Ongoing Task Force

TRA Task Force – Environment branch

This Task Force is active on a number of initiatives:

  • A state of the science literature review on assessment of humans exposed indirectly via the environment, to ascertain the state of the science and identify further research needs. A manuscript was published in Q1 2025: Verdonck et al., 2025

 

  • A collaborative project with National Institute for Public Health and the Environment in The Netherlands (RIVM) and Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) on generation of removal predictions from the SimpleTreat model (an assessment tool for the fate of substances in wastewater treatment plants, incorporated into EUSES and Chesar) and comparisons to measured removal data. This stemmed from some ongoing work by ECCC to improve wastewater treatment removal modelling. The OECD Working Party on Exposure Assessment (WPEA) has been kept informed of this activity.

 

  • Proving technical support to a software developer who is contracted by ECETOC to migrate the TRA Environment tool from a series of excel spreadsheets into an easier-to-use standalone application.

 

Previous activities include:

  • In the first half of 2019, ECETOC coordinated industry’s contribution to the first stage (IT feasibility study) of the ECHA EUSES update process, via ECHA’s Technical Expert Groups (TEGs). Towards the end of 2019, ECHA confirmed its intention to develop a common chemical risk assessment tool for REACH and biocides (combining EUSES and Chesar). ECHA continued to consult with the TEGs into 2022 on technical aspects of Chesar updates and the TRA Task Force Environment branch remained engaged.

 

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