This study investigates nutrient‐related water quality conditions and change trends in the first management periods of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD; since 2009) and Baltic Sea Action Plan (BASP; since 2007). With mitigation of nutrients in inland waters and their discharges to the Baltic Sea being a common WFD and BSAP target, we use Sweden as a case study of observable effects, by compiling and analyzing all openly available water and nutrient monitoring data across Sweden since 2003. The data compilation reveals that nutrient monitoring covers only around 1% (down to 0.2% for nutrient loads) of the total number of WFD‐classified stream and lake water bodies in Sweden. The data analysis further shows that the hydro‐climatically driven water discharge dominates the determination of waterborne loads of both total phosphorus and total nitrogen across Sweden. Both water discharge and the related nutrient loads are in turn well correlated with the ecosystem status classification of Swedish water bodies. Nutrient concentrations do not exhibit such correlation and their changes over the study period are on average small, but concentration increases are found for moderate‐to‐bad status waters, for which both the WFD and the BSAP have instead targeted concentration decreases. In general, these results indicate insufficient distinction and mitigation of human‐driven nutrient components in inland waters and their discharges to the sea by the internationally harmonized applications of the WFD and the BSAP. The results call for further comparative investigations of observable large‐scale effects of such regulatory/management frameworks in different parts of the world.

The efficient management of the continuously increasing number of chemical substances used in today’s society is assuming greater importance than ever before. Toxicity testing plays a key role in the regulatory decisions of agencies and governments that aim to protect the public and the environment from the potentially harmful or adverse effects of these multitudinous chemicals. Therefore, there is a critical need for reliable toxicity-testing methods to identify, assess and interpret the hazardous properties of any substance. Traditionally, toxicity-testing approaches have been based on studies in experimental animals. However, in the last 20 years, there has been increasing concern regarding the sustainability of these methodologies. This has created a real need for the development of new approach methodologies (NAMs) that satisfy the regulatory requirements and are acceptable and affordable to society. Numerous initiatives have been launched worldwide in attempts to address this critical need. However, although the science to support this is now available, the legislation and the pace of NAMs acceptance is lagging behind. This review will consider some of the various initiatives in Europe to identify NAMs to replace or refine the current toxicity-testing methods for pharmaceuticals. This paper also presents a novel systematic approach to support the desired toxicity-testing methodologies that the 21st century deserves.

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