design. Comparison of the results demonstrated that the multiple dose (7×5) design led to a more reliable result than the OECD (4×10) design, despite the smaller total number of animals. The dose-response analysis showed that at "the NOAEL" the effect on relative spleen weight was larger than 10%, illustrating that at the NOAEL, adverse effects may occur. © 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. Chemicals/CAS: Alanine Transaminase, EC 2.6.1.2; Aspartate Aminotransferases, EC 2.6.1.1; Hemoglobins; methyl 2-butoxyethyl silicate; Silanes; Silicate

Evaluatie van de nota Duurzame gewasbescherming : deelrapport Voedselveiligheid

Het percentage groente- en fruitmonsters waarop in Nederland te veel resten van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen zijn aangetroffen, is tussen 2003 en 2010 met 70% gedaald. Daarnaast is de absolute hoeveelheid resten van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen op dit type voedsel verminderd. De meeste producten waarop resten zijn aangetroffen, zijn afkomstig uit het buitenland. Verder is de voedselveiligheid sinds 2003 verbeterd. Dit blijkt uit een evaluatie van het beleidsdoel voor voedselveiligheid, zoals geformuleerd in de nota Duurzame gewasbescherming van het ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit (nu Economische Zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie). Het doel hiervan is het aantal overschrijdingen met 50% te verminderen

Dietary exposure to mycotoxins of 1- and 2-year-old children from a Dutch Total Diet Study

In 2017, a Total Diet Study was conducted in the Netherlands in which mycotoxins were analysed in foods and beverages consumed by 1- and 2-year-old children. These mycotoxins were aflatoxins, Alternaria toxins, citrinin, ergot alkaloids, fumonisins, ochratoxin A, patulin, sterigmatocystin, trichothecenes, and zearalenone. Long-term exposure was calculated by combining concentrations in foods and beverages with consumed amounts of these products. Analysed foods and beverages with a concentration below the detection limit that could contain the mycotoxin, were assigned a concentration equal to half this limit value. To assess if the exposure could result in a possible health risk, the high long-term exposure (95th percentile) was compared with a health-based guidance value (HBGV) or a margin of exposure (MOE) was calculated. Exposure to aflatoxins, Alternaria toxins, ochratoxin A and T-2/HT-2 sum may pose a health concern. Foods that contributed most to the exposure of these mycotoxins were bread, biscuits, breakfast cereals, chocolates, dried fruit, follow-on formula and fruit juices

A mycotoxin-dedicated total diet study in the Netherlands in 2013: Part III – exposure

In a mycotoxin-dedicated total diet study (mTDS) performed in the autumn and winter of 2013 in the Netherlands, 48 mycotoxins, including patulin, aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, fumonisins, zearalenone, trichothecenes, ergot alkaloids, Alternaria toxins, beauvericin and enniatins, were quantified. Analyses were performed in 88 composite samples representative for the consumption pattern of the Dutch population. This article presents the results of the exposure assessment and subsequent risk assessment of these mycotoxins. Exposure was assessed by combining individual food consumption data obtained from the Dutch National Food Consumption Surveys (DNFCS) for young children aged 2-6 years and the population aged 7-69 years with the analytical results of the mTDS, using a lower bound and an upper bound scenario for levels below the limit of detection. Wherever possible, exposure estimates were compared with toxicological reference values, including health-based guidance values. The high level of exposure (95th percentile) exceeded the toxicological reference value regardless of the substitution scenario for ochratoxin A in the population aged 7-69 years, for the sum of T-2 and HT-2 toxins for children aged 2-6 years and for alternariol and alternariol monomethyl ether in both examined populations. The margin of exposure was too small for aflatoxin B1. For the remaining 23 mycotoxins with a toxicological reference value, the estimated exposure was below this level

Evaluatie van de nota Duurzame gewasbescherming : deelrapport Voedselveiligheid

Het percentage groente- en fruitmonsters waarop in Nederland te veel resten van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen zijn aangetroffen, is tussen 2003 en 2010 met 70% gedaald. Daarnaast is de absolute hoeveelheid resten van gewasbeschermingsmiddelen op dit type voedsel verminderd. De meeste producten waarop resten zijn aangetroffen, zijn afkomstig uit het buitenland. Verder is de voedselveiligheid sinds 2003 verbeterd. Dit blijkt uit een evaluatie van het beleidsdoel voor voedselveiligheid, zoals geformuleerd in de nota Duurzame gewasbescherming van het ministerie van Landbouw, Natuur en Voedselkwaliteit (nu Economische Zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie). Het doel hiervan is het aantal overschrijdingen met 50% te verminderen