Mixtures of chemical pollutants at European legislation safety concentrations: how safe are they?
The risk posed by complex chemical mixtures in the environment to wildlife and humans is increasingly debated, but has been rarely tested under environmentally relevant scenarios.
To address this issue, two mixtures of 14 or 19 substances of concern (pesticides, pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, a surfactant and a plasticizer), each present at its safety limit concentration imposed by the European legislation, were prepared and tested for their toxic effects.
The effects of the mixtures were assessed in 35 bioassays, based on eleven organisms representing different trophic levels. A consortium of 16 laboratories was involved in performing the bioassays.
The mixtures elicited quantifiable toxic effects on some of the test systems employed, including i) changes in marine microbial composition, ii) microalgae toxicity iii) immobilization in the crustacean Daphnia magna, iii) fish embryo toxicity, iv) impaired frog embryo development and v) increased expression on oxidative stress-linked reporter genes. Estrogenic activity close to regulatory safety limit concentrations was uncovered by receptor-binding assays.
The results highlight the need of precautionary actions on the assessment of chemical mixtures even in cases where individual toxicants are present at seemingly harmless concentrations.
NEGRÃO DE CARVALHO Raquel;
LOOS Robert;
FERRERO Valentina;
ARUKWE Augustine;
AIT-AISSA Selim;
BADO-NILLES Anne;
BALZAMO Stefania;
BAUN Anders;
BELKIN S.;
BLAHA Ludek;
BRION François;
CONTI Daniela;
CREUSOTC Nicolas;
ESSIG Yona;
FLANDER-PUTRLE Vesna;
FÜRHACKER Maria;
GRILLARI-VOGLAUER Regina;
HOGSTRAND Christer;
JONÁŠH Adam;
KHARLYNGDOH B;
KHARLYNGDOH Joubert B.;
LUNDEBYE Anne-Katrine;
MODIG Carina;
OLSSON Per-Erik;
PILLAI Smitha;
POLAK Natasa;
POTALIVO Monica;
SANCHEZ Wilfred;
SCHIFFERLI Andrea;
SCHIRMER Kristin;
SFORZINI Susanna;
STÜRZENBAUMI Stephen R.;
SØFTELAND Liv;
TURK Valentina;
VIARENGO Aldo;
WERNER Inge;
YAGUR-KROLL Sharon;
ZOUNKOVÁ Radka;
LETTIERI Teresa;
2014-08-25
OXFORD UNIV PRESS
JRC90855
1096-6080,
http://toxsci.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2014/08/13/toxsci.kfu118,
https://publications.jrc.ec.europa.eu/repository/handle/JRC90855,
10.1093/toxsci/kfu118,
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