Advances of the QSAR approach as an alternative strategy in the environmental risk assessment

Abstract

In the modern world, a proper environmental risk assessment (ERA) of chemicals represents an important step inpremarketing inspections of regulated substances (e.g., drugs, pesticides, feed additives, and cosmetics) as well asthe postmarket surveillance system (e.g., commercial chemicals, emerging contaminants or natural compounds)[1e3]. ERA comprises a wide range of disciplines and research areas including toxicology, chemistry, cellularbiology, biochemistry, ecology, physiology, statistics, and mathematics.The main application of ERA consists in quantifying levels of chemical exposure through proper exposure assessmentsto given specie, population, or ecosystem, considering relevant sources (air, water, or soil) and routes of exposure(oral, inhalation, and dermal), to define safe levels for such chemicals by means of hazard identificationprocesses, and to establish the risk associated with such exposures through rigorous risk characterization procedures[4e6]. Thus, ERA has a relevant role during research activities, defining biodiversity and ecosystem protectiongoals by regulatory and advisory entities.