Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research Reports Findings in Risk Management (Ecological and spatial variations of legacy and emerging contaminants in white-tailed sea eagles from Germany: Implications for prioritisation and future risk …): Risk Management

2021 OCT 29 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- New research on Risk Management is the subject of a report. According to news reporting originating in Berlin, Germany, by NewsRx journalists, research stated, “The increasing use of chemicals in the European Union (EU) has resulted in environmental emissions and wildlife exposures. For approving a chemical within the EU, producers need to conduct an environmental risk assessment, which typically relies on data generated under laboratory conditions without considering the ecological and landscape context.”

Funders for this research include A.G. Leventis Foundation, World Wildlife Fund.

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, “To address this gap and add information on emerging contaminants and chemical mixtures, we analysed 30 livers of white-tailed sea eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) from northern Germany with high resolution-mass spectrometry coupled to liquid and gas chromatography for the identification of >2400 contaminants. We then modelled the influence of trophic position (dN), habitat (dC) and landscape on chemical residues and screened for persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT) properties using an in silico model to unravel mismatches between predicted PBT properties and observed exposures. Despite having generally low PBT scores, most detected contaminants were medicinal products with oxfendazole and salicylamide being most frequent. Chemicals of the Stockholm Convention such as 4,4’-DDE and PCBs were present in all samples below toxicity thresholds. Among PFAS, especially PFOS showed elevated concentrations compared to other studies. In contrast, PFCA levels were low and increased with dN, which indicated an increase with preying on piscivorous species. Among plant protection products, spiroxamine and simazine were frequently detected with increasing concentrations in agricultural landscapes. The in silico model has proven to be reliable for predicting PBT properties for most chemicals. However, chemical exposures in apex predators are complex and do not solely rely on intrinsic chemical properties but also on other factors such as ecology and landscape.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “We therefore recommend that ecological contexts, mixture toxicities, and chemical monitoring data should be more frequently considered in regulatory risk assessments, e.g. in a weight of evidence approach, to trigger risk management measures before adverse effects in individuals or populations start to manifest.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: Ecological and spatial variations of legacy and emerging contaminants in white-tailed sea eagles from Germany: Implications for prioritisation and future risk management. Environment International, 2021;158:106934. Environment International can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Environment International - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/environment-international/)

Our news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Alexander Badry, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, Dept. of Wildlife Diseases, Alfred-Kowalke-Straße 17, 10315 Berlin, Germany. Additional authors for this research include Gabriele Treu, Georgios Gkotsis, Maria-Christina Nika, Nikiforos Alygizakis, Nikolaos S. Thomaidis, Christian C. Voigt and Oliver Krone.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envint.2021.106934. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

The publisher of the journal Environment International can be contacted at: Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd, The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, England.

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