Lexikon

food toxicology aims safe and edible supply of food to the consumers. Measures the toxic effect of row material, products, food additives and residual substances in food, such plant protection products or food processing additives.

transformation is a process by which the genetic material carried by an individual cell is altered by incorporation of exogenous DNA into its genome.

the first of the -omics technologies to be developed, genomics has resulted in massive amounts of DNA sequence data requiring great amounts of computer capacity. Genomics has progressed beyond sequencing of organisms (structural genomics) to identifying the function of the encoded genes (functional genomics).

a geographic information system (GIS), captures, stores, analyzes, manages, and presents data that refers to or is linked to location. An information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyzes, shares, and displays geographic information. In a more generic sense, GIS applications are tools that allow users to create interactive queries (user created searches), analyze spatial information, edit data, maps, and present the results of all these operations.

Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is a quality system concerned with the organisational process and the conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, archived and reported. (Source: REACH Glossary)
OECD Guidelines on Good Laboratory Practice part 1, available at: http://www.oecd.org/findDocument/0,2350,en_26...

GLP = Good Laboratory Practices
According to 2004/10/EC, Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) is defined as a quality system concerned with the organizational process and the conditions under which non-clinical health and environmental safety studies are planned, performed, monitored, recorded, archived and reported. The main objective of GLP is to ensure test data produced by different laboratories can be mutually recognized so as to avoid repeat testing. GLP provides an assurance to regulatory authorities that the data submitted are a true reflection of the results obtained during the study and can therefore be relied upon when making risk/safety assessments.

Member States of the European Union have to take measures to comply with the principle of GLP when evaluating chemicals safety according to 67/548/EEC. SGS has a worldwide network of laboratories that are GLP compliant contractual laboratories for physico-chemical, toxicological and ecotoxicological tests.

Source: REACH, Glossary

granulometry (effective hydrodynamic radius, m): the parameter of interest for particle size distribution The particle size distribution is needed in order to decide which route of administration is most appropriate for animal toxicity studies (acute toxicity and repeated dose toxicity).

The different particle sizes defined in EN 481 document1 are:

· inhalable fraction: mass fraction of particles that can be inhaled by nose and mouth;

· thoracic fraction: mass fraction of particles that passes the larynx;

· respirable fraction: mass fraction of particles that reaches the alveoli.

The determination of the particle size fractions is used to assess the possible health effects resulting from inhalation of airborne particles in the workplace.

"good groundwater chemical status" is the chemical status of a body of groundwater, which meets all the conditions set out in table 2.3.2 of Annex V of Water Framework Directive (60/2000/EC).

highly toxic substances are defined by U.S. OSHA as the following:

1. A chemical substance that has a median lethal dose (LD₅₀) of 50 milligrams or less per kilogram of body weight when administered orally to albino rats weighing between 200 and 300 grams each.
2. A chemical substance that has a median lethal dose (LD₅₀) of 200 milligrams or less per kilogram of body weight when administered by continuous contact for 24 hours (or less if death occurs within 24 hours) with the bare skin of albino rabbits weighing between two and three kilograms each.
3. A chemical substance that has a median lethal concentration (LC₅₀) in air of 200 parts per million by volume or less of gas or vapor, or 2 milligrams per liter or less of mist, fume, or dust, when administered by continuous inhalation for one hour (or less if death occurs within one hour) to albino rats weighing between 200 and 300 grams each.

In case of the use of highly toxic substances, standard operating procedures (SOP's) for working with each highly toxic material is obligatory! This written procedure must include knowing the physical properties of the material as well as symptoms of exposure and first aid procedures. Never work with highly toxic materials while alone!

human toxicology aims to give the dose-response relation between hazardous chemical substances and human responses. As these associations cannot be tested in well designed, statistically relevant human population, human toxicity of chemical substances is mainly based on the results of animal toxicity tests. In these tests the information on the effect of chemical substances comes from animal experimentation, which from an extrapolation is possible to man, supposing that the properly selected animal species’ response is analogous to human body’s response and the test-method, the applied test scenario perfectly models real human exposure. The main methodology for extrapolation for example from rat to man, is the application of a safety factor, based on experience. The default for the interspecies safety factor is EC50 (human)/EC50 (animal) = 0.1, because drugs and toxic chemical substances are ten times more potent in humans based on existing pharmacological and toxicological data.

Animal data are suitable to establish the dose or the concentration of the chemical substance that would cause adverse effect, damage or death, and based on these tests we can determine or calculate the lowest effect and the highest no effect concentrations or doses, which are manageable limit values.

Animal testing has many subclasses, according to the applied animal taxon (fish, bird, mouse, rat, dog, monkey, etc.), the type of exposure (acute, repeated or chronic exposure), exposure routes (inhalation, peroral, cutaneous, mixed routes), aim of the test method (toxicity, mutagenicity, reprotoxicity, neurotoxicity testing) and according to the measured endpoint such as death, immobilization, changes in behavior, irritation, corrosion, organ-toxicity (cardiac-, ophthalmic-, cutaneous-, muscle-, bone-, or hepatotoxicity), cellular toxicity (cell death, mitochondrial, perixosome, cellular tight junctions, reactive oxygen species, glutathione and glutathione-transferase, metabolomics, DNA-changes, chemokines, etc.) toxicity on endocrine system, immuntoxicity, phototoxicity, photoallergy.

a fluid supplied for use in hydraulic systems. Low viscosity and low pour-point are desirable characteristics. hydraulic fluids may be of petroleum or non-petroleum origin. Earlier polychlorinated biphenyles (PCB) were used as hydraulic fluids.

water generates electricity when it drops gravitationally, driving a turbine and generator. While most hydroelectricity is produced by water falling from dams, some is produced by water flowing down rivers (run-of-the-river electricity).

