Pharmacology, Toxicology and Environmental Health Commons^™

Improving The Value Of Standard Toxicity Test Data In Reach, Magnus Breitholtz, Elin Lundström, Ulrika Dahl, Valery E. Forbes

Valery E Forbes

Worldwide, environmental risk assessment strategies are based on the assumption that measuring direct effects of single substances, using a few single species tests, in combination with safety factors correcting for extrapolation inconsistencies, can be used to protect higher levels of biological organization, such as populations and even ecosystems. At the same time, we are currently facing a range of pollution problems (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Series 2005), of which some could at least indirectly be linked to the fact that this assumption may not be fully valid. Consequently, there is an ongoing scientific debate on whether current chemical control protocols are …