WP2 Soil Toxicology and Risk Assessment
Ballroom F, Level 4
2:10 PM - 5:30 AM, Wednesday, 12 November 2003
Chair: Kuperman, Roman ,
Co-chair: Williams, Phil ,
(423) Optimization of ecotoxicological tests for routine use in the assessment of contaminated land.
Roembke, J.1, Eisentraeger, A.2, Grabert, E.3, Huettner, S.4, Hund-Rinke, K.5, Jander, J.P.6, Neumann-Hensel, H.7, Terytze, K.8, 1 ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH, Floersheim, Germany2 RWTH, University Hospital, Institute of Hygiene and Environmental Medicine University of Aachen, Aachen, Germany3 Dr. Bruno Lange GmbH, Duesseldorf, Germany4 Hoelle & Huettner Information Technology AG, Tuebingen, Germany5 IME Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Schmallenberg, Germany6 BioMetric Systems GmbH, Weiterstadt, Germany7 Dr. Fintelmann & Dr. Meyer Handels- und Umweltschutzlaboratorien GmbH, Hamburg, Germany8 Free University, Department of Geological Sciences FU-ENVOG, Berlin, Germany
ABSTRACT- In connection with the German Federal Soil Protection Act (1998) ecotoxicological soil tests developed originally for the testing of pesticides were improved and new test methods were developed. These experiences allow the recommendation of a battery of ecotoxicological test methods useful for the assessment of soil quality. As part of such a battery also aquatic tests with soil eluates might be valuable for the evaluation of chemicals leaching from soil to surface waters or to the groundwater. However, testing of contaminated soils is rarely done under routine conditions. In order to improve this situation the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research started a joint-research project in early 2002 (Project-No. 03303000), in which the main disadvantages of existing battery of tests are tackled: - Determination of the influence of natural soil characteristics on the results of ecotoxicological tests: the limitations of invertebrate and plant test species concerning their ecological requirements when being used in field soils with their often very different properties are studied. - Improvement of the practicability of microbial and genotoxic tests as part of a battery tests for on-site-analysis: optimization of existing tests to be used in field soils (e.g. time reduction of sample preparation) including the automation of the test performance and the development of a standardized software package for result assessment. - Identification of the need for a new solid-phase test for field soils: development of a miniaturized bacterial test kit. In the medium term, such biological methods can effectively be used for an improved assessment of the quality of soils in addition to residue analysis used so far. This improvement will mainly be gained by a better knowledge on the limitations of the individual tests systems, shorter test durations and the automatisized performance of these tests.
Key words: genotoxcity tests, soil invertebrates, microbial tests, battery of tests