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Organic Chemicals in Natural Waters pp 213–243Cite as

Prioritization and Hazard Assessment of Chemicals

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Part of the book series: Springer Series on Environmental Management ((SSEM))

Abstract

Synthetic organic chemicals are increasing in number and diversity every year. This creates a need to assess their potential environmental hazard, in addition to screening chemicals that are already in use but have not been tested adequately. Complete experimental assessment, with all conceivable tests, is almost impossible considering the necessary labor and resources. Our knowledge of various physico-chemical and biological processes operating in the environment, conditions that tend to slow down or limit the processes, and the interaction among processes have grown greatly in the last decade. This allows the extrapolation of laboratory findings to natural environmental situations. Decisions should be made to prevent needless experimentation and to ensure results from critical tests. The basic process in any hazard evaluation will be to predict Expected Environmental Concentration (EEC) from the environmental characteristic behavior of the compound and the use pattern. If the EEC is less than the experimentally determined no-effect level for appropriate environmental organisms, then the chemical should be considered acceptable. Estimation of environmental exposure can be made for a localized situation where the source input(s) or the receiving system can be identified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alberta Environmental Centre, Vegreville, Alberta, T0B 4L0, Canada

    James W. Moore & S. Ramamoorthy

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  1. James W. Moore
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  2. S. Ramamoorthy
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© 1984 Springer-Verlag New York Inc.

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Moore, J.W., Ramamoorthy, S. (1984). Prioritization and Hazard Assessment of Chemicals. In: Organic Chemicals in Natural Waters. Springer Series on Environmental Management. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9538-6_11

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-9538-6_11

  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4613-9540-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-9538-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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