A recent study has suggested that plastics may contain more than 16,000 chemicals, including additives, processing aids, starting substances, intermediates and Non-Intentionally Added Substances. Plastic chemicals are released throughout the plastic life cycle, from production, use, disposal and recycling. Most of these chemicals have not been studied for potential hazardous...

The hazard identification of chemicals is a key step of the ‘Safe and Sustainable by Design’ (SSbD) framework introduced by the European Commission, aiming to eliminate hazardous substances early in innovation. In this context, in silico methods such as (Quantitative) Structure-Activity Relationship ((Q)SAR) models offer rapid, cost-effective, and animal-free alternatives...

Background Regular monitoring of the air pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an indicator for traffic-related emissions, is a priority in urban environments. The health impacts associated with NO2 exposure are the result of a combination of factors, including concentration, duration of exposure, and interactions with other pollutants. WHO has established air...

The structure and biomass of aquatic invertebrate communities play a crucial role in the matter dynamics of streams. However, biomass is rarely quantified in ecological assessments of streams, and little is known about the environmental and anthropogenic factors that influence it. In this study, we aimed to identify environmental factors...

Short pulses of toxicants can cause latent effects that occur long after the contamination event and are currently unpredictable. Here, we introduce an analytical framework for mechanistically predicting latent effects considering interactive effects of multiple stressors and hormetic effect compensation. We conducted an extensive investigation using high temporal resolution microcosm...

Introduction: More than 350,000 chemicals make up the chemical universe that surrounds us every day. The impact of this vast array of compounds on our health is still poorly understood. Manufacturers are required to carry out toxicological studies, for example on the reproductive or nervous systems, before putting a new...

In response to increasing evidence of human and environmental health impacts of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), screening and testing programs for EDC assessment are being developed, requiring characterization of potential adverse health effects. The development of the lateral line (LL), a neurosensory system in fish, has been suggested as a...

Obesity is a global pandemic that affects people of all ages. While behavioral, nutritional, and socioeconomic factors all contribute to weight gain, other factors in our immediate environment play an insidious role in the prevalence of obesity. Exposure to environmental and pharmaceutical compounds can be a contributing factor to increased...

The Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC) represents a joint effort among risk assessors, regulatory authorities, and the scientific community to advance the implementation of the Next Generation Risk Assessment (NGRA) in line with the objectives of the EU Chemicals Strategy for Sustainability. Addressing the challenges faced...

Research findings suggest that advanced paternal age is associated with an increased risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in children. The biological process behind this father-to-child inheritance of a disease may be driven by sperm epigenetic marks. This has been suggested earlier, but the identification of epigenomic regions responsible for...

The acoustic startle response (ASR) is a conserved sensorimotor reflex widely used to investigate neural plasticity, sensorimotor gating, and neurotoxicity. While zebrafish is an established vertebrate model for ASR analysis, most existing platforms were originally optimized for 6 dpf larvae, which constrains applications requiring reliable assessment of earlier developmental stages...

New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) are gaining significant momentum globally to reduce animal testing and enhance the efficiency and human relevance of chemical safety assessment. Even with substantial EU commitment from regulatory agencies and the academic community, the full regulatory adoption of NAMs remains a distant prospect. This challenge is further...

The European Commission’s Safe and Sustainable by Design (EC SSbD) Framework aims to put together safety and sustainability considerations throughout the entire chemical and material innovation processes. Being a voluntary (pre-market) approach, the framework fosters the development of safe and sustainable chemicals, materials, processes, and products while drawing on existing...

As part of its response to the European Citizens’ Initiative “Save Cruelty-Free Cosmetics – Commit to a Europe Without Animal Testing”, the European Commission committed to developing a roadmap to eliminate the use of animals for the safety testing of chemicals. Five animal protection non-govern­mental organizations arranged a roundtable in...

Chemical pollution of aquatic environments involves diverse substance combinations that can provoke combined biological and toxicological effects even when individual concentrations remain below effect thresholds. Multiple efforts are ongoing to better consider mixture effects in chemical safety regulation, but debate continues over whether a few substances drive aquatic mixture risks...

The strong appeal to reduce animal testing calls for the development and validation of in vitro, in chemico and in silico models that would replace the need for in vivo testing and ex vivo materials. A category that requires such new approach methods is the assessment of immunosuppression that can...

As a complex system governing and interconnecting numerous functions within the human body, the immune system is unsurprisingly susceptible to the impact of toxic chemicals. Toxicants can influence the immune system through a multitude of mechanisms, resulting in immunosuppression, hypersensitivity, increased risk of autoimmune diseases and cancer development. At present...

With global restrictions on Bisphenol A (BPA), various BPA alternatives are increasingly found in ecosystems, raising concerns. This study focuses on the genotoxic potential of three emerging BPA alternatives — Bisphenol AF (BPAF), Bisphenol AP (BPAP), and Bisphenol PH (BPPH) — using an advanced in vitro 3D model system, spheroids...

There is a clear need to develop new approach methodologies (NAMs) that combine in vitro and in silico testing to reduce and replace animal use in chemical risk assessment. Physiologically based kinetic (PBK) models are gaining popularity as NAMs in toxico/pharmacokinetics, but their coverage of complex metabolic pathways occurring in...

Existing approaches for human health risk assessment of chemicals have overall provided a high level of protection for EU citizens. However, the established assessment schemes face numerous challenges. Ethical and scientific concerns about using animals for safety testing have triggered awareness of the need for a paradigm shift, requiring new...