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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Beltsville, Maryland (BARC) » Beltsville Agricultural Research Center » Adaptive Cropping Systems Laboratory » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #327344
Title: Towards bioavailability-based soil criteria: Past, present and future perspectives

Author
item NAIDU, RAVI - University Of South Australia
item Chaney, Rufus
item MCCONNELL, STUART - Agricultural University Of Western Australia
item JOHNSTON, NIALL - Lancaster University
item SEMPLE, KIRK - Lancaster University
item MCGRATH, STEVE - Rothamsted Research
item DRIES, VICTOR - Public Waste Agency Of Flanders
item NATHANAIL, PAUL - University Of Nottingham
item HARMSEN, JOOP - Alterra-Ilri, Netherlands
item PRUSZINSHI, ANDREW - Environmental Protection Authority
item PALANISAMI, THAVAMANI - University Of South Australia

Submitted to: Environmental Science and Pollution Research
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/5/2013
Publication Date: 6/15/2015
Citation: Naidu, R., Chaney, R.L., Mcconnell, S.L., Johnston, N., Semple, K.L., Mcgrath, S., Dries, V., Nathanail, P., Harmsen, J., Pruszinshi, A., Palanisami, T. 2015. Towards bioavailability-based soil criteria: Past, present and future perspectives. Environmental Science and Pollution Research. 22:8779-8785. doi: 10.1007/s11356-013-1617-x.

Interpretive Summary: When land areas are suspected of being highly enough contaminated to cause adverse effects on soil organisms, plants, livestock, wildlife or humans, a risk assessment process is conducted to determine if actions are required to protect the environment. Previously, total concentrations of metals or organic compounds were used to evaluate the potential for risks, but in the last decade it has become increasingly obvious that the chemical form of the contaminant, and the chemical and physical properties of the soil can strongly affect the potential for adverse effects. The movement to the assessment of the bioavailable dose, based on feeding studies with animals, or growth and metal accumulation studies with plants, has become widely accepted to account for the differences in chemical forms of contaminants, and properties of the soil which was contaminated. Feeding tests to measure bioavilability are so expensive that a new science called bioaccessibility has been developed in which chemical extractions of soils were developed. When such tests are demonstrated to be highly correlated with the results of animal feeding studies, or plant growth studies, the bioaccessible dose can be used to make regulatory determinations. This paper summarizes progress toward use of bioaccessibility in environmental risk assessment and regulation.

Technical Abstract: Bioavailability has been used as a key indicator in chemical risk assessment, yet it is a poorly quantified risk factor. Worldwide, the framework used to assess potentially contaminated sites is similar and the decisions are based on threshold contaminant concentration. The uncertainty in the definition and measurement of bioavailability has limited its application to environment risk assessment and remediation. The last ten years have seen major developments in bioavailability research and acceptance. The use of bioavailability as one of the key variables in the decision making process has led to a gradual shift towards a more sophisticated risk based approach. Presently many decision makers and regulatory organizations more readily accept this concept. Bioavailability should be the underlying basis for risk assessment and setting remediation goals of those contaminated sites that pose risk to environmental and human health. This paper summarizes the potential application of contaminant bioavailability and bioaccessibility to the assessment of sites affected by different contaminants and the potential for this to be the underlying basis for sustainable risk assessment and remediation in Europe, North America and Australia over the coming decade.