Statement on advancing the assessment of chemical mixtures and their risks for human health and the environment

Drakvik, Elina; Altenburger, Rolf; Aoki, Yosuke; Backhaus, Thomas; Bahadori, Tina; Barouki, Robert; Brack, Werner; Cronin, Mark T.D.; Demeneix, Barbara; Bennekou, Susanne Hougaard; Klaveren, Jacob van; Kneuer, Carsten; Kolossa-Gehring, Marike; Lebret, Erik; Posthuma, Leo; Reiber, Lena; Rider, Cynthia; Rüegg, Joëlle; Testa, Giuseppe; Burg, Bart van der; Voet, Hilko van der; Warhurst, Alyson; Water, Bob van de; Yamazaki, Kunihiko; Öberg, Mattias; Bergman, Åke

doi:10.1016/j.envint.2019.105267

Cited by 199 publications

(120 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…The observation of 'disease' (step 1) would be followed by a refined assessment to steer the focus and intensity of the prescribed curation (step 2). Fourth, the toxic pressure assessment embodies an approach for mixtures, as advocated by both scholars and policy makers 32,59 . Fifth, its use would address concerns raised by scholars on the implementation of the WFD, when they reflect on the holistic, water-system level principles vis-à-vis evolved reductionistic practices of the WFD and its implementation 60,61 .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chemical pollution imposes limitations to the ecological status of European surface waters

Posthuma

Zwart³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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Aquatic ecosystems are affected by man-made pressures, often causing combined impacts. The analysis of the impacts of chemical pollution is however commonly separate from that of other pressures and their impacts. This evolved from differences in the data available for applied ecology vis-à-vis applied ecotoxicology, which are field gradients and laboratory toxicity tests, respectively. With this study, we demonstrate that the current approach of chemical impact assessment, consisting of comparing measured concentrations to protective environmental quality standards for individual chemicals, is not optimal. In reply, and preparing for a method that would enable the comprehensive assessment and management of water quality pressures, we evaluate various quantitative chemical pollution pressure metrics for mixtures of chemicals in a case study with 24 priority substances of Europe-wide concern. We demonstrate why current methods are sub-optimal for water quality management prioritization and that chemical pollution currently imposes limitations to the ecological status of European surface waters. We discuss why management efforts may currently fail to restore a good ecological status, given that to date only 0.2% of the compounds in trade are considered in European water quality assessment and management.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…350 when considering European surface waters 31 , ≈ 0.2% of those in trade), (ii) on separate compounds and not mixtures 23 , and (iii) on current and not future emissions 13 . Scholars and the EC alike especially advocate considering the ‘universe of chemicals’ 32 and their mixtures 33 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical pollution imposes limitations to the ecological status of European surface waters

Posthuma

Zwart³

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

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“…One of the goals of the exposome, as a dynamical and all-encompassing approach, is to target these mixtures, which potentially can be correlated with each other as well as other environmental agents and stressors. In the last few years, various statistical approaches have been conceived to study mixtures and their health effects, more specifically, by developing methods to investigate both the cumulative and joint effects of mixtures and their independent role [28]. In the context of the exposome approach, these tools have been applied as a way of measuring and studying parts of the exposome and moving beyond single-pollutant models, whereby "it is not clear if an observed association reflects the effect of the analyzed pollutant or if it acts as a surrogate for another pollutant possibly originating from the same source" [29].…”

Section: The Innovations Of the Exposome As An Emerging Research Repementioning

confidence: 99%

What Is New about the Exposome? Exploring Scientific Change in Contemporary Epidemiology

Canali

2020

IJERPH

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In this commentary, I discuss the scientific changes brought by the exposome, asking what is new about this approach and line of research. I place the exposome in a historical perspective, by analyzing the conditions under which the exposome has been conceived, developed and established in the context of contemporary epidemiological research. I argue that the exposome has been developed by transferring approaches, methods and conceptualizations from other lines of research in the life and health sciences. I thus discuss the conceptual and methodological innovations of the exposome as a result of the merging and adaptation of these elements for new uses and purposes. On this basis, I argue that the novelty of the exposome should be seen in incremental rather than revolutionary terms and, in this sense, the exposome shares significant elements with other projects and repertoires in postgenomics. I conclude by discussing the consequences of this analysis for the potential limitations and future development of exposome research.

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“…In the environment, thousands of chemicals act together in complex mixtures, and there are urgent calls to include mixtures in the risk assessments of the future (Kortenkamp and Faust 2018; Kortenkamp et al 2019; Drakvik et al 2020). The 2 main mixture toxicity concepts are concentration addition (CA) and independent action (IA).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Concepts of Concentration Addition and Independent Action Using a Linear Low‐Effect Mixture Model

Escher

Braun

Zarfl

2020

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Chemicals emitted into the environment are typically present at low concentrations but may act together in mixtures. Concentration-response curves of in vitro bioassays were often linear for effect levels <30%, and the predictions for concentration addition (CA) of similarly acting chemicals and for independent action (IA) of dissimilarly acting chemicals overlapped. We derived a joint CA/IA mixture model for the low-effect level portion of concentration-response curves. In a first case study, we evaluated the cytotoxicity of over 200 mixtures of up to 17 components that were mixed in concentration ratios as they occurred in river water. The predictions of the full IA model were indistinguishable from the predictions of the full CA model up to 10% effect, confirming the applicability of the joint CA/IA mixture model at low effect levels. In a second case study, we evaluated if environmental concentrations trigger effects at levels low enough for the joint CA/IA mixture model to apply. The detected concentrations were scaled by their toxic potencies to estimate the mixture effect of the detected chemicals in a complex mixture. In 86% of 156 samples the effects fell in the validity range of the joint CA/IA mixture model (<10% effect level), confirming the CA assumption for toxic unit summation. The joint CA/IA mixture model is not suitable for testing specific mixture hypotheses and interactions of chemicals in mixtures, where more refined models are required; but it is helpful for the interpretation of effects of complex (multicomponent) environmental mixtures, especially for water samples with relatively low effect level.

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Statement on advancing the assessment of chemical mixtures and their risks for human health and the environment

Cited by 199 publications

References 16 publications

Chemical pollution imposes limitations to the ecological status of European surface waters

Chemical pollution imposes limitations to the ecological status of European surface waters

What Is New about the Exposome? Exploring Scientific Change in Contemporary Epidemiology

Exploring the Concepts of Concentration Addition and Independent Action Using a Linear Low‐Effect Mixture Model

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