Assessment of potential ecological risk of bisphenol A in surface waters via evaluation of alternative non-animal approaches

Abstract

Recently, national regulatory agencies have announced plans to move away from animal testing through the adoption of new approach methods (NAMs) including in silico and in vitro approaches. In this study, we suggest a new approach of environmental risk assessment method for water quality criteria of bisphenol A (BPA) in the surface water of 11 rivers in Asia using an alternative toxicity method based on the in vitro-based cytotoxicity and genetic toxicity. The hazardous concentrations for 5% (HC5) were obtained from the species sensitivity distribution (SSD) curves based on the traditional acute toxicities (TAT), traditional chronic toxicities (TCT), and alterative acute toxicities (AAT) data. The HC5 values for the TAT, TCT, and AAT data were 2019.3 µg/L, 0.92 µg/L, and 0.68 µg/L, respectively. The TAT-based predicted no-effect concentration (PNECTAT), TCT-based PNEC (PNECTCT), and AAT-based PNEC (PNECAAT) values were derived as 1009.65 µg/L, 0.46 µg/L, and 0.34 µg/L, respectively. The TAT-based risk quotient (RQTAT) value of BPA was negligible (<0.1). The AAT-based RQ value (RQAAT) of BPA in Liuxi river (RQAAT = 21.94) of China showed the highest potential ecological risk of the 11 sampled rivers of Asia. In Korea, the highest potential risk assessment (RQAAT = 2.93) was recorded in Gyeonggi-do as the largest administrative region. The results may suggest that the application of AAT in the ecological risk assessment for surface water can replace the previously applied TCT approach.