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Identification of substances with potential for long-range transport as possible substances of very high concern

  • International Conference on Chemistry and the Environment in Zurich – ICCE 2011
  • Published:
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Abstract

According to the European legislation, REACH, organic compounds are considered as substances of very high concern (SVHC) if they are persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic (PBT). A substance’s long-range transport potential (LRTP) may also pose a risk to remote regions. This is, however, not yet explicitly included. For identification of compounds, which are not PBT according to REACH criteria, but show LRTP, we investigated 22,438 compounds from the Canadian Domestic Substance List (CDSL). The CDSL was searched for organic, neutral compounds. Substance properties were estimated with EPI Suite v4.00. Next, the substance list was edited in two ways: (1) The half-life criterion in air for LRTP as defined in the Stockholm Convention was applied. (2) For all compounds, indicators for persistence and LRTP were calculated with the multimedia model ELPOS v2.2. Applying the half-life criterion, we identified 594 substances, which are prone to LRT but are not PBT (non-PBT-L substances). In contrast, investigations with ELPOS lead to a shorter list of 188 substances, which are non-PBT-L substances. Finally, the list was compared with potential Arctic contaminants identified in previous literature. Our results show that there is a large number of organic chemicals which would not be considered as SVHC since they are not, at the same time, persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic according to REACH criteria. Nevertheless, they show LRTP according to different screening approaches and thus a potential hazard to remote regions.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Mark Bonnell from Environment Canada for providing the Canadian Domestic Substance List, Martin Scheringer from the ETH Zurich for valuable comments and the German Federal Environmental Agency for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Environmental Systems Research, University of Osnabrück, Barbarastr. 12, 49076, Osnabrück, Germany

    Christiane Zarfl, Ines Hotopp, Nils Kehrein & Michael Matthies

  2. Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Forschungsverbund Berlin e.V., Müggelseedamm 310, 12587, Berlin, Germany

    Christiane Zarfl

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  1. Christiane Zarfl
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  2. Ines Hotopp
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  4. Michael Matthies
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Correspondence to Christiane Zarfl.

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Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues

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Zarfl, C., Hotopp, I., Kehrein, N. et al. Identification of substances with potential for long-range transport as possible substances of very high concern. Environ Sci Pollut Res 19, 3152–3161 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1046-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-012-1046-2

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