| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Coria, Jessica, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Economic interests cloud hazard reductions in the European regulation of substances of very high concern
- 2022
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723 .- 2041-1723. ; 13:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Here we investigate how the conflicts between hazard reduction and economic interests have shaped the regulation of substances of very high concern (SVHCs) under the Authorization program of the European chemical regulation Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH). Since regulation starts with listing SVHCs on the Candidate List, we analyze the relative importance of toxicological properties, economic motivations, and available scientific knowledge on the probability of inclusion on the Candidate List. We find that the most important factor in whether a substance is listed is whether it is being produced in, or imported into, the European Economic Area (EEA), with the regulators less likely to place a substance on the list if it is currently being produced or imported in the EEA. This evidence suggests that regulators have listed chemicals of secondary importance leading to lesser than anticipated hazard reductions, either because production and imports had already ceased before the listing, or because the compound has never been produced or imported in the EEA at all.
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| 3. |
- Gustavsson, Mikael, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Estimating the release of chemical substances from consumer products, textiles and pharmaceuticals to wastewater
- 2022
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Ingår i: Chemosphere. - : Elsevier BV. - 0045-6535 .- 1879-1298. ; 287
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Chemical emissions from households originate from a wide range of sources and results in highly diverse mixtures. This makes traditional monitoring based on analytical chemistry challenging, especially for compounds that appear in low concentrations. We therefore developed a method for predicting emissions of chemicals from households into wastewater, relying on consumption patterns from multiple data sources. The method was then used to predict the emissions of chemical preparations, chemicals leaching from textiles and prescription pharmaceuticals in Sweden. In total we predicted emissions of 2007 chemicals with a combined emission of 62,659 tonnes per year - or 18 g/person and day. Of the emitted chemicals, 2.0% (w/w) were either classified as hazardous to the environment or were both persistent and mobile. We also show that chemical emissions come from a wide range of uses and that the total emission of any individual chemical is determined primarily by its use pattern, not by the total amount used. This emphasizes the need for continuous updates and additional knowledge generation both on emission factors and excretion rates as well as a need for improved reporting on the intended use of individual chemicals. Finally, we scrutinize the model and its uncertainty and suggest areas that need improvement to increase the accuracy of future emission modelling. We conclude that emission modelling can help guide environmental monitoring and provide input into management strategies aimed at reducing the environmental effect caused by hazardous chemicals.
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| 4. |
- Gustavsson, Mikael, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Estimation of Maximum Loss - A comparison study
- 2010
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Ingår i: SHO2010: INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HYGIENE. - 9789729950469 ; , s. 280-284
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Petroleum refineries are at risk due to the flammability of both the raw material and the products. In addition to the threat to the working force there is also an apparent economical risk associated with the processing of flammable compounds. This economical risk is not only due to the direct impact of a fire or explosion but also includes the cost of business interruption in case of a shutdown due to an accident. As with any situation that involves economical risks refineries may share their risk with insurers. The premium is then based on the size of the financial risk. Thus a decision has to be made by the operator how to share the risk of economical losses with insurance companies at a fair price. However, the decision process is not easy and it generally includes modelling of various scenarios to determine to which extent the process area can be damaged if, for example, a pipe rupture occurs. On the extreme end of modelling the so called Estimated Maximum Loss (EML) scenarios are found. These scenarios try to predict the maximum loss a particular installation can sustain due to an accident. Unfortunately a standard model for estimation of maximum loss does not exist. It means that brokers reach different results on the same scenario due to applying different models and different assumptions. Thus an operator may face uncertainty during the decision process. Hence improvements should be made not only to the models used but also to the concept of EML itself. Therefore, a study has been conducted on a case "Preem Refinery" where several scenarios previously had been modelled by two different brokers using two different softwares, ExTool and SLAM. The aim of this paper is to review the concept of EML and to analyse the used models to see which parameters that influenced the results. The results of the study show that: Overpressure damage threshold values, cloud weights, and releasable inventory are the main sources of deviation in the modelled scenarios; Clear cut-off values for the probabilities of an accident should be used to avoid the "not plausible" argument sometimes heard. As for improving the models themselves, no clear reason for working with threshold values when it comes to overpressure damage can be found. A continuous curve seems more fitting in the age of computers. The possibility to shift such a curve to account for the difference in overpressure sustainability between different types of process equipment could also be explored; and, there are many aspects to investigate further in order to make potential loss predictions more reliable, and this should be well worthwhile since a lot of money is at stake when plant owners and insurers decide on insurance limits and premiums.
