Clorofene

Short-term toxicity to fish

Description of key information

 LC50 (96 h): 1.5 mg a.i./L (German UBA-Method 1984; Danio rerio; static; nominal; Caspers 1986)

 LC50 (96 h): 0.72 mg a.i./L (US-EPA 1975; Onchorhynchus mykiss; static; nominal; Maddox 1988)

 LC50 (96 h): 0.33 mg a.i./L (US-EPA 1975; Lepomis macrochirus; static; nominal; Maddox 1988)

 

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Fresh water fish

Fresh water fish

Effect concentration:

1.5 mg/L

Additional information

Two laboratory studies are available on the toxicity of the test item Chlorophene (CAS 120-32-1) towards fish according to GLP (Caspers 1986; Maddox 1988) regarding the endpoint mortality. The studies were performed with Danio rerio, Onchorhynchus mykiss and Lepomis macrochirus, respectively. The studies were performed according to the German UBA-Method (1984) guidelines and US EPA guideline (1975).

A 96–hour static study was conducted by Caspers (1986) in accordance with the German UBA proposal for acute fish tests (May 1984) in order to estimate the acute toxicity of chlorophene to Zebra fish (Brachydanio rerio). This method closely resembles OECD Guideline 203. The study was performed with test substance concentrations of 0 (control), 1.3 and 1.8 mg chlorophene/L (10 fish/dose). No mortalities or any symptoms of intoxication occurred in the control group. No mortality was observed at a test concentration (nominal) of 1.3 mg a.s./L, whereas at 1.8 mg a.s./L the mortality rate was 100%. Based on these results, an LC50 of 1.5 mg a.s/L was derived as geometric mean of LC0/LC100. The No Observed Effect Concentration (NOEC) was 1.3 mg/L based upon the lack of mortality and sublethal effects at this concentration. Test substance concentrations in test vessels were not confirmed by analytical measurements. All results are based on the nominal test concentrations of the test substance. Furthermore, the test was not conducted under GLP conditions. Thus, validity criteria of the test can be considered as not completely fulfilled. However, the results of the test can be regarded as supplemental information to the data from long-term testing with fish for this test substance.

Further acute fish toxicity results with chlorophene according to US-EPA Guidelines (1975) were reported by Maddox (1988) for the fish species bluegill sunfish (Lepomis macrochirus) and Rainbow trout (Salmo gairdneri). However, as these studies have not been conducted under GLP and as analytic measurement of the test concentrations was not determined during the study, these results should also be used as supporting data only. The LC50 for bluegill sunfish was determined to be at 0.72 mg a.i./L and for rainbow trout at 0.33 mg a.i./L.