Derivation of environmental soil quality guidelines for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene using the CCME approach

The Protocol for the Derivation of Environmental and Human Health Soil Qual ity Guidelines of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment was used to prepare preliminary Environmental Soil Quality Guidelines (SQG(E),) for 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). A thorough literature search led to the c ompilation of the existing toxicological data. Calculated Environmental Soi l Quality Guidelines for TNT are SQG(E) = 0.02 mg/kg (preliminary value) fo r agricultural land use and 86 mg/kg for residential/park, commercial/indus trial land use. Because of the lack of sufficient scientific information on the effects of TNT in soil on microbial processes, this type of evaluation was not possible. For oral toxicological data, laboratory animals were use d instead of grazing and foraging species to determine the ingestion guidel ine since no related literature was found. Furthermore, this work has led t o the identification of avenues of future research necessary to complete th e task at hand. The research should focus on specific studies involving dir ect contact between the organisms and the soil, in order to: (1) develop a database of effects of TNT on microbial processes, (2) study the effects of TNT ingestion on birds and grazing herbivores, (3) determine plant bioconc entration factors, and (4) observe in situ the toxic effects after direct c ontact exposure.