Reaction mass of aluminium hydroxide and aluminium nitrate and aluminium sulphate

Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates

Link to relevant study record(s)

Reference

Reference 1

Endpoint:

long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates

Type of information:

migrated information: read-across from supporting substance (structural analogue or surrogate)

Adequacy of study:

weight of evidence

Reliability:

2 (reliable with restrictions)

Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:

other: Acceptable, well documented publication which meets basic scientific principles.

Reason / purpose for cross-reference:

reference to same study

Principles of method if other than guideline:

Static renewal test in 100 ml beakers with one control and 6 treatments for 28 days. Solution was renewed three times per week, and survival, molting, and reproduction was recorded. The range of treatment means was 0.19 - 4.26 µg/L Al.

GLP compliance:

no

Analytical monitoring:

yes

Details on sampling:

- Concentrations: all concentrations
- Sampling method: sample collection timing not reported. Samples were most likely drawn into 15 ml tubes and acidified with 1 drop of 1.0 N HNO3

Vehicle:

no

Test organisms (species):

Daphnia magna

Details on test organisms:

TEST ORGANISM
- Common name: daphnid
- Source: commercially available source, Aquatic Life Company, Minneapolis, MN.
- Age at study initiation: neonates 12 ± 12 hrs old
- Method of breeding: used a series of 250 ml beakers containing 200 ml water with food at a concentration of 30 mg/L in each beaker. Water was totally renewed three times per week with approximately 5 adult daphnia per beaker transferred to the new solution.

Test type:

semi-static

Water media type:

freshwater

Limit test:

no

Total exposure duration:

28 d

pH:

8.3

Dissolved oxygen:

7.81 mg/L

Nominal and measured concentrations:

Range of measured treatment means: 0.19-4.26 µg/L total Al and 0.14-0.71 mg/L supernatant

Details on test conditions:

TEST SYSTEM
- Test vessel:
- Material, size, headspace, fill volume: 100 ml beakers filled with 50 ml solution
- No. of organisms per vessel: 1 x 10 vessels
- No. of vessels per concentration (replicates): 2
- No. of vessels per control (replicates): 2

TEST MEDIUM / WATER PARAMETERS
- Source/preparation of dilution water: well water tapping the Jordan sandstone stratum underlying the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area, with iron catalytically removed
- Alkalinity: 211 mg/L
- Culture medium different from test medium: no


EFFECT PARAMETERS MEASURED: survival, neonates, and adult molts were counted every three days with renewal of solution


RANGE-FINDING STUDY
- Test concentrations: 0, 0.7, 1.5, 2.4, 3.3, 8.4, 17 mg/L

Reference substance (positive control):

no

Duration:

28 d

Dose descriptor:

NOEC

Effect conc.:

1.89 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

meas. (not specified)

Conc. based on:

element

Remarks:

Al

Basis for effect:

reproduction

Duration:

28 d

Dose descriptor:

LOEC

Effect conc.:

4.26 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

meas. (not specified)

Conc. based on:

element

Remarks:

Al

Basis for effect:

reproduction

Duration:

28 d

Dose descriptor:

EC50

Effect conc.:

1.61 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

meas. (not specified)

Conc. based on:

element

Remarks:

Al

Basis for effect:

mortality

Reported statistics and error estimates:

All chronic test data were examined by one-way analysis of variance with treatment differences separated by Dunnett's procedure (one-tailed) at an alpha = 0.05 (Steele and Torre, 1960).

Table 1: Survival and reproduction of Daphnia magna in 28 day chronic test:

Concentration (mg/L total)	Percentage Survival	Mean young per female per day	Mean young per female
0	70	5.26	101.5
0.19	60	5.96	118.1
0.29	70	4.67	93.3
0.54	70	4.83	88.0
1.02	50	5.71	100.3
1.89	40	4.29	68.5
4.26	20	2.07 *	40.3 *

  * - Significantly different at p = 0.05

Reference 2

Endpoint:

long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates

Type of information:

migrated information: read-across from supporting substance (structural analogue or surrogate)

Adequacy of study:

weight of evidence

Reliability:

2 (reliable with restrictions)

Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:

other: Acceptable, well documented publication which meets basic scientific principles.

Reason / purpose for cross-reference:

reference to same study

Principles of method if other than guideline:

Semi-static, chronic toxicty study with Daphnia magna

GLP compliance:

no

Analytical monitoring:

no

Vehicle:

no

Details on test solutions:

Unfiltered lake water strained through #20 bolting cloth was used for all rearing and testing, thus including some nutrients from bacteria, algae, and detritus in the water.
Stock solutions was aged for at least 4 days to allow them to become chemically equilibrated before being used for testing animals.