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| 5. |
- Gustavsson, Mikael, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Evaluating EML Modeling Tools for Insurance Purposes: A Case Study
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Chemical Engineering. - : Hindawi Limited. - 1687-806X .- 1687-8078. ; 2010:Article ID 104370
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- As with any situation that involves economical risk refineries may share their risk with insurers. The decision process generally includes modelling to determine to which extent the process area can be damaged. On the extreme end of modelling the so-called Estimated Maximum Loss (EML) scenarios are found. These scenarios predict the maximum loss a particular installation can sustain. Unfortunately no standard model for this exists. Thus the insurers reach different results due to applying different models and different assumptions. Therefore, a study has been conducted on a case in a Swedish refinery where several scenarios previously had been modelled by two different insurance brokers using two different softwares, ExTool and SLAM. This study reviews the concept of EML and analyses the used models to see which parameters are most uncertain. Also a third model, EFFECTS, was employed in an attempt to reach a conclusion with higher reliability.
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| 6. |
- Gustavsson, Mikael, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Risk assessment of chemicals and their mixtures are hindered by scarcity and inconsistencies between different environmental exposure limits
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Research. - : Elsevier BV. - 0013-9351 .- 1096-0953. ; 225
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In chemical risk assessment, measured or modelled environmental concentrations are compared to environ-mental exposure limits (EELs), such as Predicted No Effect Concentrations (PNECs) or hazardous concentrations for 5% of species (HC05s) derived from species sensitivity distributions (SSDs). However, for many chemicals the EELs include large uncertainties or, in the worst case, the necessary data for their estimation are completely missing. This makes the assessment of chemical risks and any subsequent implementation of management strategies challenging. In this study we analyzed the uncertainty of EELs and its impact on chemical risk assessment. First, we compared three individual EEL datasets, two primarily based on experimental data and one based on computational predictions. The comparison demonstrates large disagreements between EEL data sources, with experimentally derived EELs differing by more than seven orders of magnitude. In a case-study, based on the predicted emissions of 2005 chemicals, we showed that these uncertainties lead to significantly different risk assessment outcomes, including large differences in the magnitude of the total risk, risk driver identification, and the ranking of use categories as risk contributors. We also show that the large data-gaps in EEL datasets cannot be covered by commonly used computational approaches (QSARs). We conclude that an expanded framework for interpreting risk characterization outcomes is needed. We also argue that the large data -gaps present in ecotoxicological data need to be addressed in order to achieve the European zero pollution vision as the growing emphasis on ambient exposures will further increase the demand for accurate and well -established EELs.
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| 7. |
- Juodenas, Mindaugas, 1991, et al.
(författare)
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High-angle deflection of metagrating-integrated laser emission for high-contrast microscopy
- 2023
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Ingår i: Light: Science and Applications. - 2047-7538 .- 2095-5545. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Flat metaoptics components are looking to replace classical optics elements and could lead to extremely compact biophotonics devices if integrated with on-chip light sources and detectors. However, using metasurfaces to shape light into wide angular range wavefronts with high efficiency, as is typically required in high-contrast microscopy applications, remains a challenge. Here we demonstrate curved GaAs metagratings integrated on vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) that enable on-chip illumination in total internal reflection and dark field microscopy. Based on an unconventional design that circumvents the aspect ratio dependent etching problems in monolithic integration, we demonstrate off-axis emission centred at 60(degrees) in air and 63(degrees) in glass with > 90% and > 70% relative deflection efficiency, respectively. The resulting laser beam is collimated out-of-plane but maintains Gaussian divergence in-plane, resulting in a long and narrow illumination area. We show that metagrating-integrated VCSELs of different kinds can be combined to enable rapid switching between dark-field and total internal reflection illumination. Our approach provides a versatile illumination solution for high-contrast imaging that is compatible with conventional microscopy setups and can be integrated with biophotonics devices, such as portable microscopy, NIR-II range bioimaging, and lab-on-a-chip devices.
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| 8. |
- Kristiansson, Erik, 1978, et al.
(författare)
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Does the scientific knowledge reflect the chemical diversity of environmental pollution? – A twenty-year perspective
- 2021
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 1873-6416 .- 1462-9011. ; 126, s. 90-98
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Environmental policymaking relies heavily on the knowledge of the toxicological properties of chemical pollutants. The ecotoxicological research community is an important contributor to this knowledge, which together with data from standardized tests supports policy-makers in taking the decisions required to reach an appropriate level of protection of the environment. The chemosphere is, however, massive and contains thousands of chemicals that can constitute a risk if present in the environment at sufficiently high concentrations. The scientific ecotoxicological knowledge is growing but it is not clear to what extent the research community manages to cover the large chemical diversity of environmental pollution. In this study, we aimed to provide an overview of the scientific knowledge generated within the field of ecotoxicology during the last twenty years. By using text mining of over 130,000 scientific papers we established time-trends describing the yearly publication frequency of over 3500 chemicals. Our results show that ecotoxicological research is highly focused and that as few as 65 chemicals corresponded to half of all occurrences in the scientific literature. We, furthermore, demonstrate that the last decades have seen substantial changes in research direction, where the interest in pharmaceuticals has grown while the interest in biocides has declined. Several individual chemicals showed an especially rapid increase (e.g. ciprofloxacin, diclofenac) or decrease (e.g. lindane and atrazine) in occurrence in the literature. We also show that university- and corporate-based research exhibit distinct publication patterns and that for some chemicals the scientific knowledge is dominated by publications associated with the industry. This study paints a unique picture and provides quantitative estimates of the scientific knowledge of environmental chemical pollution generated during the last two decades. We conclude that there is a large number of chemicals with little, or no, scientific knowledge and that a continued expansion of the field of ecotoxicology will be necessary to catch up with the constantly increasing diversity of chemicals used within the society.
