This news alert is brought to you by the ECHA.

 

 

The report of a study that ECHA commissioned has been published on ECHA’s website: ‘A critical review of the environmental and physicochemical methodologies commonly employed in the environmental risk assessment of petroleum substances in the context of REACH registrations’.

 

In this report, the consultant provides conclusions on the scientific validity and the applicability of the PetroTox and Hydrocarbon Block Method tools developed by the industry association CONCAWE. The tools are designed for predicting environmental hazards, exposure and subsequently the environmental risks associated with petroleum hydrocarbons in the context of REACH registrations.

 

In brief, the report concludes that the target lipid model (TLM), upon which PetroTox is based, requires improvement in a number of areas. The report also recommends the use of an additional assessment factor to address a number of uncertainties described in the report.

 

 

For the full report, and more information please refer to the ECHA link above.