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Ecotoxicity test methods and environmental hazard assessment for engineered nanoparticles

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Abstract

This paper considers whether current standard ecotoxicity methods are fit for purpose for assessing the hazards of engineered nanoparticles. We conclude that the types of test species and biological endpoints used within standard environmental hazard assessment frameworks are generally appropriate. However, there are areas of considerable uncertainty associated with characterisation of nanoparticle exposure in test systems that apply to all ecotoxicity testing guidelines, except those in which dosing of nanoparticles is oral. These include the way in which the substance is dosed into, and maintained within, the test medium; measurement and characterisation of nanoparticles in the test system; better understanding and reporting of abiotic factors that influence behaviour of nanoparticles in the test medium; and agreement on how dosimetric data should be reported.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. We also thank three anonymous reviewers for useful comments on an earlier draft.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. WCA Environment Limited, 23 London Street, Faringdon, Oxfordshire, SN7 7AG, UK

    Mark Crane

  2. School of Biological Sciences, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, UK

    Richard D. Handy & Richard Owen

  3. UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, London, UK

    John Garrod

  4. Environment Agency of England and Wales, London, UK

    Richard Owen

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  1. Mark Crane
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  2. Richard D. Handy
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Correspondence to Mark Crane.

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Crane, M., Handy, R.D., Garrod, J. et al. Ecotoxicity test methods and environmental hazard assessment for engineered nanoparticles. Ecotoxicology 17, 421–437 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-008-0215-z

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