Moving persistence assessments into the 21st Century: A role for weight-of-evidence (WoE) and overall persistence (Pov)

A Task Force from the Centre for chemical safety assessment (ECETOC) has proposed a new framework to organise and interpret data using a weight-of-evidence approach in the assessment of chemical persistence in the environment. The framework is published in the peer-reviewed journal Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management (IEAM).

Chemical persistence in the environment is one of the most important criteria in the regulation of organic chemicals. The Task Force’s new framework aims to accommodate the many complexities of persistence: chemical-specific properties and environmental factors, as well as multiple processes taking place in multiple ‘compartments’ (air, water, soil, sediment and the different plant and animal life of a region).