13. February 2024, Topic: Risk Assessment

Quality criteria: data sheets available on website

The Ecotox Centre has derived environmental quality criteria for more than 100 substances - i.e. substance-specific concentrations below which no harmful effects on organisms are expected. We have now made the associated data sheets available on our website (linked to the respective value) so that the process leading to these values can be understood.

To determine the values, experts first research the data on the acute and chronic toxicity of the substances for various organisms, both from authorisation procedures and from scientific publications. The relevance and reliability of the data is also reviewed, as only values that fulfil the strict requirements may be used. Depending on the amount and composition of the available data, the experts use different methods to determine the quality criteria.

Since 2020, the Ecotox Centre's proposed quality criteria for 19 pesticides and 3 pharmaceuticals have been incorporated into the Water Protection Ordinance as numerical requirements and are therefore legally binding. In the EU, effect-based limit values have been anchored as environmental quality standards (EQS) in the Water Framework Directive since 2008, with values currently applying to 45 individual substances or substance groups. Additional substances or substance groups are now to be included in the EU list, so that the list will comprise 65 substances. The Ecotox Centre was involved in the development of the additional quality criteria. While these have already been adopted by the EU Parliament, they have yet to be confirmed by the member states.

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