Conventionally, hydroelectric power comes from the potential energy of dammed water driving a water turbine and generator. The power extracted from the water depends on the volume and on the difference in height between the source and the water's outflow. This height difference is called the head. The amount of potential energy in water is proportional to the head. A large pipe (the "penstock") delivers water to the turbine.

Pumped-storage hydroelectric power plant produces electricity to supply high peak demands by moving water between reservoirs at different elevations. At times of low electrical demand, excess generation capacity is used to pump water into the higher reservoir. When there is higher demand, water is released back into the lower reservoir through a turbine. Pumped-storage schemes currently provide the most commercially important means of large-scale grid energy storage and improve the daily capacity factor of the generation system.

Run-of-the-river hydroelectric stations are those with small or no reservoir capacity, so that the water coming from upstream must be used for generation at that moment, or must be allowed to bypass the dam.

A tidal power plant makes use of the daily rise and fall of ocean water due to tides; such sources are highly predictable, and if conditions permit construction of reservoirs, can also be dispatchable to generate power during high demand periods. Less common types of hydro schemes use water's kinetic energy or undammed sources such as undershot waterwheels.

An underground power station makes use of a large natural height difference between two waterways, such as a waterfall or mountain lake. An underground tunnel is constructed to take water from the high reservoir to the generating hall built in an underground cavern near the lowest point of the water tunnel and a horizontal tailrace taking water away to the lower outlet waterway.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydroelectricity

hydrogen fuel cell vehicles (HFCVs) use a fuel cell to convert hydrogen fuel and oxygen from air into electricity which is used to run an electric motor. HFCVs are truly clean only if the hydrogen is produced by passing WWS-derived electricity through water (electrolysis). Several companies have prototype HFCVs, and California has about 200 HFCVs on the road (California Fuel Cell Partnership, 2009). Hydrogen fueling stations, though, are practically non-existent and most hydrogen today is produced by steam-reforming of natural gas, which is not as clean as that produced by WWS-electrolysis.

Inductively Coupled Plasma with Mass Spectrometry is a combined analytical tool that is highly sensitive and capable of the determination of a range of metals and some non-metals at a ppmppb concentration range. It is based on coupling together an inductively coupled plasma for ionising metals for the mass spectrometer, the tool for separation and detection of metal ions. ICP-MS is also capable of monitoring isotopic speciation for the ions of choice.

chemical oxidation typically involves reduction/oxidation redox reactions that chemically convert hazardous contaminants to nonhazardous or less toxic compounds that are more stable, less mobile, or inert. Redox reactions involve the transfer of electrons from one compound to another.

Specifically, one reactant is oxidized loses electrons and one is reduced gains electrons.

The oxidizing agents most commonly used for treatment of hazardous contaminants in soil are ozone, hydrogen peroxide, hypochlorites, chlorine, chlorine dioxide, potassium permanganate, and Fentons reagent hydrogen peroxide and iron.

Cyanide oxidation and dechlorination are examples of chemical treatment. This method may be applied in situ or ex situ, to soils, sludges, sediments, and other solids, and may also be applied for the in situ treatment of groundwater.

Source: US-EPA, ClU-In: http://www.clu-in.org/techfocus/default.focus/sec/In_Situ_Oxidation/cat/Overview/

indicator species maybe bacteria or other microorganisms, fungi, plant or animal species whose prescence, abundance, and health reveal the general condition of its habitat.

International Classification for Standards (ICS) is an international classification system for technical standards. It is designed to cover every economic sector and virtually every activity of the humankind where technical standards may be used.

Developed and maintained by the International Organization for Standardization, the ICS is intended to be a continuous work in progress and is updated when necessary. The latest edition of the ICS can be downloaded free of charge from the ISO web site.

Anyone may submit a proposal for modifications or additions to the ICS.

(Source: Wikipedia)

the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), established in 1980, is a joint venture of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the World Health Organization (WHO). The overall objectives of the IPCS are to establish the scientific basis for assessment of the risk to human health and the environment from exposure to chemicals, through international peer review processes, as a prerequisite for the promotion of chemical safety, and to provide technical assistance in strengthening national capacities for the sound management of chemicals.

Through the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS), WHO works to establish the scientific basis for the sound management of chemicals, and to strengthen national capabilities and capacities for chemical safety.

Chemical safety is achieved by undertaking all activities involving chemicals in such a way as to ensure the safety of human health and the environment. It covers all chemicals, natural and manufactured, and the full range of exposure situations from the natural presence of chemicals in the environment to their extraction or synthesis, industrial production, transport, use and disposal.

See also: http://www.who.int/ipcs/en/

International Uniform Chemical Information Database, an IT tool of REACH and ECHA.

http://ecbwbiu5.jrc.it

an intrinsic property of a chemical substance is a characteristic of the substance which can be used to determine its fate or to identify potential hazards. In order to register a substance under REACH, the registrant must submit specific information about the intrinsic properties of the substance in each of the following areas:
- physical/chemical properties
- human toxicological information
- ecotoxicological information
Data on the intrinsic properties of a substance are categorised into endpoints. For instance, “carcinogenicity” is a human toxicological endpoint.(Source: REACH Glossary)