Huntsman Marine Science Centre, St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada.
Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
Environ Toxicol Chem. 2022 Jan;41(1):46-72. doi: 10.1002/etc.5247.
There is a pressing need to understand the impact of contaminants on Arctic ecosystems; however, most toxicity tests are based on temperate species, and there are issues with reliability and relevance of bioassays in general. Together this may result in an underestimation of harm to Arctic organisms and contribute to significant uncertainty in risk assessments. To help address these concerns, a critical review to assess reported effects for these species, quantify methodological and endpoint relevance gaps, and identify future research needs for testing was performed. We developed uniform criteria to score each study, allowing an objective comparison across experiments to quantify their reliability and relevance. We scored a total of 48 individual studies, capturing 39 tested compounds, 73 unique Arctic test species, and 95 distinct endpoints published from 1975 to 2021. Our analysis shows that of 253 test substance and species combinations scored (i.e., a unique toxicity test), 207 (82%) failed to meet at least one critical study criterion that contributes to data reliability for use in risk assessment. Arctic-focused toxicity testing needs to ensure that exposures can be analytically confirmed, include environmentally realistic exposure scenarios, and report test methods more thoroughly. Significant data gaps were identified as related to standardized toxicity testing with Arctic species, diversity of compounds tested with these organisms, and the inclusion of ecologically relevant sublethal and chronic endpoints assessed in Arctic toxicity testing. Overall, there needs to be ongoing improvement in test conduction and reporting in the scientific literature to support effective risk assessments in an Arctic context. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:46-72. © 2021 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.
目前迫切需要了解污染物对北极生态系统的影响；然而，大多数毒性测试都是基于温带物种进行的，而且生物测定的可靠性和相关性普遍存在问题。这可能导致对北极生物的危害被低估，并导致风险评估存在重大不确定性。为了解决这些问题，我们进行了一项关键性评估，以评估这些物种的报告影响，量化方法和终点相关性差距，并确定未来测试的研究需求。我们制定了统一的标准来对每项研究进行评分，从而可以在实验之间进行客观比较，以量化其可靠性和相关性。我们总共对 48 项单独的研究进行了评分，这些研究涵盖了 39 种测试化合物、73 种独特的北极测试物种和 95 个不同的终点，这些研究发表于 1975 年至 2021 年。我们的分析表明，在所评分的 253 种测试物质和物种组合（即独特的毒性测试）中，有 207 种（82%）至少有一项关键研究标准未达标，这会影响到数据的可靠性，从而影响到风险评估的应用。北极地区的毒性测试需要确保暴露可以通过分析来确认，包括具有现实环境意义的暴露场景，并更全面地报告测试方法。我们确定了一些重大的数据差距，这些差距与用北极物种进行标准化毒性测试、用这些生物测试的化合物多样性以及包括在北极毒性测试中评估的生态相关亚致死和慢性终点有关。总体而言，需要在科学文献中不断改进测试的实施和报告，以支持在北极背景下进行有效的风险评估。Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:46-72. © 2021 作者。环境毒理化学由 Wiley Periodicals LLC 代表 SETAC 出版。
