MP13 Aquatic Ecotoxicology
Monday, 14 November 2005: 8:00 AM - 6:30 PM in Exhibit Hall

(BRE-1118-085846) The Development of Scoring Methodologies for the Evaluation of Ecotoxicity Studies Submitted Under the New Substances Notification Regulations in Canada.

Breton, R.¹, Thompson, R.¹, Atkinson, A.², Lortie, M.², Lewis, M.², Teed, S.¹, Gilron, G.³, Taylor, L⁴, Scroggins, R⁴, ¹ Cantox Environmental Inc., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada² New Substances Branch, Environment Canada, Gatineau, Quebec, Canada³ Golder Associates Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada⁴ Environmental Technology Centre

ABSTRACT- New substances nominated for import or manufacture in Canada must be notified to Environment Canada and Health Canada under the New Substances Notification Regulations (NSNRs), implemented July 1, 1994. The New Substances Program then conducts ecological and human health risk assessments based on information supplied by the notifier, and other complementary information available to the two Departments. Over the past 10 years, more than 650 ecotoxicity studies have been submitted to the New Substances Branch of Environment Canada under the NSNRs. Most of these experimental studies are not publicly available, but are useful in the ecological risk assessment of new and existing substances and for quantitative structure-activity relationships (QSARs) development. This poster presentation will describe a computer-based scoring system and our approach in the development of scoring methods used to assess the quality and reliability of ecotoxicity studies with fish, Daphnia and algae generated following either OECD test guidelines or Environment Canada test methods. Results of ranking exercises conducted using these methodologies will be described and discussed, together with potential use of these results in a regulatory context.

Key words: Ecotoxicity Studies, Scoring, Database, Regulatory Program