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technical guidance documents - Institute for Health and Consumer ...

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ENVIRONMENTAL EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT<br />

occurrence of substance in the waste streams <strong>and</strong>/or releases from waste treatment <strong>and</strong>/or<br />

releases from l<strong>and</strong>fills.<br />

In a similar manner, if the amount of a substance in use in the society in long-life articles has not<br />

reached steady state <strong>and</strong> the accumulation is ongoing, only a calculated PEC will represent the<br />

future situation. This should be considered when comparing such a PEC with measured data<br />

representing a non-steady-state.<br />

For the evaluation of measured concentration in biota additional in<strong>for</strong>mation on season, sex <strong>and</strong><br />

dimension could be useful.<br />

2.2.2 Allocation of the measured data to a local or a regional scale<br />

The measured data should be allocated to a local or regional scale in order to define the nature of<br />

the environmental concentration that is derived. This allows a comparison with the<br />

corresponding calculated PEC to be made to determine which PEC should be used in the risk<br />

characterisation (Section 2.5).<br />

Evaluation of the geographical relation between emission sources <strong>and</strong> sampling site<br />

If there is no spatial proximity between the sampling site <strong>and</strong> point sources of emission (e.g.<br />

from rural regions), the data represent a regional concentration (PECregional) that has to be<br />

added to the calculated PEClocal. If the measured concentrations reflect the releases into the<br />

environment through point sources, they are of a PEClocal-type. In a PEClocal based on<br />

measured concentrations, the regional concentration (i.e. PECregional) is already included.<br />

Measured concentrations in biota<br />

Samples of living organisms may be used <strong>for</strong> environmental monitoring. They can provide a<br />

number of advantages compared to conventional water <strong>and</strong> sediment sampling especially with<br />

respect to sampling at large distances from an emission source or on a regional scale.<br />

Furthermore they can provide a PECbiota <strong>and</strong> consequently an estimation of the body burden to be<br />

considered in the food chain.<br />

2.3 MODEL CALCULATIONS<br />

2.3.1 Introduction<br />

The first step in the calculation of the PEC is evaluation of the primary data. The subsequent step<br />

is to estimate the substance's release rate based upon its use pattern. All potential emission<br />

sources need to be analysed, <strong>and</strong> the releases <strong>and</strong> the receiving environmental compartment(s)<br />

identified. After assessing releases, the fate of the substance once released to the environment<br />

needs to be considered. This is estimated by considering likely routes of exposure <strong>and</strong> biotic <strong>and</strong><br />

abiotic trans<strong>for</strong>mation processes. Furthermore, secondary data (e.g. partition coefficients) are<br />

derived from primary data. The quantification of distribution <strong>and</strong> degradation of the substance<br />

(as a function of time <strong>and</strong> space) leads to an estimate of PEClocal <strong>and</strong> PECregional. The PEC<br />

calculation is not restricted to the primary compartments; surface water (Section 2.3.8.3), soil<br />

(Section 2.3.8.5) <strong>and</strong> air (Section 2.3.8.2); but also includes secondary compartments such as<br />

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