Reaction mass of aluminium chloride, iron dichloride, magnesium chloride and manganese dichloride

Endpoint summary

Additional information

In general, metals do not biomagnify unless they are present as, or having the potential to be, in an organic form (e. g. methylmercury). Organometals tend to be lipid soluble, are not metabolized, and are efficiently assimilated upon dietborne exposure.

The metal species, which would result from the release of the submission item to the environment, are assessed irrelevant with regard to bioaccumulation driven hazards to the environmental life. Due their natural occurrence in considerable amounts biota have mechanisms to cope with natural background concentrations of the iron, manganese, and aluminium species in equilibrium with the metal kations constituting the submission item. The absence of organometallic species formation is considered of the on the basis of literature data.

According to ECHA (2008) „The PBT and vPvB criteria of Annex XIII to the Regulation do not apply to inorganic substances but shall apply to organo-metals.“

Thus the criteria for assessing bioaccumulation were replaced by the bioavailability considerations. Iron, aluminium and manganese are present in all environmental media with large reservoirs in soils and sediments. Comparison of the environmental levels outlined in the discussion on environmental fate and pathways, with the additional release according to the exposure scenario shows clearly that the additional releases contribute insignificantly. This even more as the below discussed processes will probably carry additional releases to the soil and sediment reservoirs without any lasting increase of the bioavailable species as the equilibrium times are short.

In conclusion no effects and thus no hazard are identified with regard to bioaccumulation and/or bioavailability.

Iron

Biologically, iron is an essential trace element for organisms including micro-organisms, plants and animals. Iron plays an important role in biological processes, and iron homeostasis is under strict control. A range of BCF values are available in different species.

Manganese

Manganese is an essential element and is, therefore, actively assimilated and utilized by both plants and animals. It has been established that while lower organisms (e.g., plankton, aquatic plants, and some fish) can significantly bioconcentrate manganese, higher organisms (including humans) tend to maintain manganese homeostasis. This indicates that the potential for biomagnification of manganese from lower trophic levels to higher ones is low, and it does not appear that additional research in this area is essential at this time.

Aluminium

The available evidence shows the absence of aluminium biomagnification across trophic levels both in aquatic and terrestrial food chains. The existing information suggests not only that aluminium does not biomagnify, but rather that it tends to exhibit biodilution at higher trophic levels in the food chain.

Secondary poisoning

In light of the inverse relationships between water concentration and BCF and/or the biological regulation of uptake and elimination and/or the presence of all submission item constituents in natural background concentrations, a lack of relevant enrichment is assumed. Thus and due to and the low toxicity of the ions and salts, it is not necessary to assess effects on predators by secondary poisoning for these substances and no hazard is assumed.