The predictive potential of a battery of ecotoxicological tests for human acute toxicity, as evaluated with the first 50 MEIC chemicals

By Calleja, M.C. - Persoone, G. - Geladi, P.

The acute toxicities of the first 50 chemicals (dextropropoxyphene hydrochloride excluded) of the multicentre evaluation of in vitro cytotoxicity (MEIC) programme were determined on four aquatic invertebrates and a bacterial strain (Photobacterium phosphoreum for the Microtox test) commonly used in ecotoxicology testing. Three of the aquatic invertebrate tests consisted of cyst-based toxicity tests (Artoxkit M with Artemia salina, Streptoxkit F with Streptocephalus proboscideus, and Rotoxkit F with Brachionus calyciflorus), and the Daphnia magna test. Results of simple linear regression analyses indicated that the rodent tests (rat and/or mouse) were better than the ecotoxicological tests for predicting acute oral lethal doses in man. However, it appears that the batteries of ecotoxicological tests resulting from the partial least squares method appear to be better than the rodent tests for predicting human oral lethal doses.