Euro Chlor risk assessment for the marine environment OSPARCOM region: North sea - Chloroform

This risk assessment on chloroform was carried out specifically for the mar ine environment, according to the methodology laid down in the EU risk asse ssment Regulation (1488/94) and the Guidance Document of the EU New and Exi sting Substances Regulation (TGD, 1997). The study consists of the collecti on and evaluation of data on effects and environmental concentrations from analytical monitoring programs in large rivers and estuaries in the North S ea area. The risk is indicated by the ratio of the "predicted environmental concentrations" (PEC) and the "predicted no effect concentrations" (PNEC) for the marine aquatic environment. In total, 23 studies for fish, 17 studi es for invertebrates and 10 studies for algae have been evaluated. Both acu te and chronic toxicity studies have been taken into account and the approp riate assessment factors have been used to define a typical PNEC value of 7 2 mu g/l. Due to limitations of the studies evaluated, a worst PNEC of 1 mu g/l could also be used. Most of the available monitoring data apply to riv ers and estuaries and were used to calculate PECs. The most recent data (19 91-1995) support a typical PEC of 0.2 mu g chloroform per litre of water an d a worst case PEC of 5 to 11.5 mu g chloroform per litre of water. The cal culated PEC/PNEC ratios give a safety margin of 6 to 360 between the predic ted no effect concentration and the exposure concentrations. A worst case r atio, however, points to a potential risk for sensitive species. Refinement of the assessment is necessary by looking for more data. Additional evalua tion of environmental fate and bioaccumulation characteristics showed that no concern is expected for food chain accumulation.