Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA)
Objectives
The objective of the environmental risk assessment is to prove, beyond reasonable doubt, that our ingredients and products are safe for natural ecosystems. All ingredients have to pass Environmental Risk Assessment before they are safety-cleared for the market.The ecotoxicity
and biodegradability of each ingredient are systematically evaluatedERA - A Tiered Process
An ingredient is judged to be environmentally compatible if the Predicted No Effect Concentration (PNEC)--that is, the concentration that causes no adverse effect to the Environment--is higher than the Predicted Environmental Concentration (PEC)--wich is the concentration one expects to find in the environment.
The assessment has to be repeated for each relevant environmental compartment, such as wastewater treatment plants, rivers and soils.
The assessment has to be repeated for each relevant environmental compartment, such as wastewater treatment plants, rivers and soils.
The PEC/PNEC ratio is used as an indicator of risk and is called the Risk Quotient (RQ):
- 1 (i.e., PEC < PNEC): PEC is less than PNEC, so no adverse effects are anticipated. The substance can be used.
- Environmental Risk Assessment (ERA) is a tiered process that progresses from using screening-level tests and conservative assumptions to increasingly more realistic experiments paired with more realistic assumptions.
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