

We did not identify a more sensitive/lower point of departure for terrestrial toxicity endpoints in the published literature. Based on this sensitive terrestrial endpoint, the EU derived a predicted no-effect concentration (PNEC) for soil of 0.012 mg/kg wet weight soil (EU 2008). The most sensitive terrestrial endpoint was earthworm reproduction with a half maximal effective concentration (EC 50) of 0.12 mg/kg d.w. Sensitivities were soybeans 4840 mg/kg d.w. The no-observed-effect concentrations (NOECs) for seedling emergence ranged from 20 to 5000 mg/kg d.w. In these studies, no significant effect of TBBPA on nitrogen transformation was observed up to the highest concentration.

The purposes of this paper are to enable broad access to a series of TBBPA ecotoxicity tests (nitrogen transformation, earthworm survival/reproduction, and seedling emergence/growth) that were conducted in support of regulatory risk assessments, and to summarize available research in the terrestrial toxicity of TBBPA. Despite its ubiquitous use and presence in the environment, little published data is available to evaluate the terrestrial ecotoxicity of TBBPA. This article summarizes historical and recent research on the terrestrial toxicology of tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA).
