New insecticidal compounds remain effective against target species while reducing bee toxicity

08-Feb-2023

Researchers at South China Agricultural University have developed new insecticidal compounds that show significantly reduced bee toxicity without reducing effectiveness against target pests – in this case, the diamondback moth and red imported fire ant. Arylpyrazole insecticides such as fipronil ...

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Chemists take a new approach to testing chemicals

30-Dec-2022

Researchers of the University of Amsterdam, together with colleagues at the University of Queensland and the Norwegian Institute for Water Research, have developed a strategy for assessing the toxicity of chemicals using machine learning. They present their approach in an article in Environmental ...

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28-Nov-2022

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were widely used in industrial and commercial products including plastics, paints, electronic equipment and insulating fluids. Their manufacture was extensively banned from the late 70s onwards due to their toxicity, however large amounts still remain in our ...

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Researchers develop computer model to predict whether a pesticide will harm bees

18-Jul-2022

Researchers in the Oregon State University College of Engineering have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to help protect bees from pesticides. Cory Simon, assistant professor of chemical engineering, andXiaoli Fern, associate professor of computer science, led the project, which ...

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Analysis of health risks associated with graphene-containing particles

17-Jun-2022

Graphene-based particles released from polymer composites after abrasion induce negligible health effects. Under the leadership of Empa, an international research team of the Graphene Flagship project conducted a study on the health risks of graphene-containing nanoparticles and recently ...

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Sustainable bioeconomy: Development of environmentally friendly bio-shampoos and plant protection agent technologies

16-Feb-2022

With the early assessment of sustainable, newly developed chemicals and products it is possible to assess a potential risk of toxic substances being released at a later point in product cascades. This has been revealed in a proof-of-concept study jointly coordinated by Goethe University Frankfurt ...

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Properties such as size, shape and surface condition of microparticles influence their hazardous potential for humans

20-Jan-2022

Researchers at the University of Bayreuth want to find out the consequences of inhaled microplastics. In order to better understand them, they have conducted an interdisciplinary study to find out how the health risks of particles such as soot, grinding dust or asbestos are related to their ...

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A step closer to safe-by-design material development

26-Nov-2020

Researchers at Helmholtz Zentrum München together with scientists across Europe developed a novel animal-free method to predict the toxic effect of nanoparticles to the human lung. The method aims to enable the safety-by-design development of safer industrial materials. Our lungs are exposed to a ...

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Biomaterials contain up to 20.000 chemicals

21-Sep-2020

So-called “bioplastics” are marketed as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional, petroleum-based plastics. They can be made from renewable feedstock, might be bio-degradable or even both. The question is however if these biomaterials are safer than conventional plastics with ...

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Combined chemical and bioanalytical methods are able to efficiently characterise chemical mixtures

27-Jan-2020

In the past, it was sufficient to identify individual chemicals as the cause of detrimental effects on humans and the environment. But in the meantime, it has become apparent that this approach falls short of the mark. This is because the real world is marked by multiple stressors, among them ...

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