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| 9. |
- Sturve, Joachim, 1966, et al.
(författare)
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Effects of pesticides and metals on penaeid shrimps in Maputo Bay, Mozambique – A field study
- 2021
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Ingår i: Marine Pollution Bulletin. - : Elsevier BV. - 0025-326X .- 1879-3363. ; 173
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Estuaries are important nursery areas for many species and these habitats are often affected by anthropogenic activities. We investigate possible negative effects of pesticides and metals on penaeid shrimps in Maputo Bay, Mozambique. Shrimps and water samples were collected in three estuaries and one coastal area for biomarker and chemical analysis. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and glutathione-S transferase activities were analysed as biomarkers for pollutants. 37 different pesticides were analysed in water samples and shrimp muscle tissue was analysed for 10 metals. Risk assessment showed that the environmental thresholds were exceeded for several herbicides in three of four of the assessed nursery areas. Lower AChE activities were detected in shrimps captured close to an agriculture area and this location had the lowest shrimp densities. Metal analysis in shrimp showed low levels. Despite localized effects, results highlight the need to improve the regulation of pollutants in the Espírito Santo estuary in Maputo bay.
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| 10. |
- Svedberg, Patrik, et al.
(författare)
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Dataset on aquatic ecotoxicity predictions of 2697 chemicals, using three quantitative structure-activity relationship platforms
- 2023
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Ingår i: Data in Brief. - 2352-3409. ; 51
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Empirical and in silico data on the aquatic ecotoxicology of 2697 organic chemicals were collected in order to compile a dataset for assessing the predictive power of current Quantitative Structure Activity Relationship (QSAR) models and software platforms. This document presents the dataset and the data pipeline for its creation. Empirical data were collected from the US EPA ECOTOX Knowledgebase (ECOTOX) and the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) report “Completion of data entry of pesticide ecotoxicology Tier 1 study endpoints in a XML schema – database”. Only data for OECD recommended algae, daphnia and fish species were retained. QSAR toxicity predictions were calculated for each chemical and each of six endpoints using ECOSAR, VEGA and the Toxicity Estimation Software Tool (T.E.S.T.) platforms. Finally, the dataset was amended with SMILES, InChIKey, pKa and logP collected from webchem and PubChem.
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| 11. |
- van Dijk, Joanke, et al.
(författare)
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Towards ‘one substance – one assessment’: An analysis of EU chemical registration and aquatic risk assessment frameworks
- 2021
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Ingår i: Journal of Environmental Management. - : Elsevier BV. - 0301-4797 .- 1095-8630. ; 280
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- With the Green Deal the EU aims to achieve a circular economy, restore biodiversity and reduce environmental pollution. As a part of the Green Deal a ‘one-substance one-assessment’ (OS-OA) approach for chemicals has been proposed. The registration and risk assessment of chemicals on the European market is currently fragmented across different legal frameworks, dependent on the chemical's use. In this review, we analysed the five main European chemical registration frameworks and their risk assessment procedures for the freshwater environment, covering 1) medicines for human use, 2) veterinary medicines, 3) pesticides, 4) biocides and 5) industrial chemicals. Overall, the function of the current frameworks is similar, but important differences exist between the frameworks' environmental protection goals and risk assessment strategies. These differences result in inconsistent assessment outcomes for similar chemicals. Chemicals are also registered under multiple frameworks due to their multiple uses, and chemicals which are not approved under one framework are in some instances allowed on the market under other frameworks. In contrast, an OS-OA will require a uniform hazard assessment between all different frameworks. In addition, we show that across frameworks the industrial chemicals are the least hazardous for the freshwater environment (median PNEC of 2.60E-2 mg/L), whilst biocides are the most toxic following current regulatory assessment schemes (median PNEC of 1.82E-4 mg/L). Finally, in order to facilitate a successful move towards a OS-OA approach we recommend a) harmonisation of environmental protection goals and risk assessment strategies, b) that emission, use and production data should be made publicly available and that data sharing becomes a priority, and c) an alignment of the criteria used to classify problematic substances.
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