Addressing the challenges of acute toxicity hazard classification using a non-animal defined approach.

Acute fish toxicity is an ecotoxicological endpoint which provides important information about a chemical's potential to elicit adverse effect(s) on fish. These effects are typically studied using in vivo tests but for animal welfare reasons as well as the quest for increased species relevance, biological coverage, mechanistic understanding of effects and throughput, there have been significant efforts in recent years to reduce or replace the use of animals in (eco)toxicological hazard assessment, by developing defined approaches (DA) or integrated approaches to testing and assessment (IATA). To this end, a novel score-based DA has been developed, which integrates three in silico predictions from freely available (Q)SARs: the VEGA Fish (KNN-Read-Across) and Fathead Minnow (KNN-IRFMN) models and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) ECOSAR Fish 96-h LC50 model, along with in vitro RTgill-W1 data.

Metabolism of alcohol ethoxylates (AEs) in rat, hamster, and human hepatocytes and liver S9: a pilot study for metabolic stability, metabolic pathway, and metabolites identification in vitro and in silico.

Alcohol ethoxylates (AEs) are a well-known class of non-ionic surfactants widely used by the personal care market. The aim of this study was to evaluate and characterize the in vitro metabolism of AEs and identify metabolites. Five selected individual homologue AEs (CEO, CEO, CEO, CEO, and CEO) were incubated using human, rat, and hamster liver S9 fraction and cryopreserved hepatocytes.

The last resort requirement under REACH: From principle to practice.

REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals) is a European Union regulation that aims to protect human health and the environment from the risks posed by chemicals. Article 25 clearly states that: "[i]n order to avoid animal testing, testing on vertebrate animals for the purposes of this Regulation shall be undertaken only as a last resort." In practice, however, the standard information requirements under REACH are still primarily filled using animal studies.

Assessment of the contribution of surfactants to mixture toxicity in French surface waters.

Surfactants are widely used 'down-the-drain' chemicals with the potential to occur at high concentrations in local water bodies and to be part of unintentional environmental mixtures. Recently, increased regulatory focus has been placed on the impacts of complex mixtures in aquatic environments and the substances that are likely to drive mixture risk. This study assessed the contribution of surfactants to the total mixture pressure in freshwater ecosystems.

Ultimate and Primary Biodegradation of a Range of Nonpolymeric and Polymeric Surfactants in Seawater.

Surfactants are chemicals commonly used in a wide range of domestic and industrial products. In the present study, ultimate biodegradation of 18 surfactants representing different classes (including several polymeric alcohol ethoxylates [AEs]) was determined in seawater at 20 °C by a Closed Bottle test method. After 28 days of incubation, 12 surfactants reached 60% biodegradation and were considered to be readily biodegradable in seawater.

Application of the Activity Framework for Assessing Aquatic Ecotoxicology Data for Organic Chemicals.

Toxicological research in the 1930s gave the first indications of the link between narcotic toxicity and the chemical activity of organic chemicals. More recently, chemical activity has been proposed as a novel exposure parameter that describes the fraction of saturation and that quantifies the potential for partitioning and diffusive uptake. In the present study, more than 2000 acute and chronic algal, aquatic invertebrates and fish toxicity data, as well as water solubility and melting point values, were collected from a series of sources.