Hydrogenated rosin alcohols

Ecotoxicological Summary

Hazard for aquatic organisms

Freshwater

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC aqua (freshwater)

PNEC value:

0.016 mg/L

Assessment factor:

10

Extrapolation method:

assessment factor

PNEC freshwater (intermittent releases):

1 mg/L

Marine water

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC aqua (marine water)

PNEC value:

0.002 mg/L

Assessment factor:

100

Extrapolation method:

assessment factor

PNEC marine water (intermittent releases):

0.1 mg/L

STP

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC STP

PNEC value:

100 mg/L

Assessment factor:

10

Extrapolation method:

assessment factor

Sediment (freshwater)

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC sediment (freshwater)

PNEC value:

40.25 mg/kg sediment dw

Extrapolation method:

equilibrium partitioning method

Sediment (marine water)

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC sediment (marine water)

PNEC value:

4.025 mg/kg sediment dw

Extrapolation method:

equilibrium partitioning method

Hazard for air

Air

Hazard assessment conclusion:

no hazard identified

Hazard for terrestrial organisms

Soil

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC soil

PNEC value:

8.02 mg/kg soil dw

Extrapolation method:

equilibrium partitioning method

Hazard for predators

Secondary poisoning

Hazard assessment conclusion:

PNEC oral

PNEC value:

20 mg/kg food

Assessment factor:

100

Additional information

The results from the Daphnia study are used for PNEC derivation and environmental classification, as a NOEC could not be determined from the fish study. The dehydroabietyl alcohol constituent is the constituent that the analytical method was validated for and is therefore used for reporting of results. A NOEC of 0.033 mg dehydroabietyl alcohol/L was determined from the Daphnia study (based on time weighted average dehydroabietyl alcohol concentrations in the 25% test solution). As the toxicity of hydrogenated rosin alcohols is likely to be due to the combined effects of all test item constituents, and dehydroabietyl alcohol constituents made up 20.886% of the whole test item, the NOEC was recalculated based on this percentage to be 0.16 mg hydrogenated rosin alcohols/L.

A freshwater PNEC of 0.016 mg/L was determined based on a NOEC of 0.16 mg/L and an assessment factor of 10 (as chronic results for fish, Daphnia and algae are available for this substance) and this value is used in the risk assessment. A marine PNEC of 0.0016 mg/L was determined using the same NOEC and an assessment factor of 100. PNECs for sediment and soil were determined based on equilibrium partitioning using the freshwater or marine PNEC and a Koc value of 25118.86 for the substance.

Conclusion on classification

Freshwater acute toxicity studies are available for fish, invertebrates (Daphnia) and aquatic plants (algae). These studies were conducted as Water Accommodated Fraction (WAF) studies at loading rates up to 100 mg/L. All of the studies showed no adverse effects at the limit concentration of 100 mg/L WAF indicating that the substance is not acutely toxic at the limit of water solubility and therefore no acute environmental classification is assigned for the substance.

A NOEC value of 0.16 mg hydrogenated rosin alcohols/L was determined from the chronic Daphnia reproduction study conducted with the substance. This NOEC is used for classification of the substance, resulting in a chronic environmental classification of Category 2, based on a chronic NOEC of >0.1 <1 mg/L and the substance not being rapidly degradable. This classification is considered to be conservative as using the saturator column approach for ecotoxicity testing maximised the amount of test item in solution (through providing a large surface area for elution); under realistic environmental conditions it is extremely unlikely that constituents of hydrogenated rosin alcohols would be present in the aquatic environment at close to the levels tested in this study.