Test organisms (species):

Daphnia magna

Details on test organisms:

TEST ORGANISM
- Common name: water flea
- Source: laboratory clone originally obtained from the University of Michigan
- Age at study initiation: 12 ± 12 hrs.
- Method of breeding:
- Type and amount of food: 1 mL/L suspension of food (prepared by adding 0.5 g of powdered dried grass and 10 g of enriched trout-fry granules to 250 mL of Lake Superior water and mixing vigorously in a blender for 5 min; suspension was strained through #20 bolting cloth; the blender was rinsed with an additonal 50 mL of lake water, and the rinse water was added to the suspension)
- Feeding frequency: twice weekly
- Feeding during test:
- Food type: suspension of food (prepared by adding 0.5 g of powdered dried grass and 10 g of enriched trout-fry granules to 250 mL of Lake Superior water and mixing vigorously in a blender for 5 min; suspension was strained through #20 bolting cloth; the blender was rinsed with an additonal 50 mL of lake water, and the rinse water was added to the suspension)
- Amount: 1 mL/L
- Frequency: once weekly

Test type:

semi-static

Water media type:

freshwater

Total exposure duration:

21 d

Hardness:

Total hardness: 44- 53(mean 45.3) µg/L

Test temperature:

18 ± 1 °C

pH:

7.4-8.2 (mean 7.74)

Dissolved oxygen:

Near saturation at all times. At dawn, before the lights came on, the concentration was ~9 mg/L; late in the day oxygen sometimes slightly exceeded saturation because of photosynthesis by algae.

Details on test conditions:

TEST SYSTEM
- Test vessel:
- Type: closed
- Material, size, headspace, fill volume: 250 mL beaker with 200 mL of water
- Renewal rate of test solution (frequency/flow rate): at the end of one week
- No. of organisms per vessel: 5
- No. of vessels per concentration (replicates): 4
- No. of vessels per control (replicates): 4


OTHER TEST CONDITIONS
- temperature: 18 ± 1 °C
- Photoperiod: 16 hr light : 8hr dark
- Light intensity: approx. 115 footcandle at the air-water interface

TEST MEDIUM / WATER PARAMETERS
- Chloride: 1170 - 1340 (mean 1217) µg/L
- Alkalinity: 41- 50 (mean 42.3) µg/L

Reference substance (positive control):

no

Duration:

21 d

Dose descriptor:

LC50

Effect conc.:

1.4 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

other: total Al

Basis for effect:

immobilisation

Duration:

21 d

Dose descriptor:

other: EC16

Effect conc.:

0.32 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

other: total Al

Basis for effect:

reproduction

Reported statistics and error estimates:

The results from all tests for each toxicant concentration were pooled for statistical analysis. Results were statistically evaluated with the method of Litchfield and Wilcoxon (1949, A simplified method of evaluating dose-effect experiments, J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 96: 99 -113) for establishing approximations of the 95% confidence limits for survival. The terminology recommended by Sprague (1969, Measurement of pollutant toxicity to fish. I. Bioassay methods for acute toxicity, Water Res. 3: 793 -821), lethal concentration (LC), was used for survival and represents an interpolation from three or more partial-effect concentrations.

Reproductive effects were analyzed in a similar manner excluding confidence limits, but are given in terms of reproductive impairment by percentage. Both 50 and 16% reproduction-impairment concentrations are given. These values imply decreases in the total number of young produced as compared with the controls or the maximum production at alow metal concentration. Reproduction was usually stimulated by small metal additions. the 16% reproductive-impairment concentration is given since it represented a minimal reproducible value below which the variability in reproduction could not be detected from controls.

Additional information

No reliable studies on the acute toxicity of reaction mass of aluminium hydroxide and aluminium nitrate and aluminium sulphate to invertebrates are available. Therefore, a weight of evidence approach is applied and data are read-across to various aluminium compounds based on an analogue approach.

Two non-guideline studies are available one from Kimball (1978) who used aluminium sulfate and one from Biesinger and Christensen (1972) with aluminium chloride. Kimball reported an NOEC of 1.89 mg/L (measured total aluminium and pH of 8.3) for the reproduction and Biesinger and Christensen report an LC50 of 1.4 mg/L for the parameter immobilization after 21 days (pH 7.4-8.2).