Vol.
26 No. 5
September-October 2004
Development of Simplified Methods and Tools for Ecological Risk Assessment of Pesticides
Pesticides are used in every country for protecting agricultural crops and safeguarding public health. Pesticides, however, may have unintended adverse impacts on non-target organisms and any such potential impacts should be assessed before these chemicals are approved by governments for use. Many countries have developed methods for assessing the ecological risks of pesticides, but the complexity of the techniques and the overall amount of work required to use them has reached a level beyond the capacity of the majority of governments. As a result, only about 25 of the world’s more than 180 countries routinely perform pesticide risk assessments in terms of the accepted procedure of comparing measured toxicity concentrations to estimated exposure concentrations. The remaining countries of the world would benefit greatly from having the capacity to quickly perform a scientifically valid pesticide ecological risk assessment prior to approving use.
This project will develop pesticide ecological risk assessment appropriate for developing countries by simplifying some of the methods and tools established in these countries, establishing developing country scenarios for simulation models, or employing the simplifying assumptions of relative (comparative) risk assessment. For more information contact the Task Group Chairman Ronald Parker <[email protected]>.
www.iupac.org/projects/2004/2004-011-1-600.html
Page
last modified 1 September 2004.
Copyright © 2003-2004 International Union of Pure and
Applied Chemistry.
Questions regarding the website, please contact [email protected]
|