The review programme in the European Union for existing biocidal active substances—outcome of the notification process
Abstract The European Commission Biocidal Products Directive 98/8/EC lays down rules and procedures concerning the placing of biocidal products on the EU market. Based on the Directive, a First Review Regulation was adopted for the review of existing biocidal active substances. These substances had to be either identified or notified (two different processes) to the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) by 28 March 2002. More than 1000 companies took part in the review programme. In total 953 different existing active substances were identified and 372 different substances were notified. This article presents an analysis of the notified substances regarding the number of notifications per substance, notifiers per substance and per Member State and number of notified substances per product type. The results are compared with data from former statistics.
The application potential of SiO2, TiO2 or Ag nanoparticles as fillers in machining process fluids
Abstract Process fluids are important as they create the appropriate conditions for machine cutting by improving heat transfer, whereby extending the life of the cutting tool and increasing the surface quality of the product. The use of nanoadditives in the form of nanoparticles is highly efficient due to their high chemical and biological activity. Nanoparticles dispersed in a volume of process fluid can easily penetrate between friction surfaces and thereby greatly influence the elastohydrodynamic effect of the lubrication. In our experiment, the addition of nanoparticles has a positive effect on reducing the average of friction coefficient during the tribological process by 8.9% and reducing the variance of friction coefficient by 20.4%, as they lead to faster stabilization resulting in a significant reduction in the depth of material being removed by up to 52.1%. In this paper, the antibacterial properties of process fluids with nanoparticles of TiO2, SiO2 or Ag were also evaluated (respiratory rates and bacterial viability). The results indicated that the nanoparticles reduced bacterial respiratory rates and viability by up to 90.4%.
The use of dogs as second species in regulatory testing of pesticides
Abstract. Data on 172 pesticides (fungicides, herbicides, insecticides and other pesticides) submitted for regulatory purposes during the past 40 years to the German Federal Institute for the Health Protection of Consumers and Veterinary Medicine (BgVV) were analysed to determine whether chronic studies in dogs (52/104 weeks) provide essential additional specific toxicological compared with subchronic (13 weeks) or subacute (4 weeks) studies in the same species. Comparison of the lowest observed effect levels (LOELs) in dogs revealed no significant differences between subchronic and chronic studies but a significant difference between subacute studies and subchronic or chronic studies. Moreover, there was a significant correlation between the LOELs determined in subchronic studies and those determined in chronic studies in dogs (r=0.78–0.84). The distribution of target organ toxicity determined in chronic studies in dogs was not significantly different from the distribution determined in subchronic studies, except for effects on the spleen in studies on herbicides which were only observed in chronic studies and in combined subchronic/chronic studies, but never in subchronic studies. Organ-specific effects that were observed in chronic studies but not in subchronic studies were found in 30 of 55 studies on fungicides, in 25 of 44 on herbicides, in 17 of 38 on insecticides and in 10 of 16 on other pesticides. Compared with 26-week studies, additional organ-specific toxic effects were found in three of five, in three of four, in one of three and in one of one 52/104-week studies on fungicides, of herbicides, of insecticides and other pesticides, respectively. The organ-specific effects that were seen only in the chronic dog studies were evaluated according to their severity, e.g. significant damage to organs versus changes in enzyme activities that do not affect organ function or histology. Such effects were not considered to be specific for dogs in chronic studies if similar effects were also found in chronic studies in rodents (rat or mouse). In 15 of 141 studies in dogs serious side effects were observed in chronic studies that were not observed in subchronic studies. Furthermore, for 9 of 172 pesticides significant new effects were seen in 52/104-week studies when compared with 4- or 13-week studies and in 7 of 141 52/104-week studies when compared with 13-week studies. Analysis of the severity of organ-specific toxic effects of pesticides revealed that chronic long-term studies (52/104 weeks) in dogs do not provide specific additional information to 26-week studies in the same species.