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Emission of biocides from hospitals: Comparing current survey results with European Union default values
Author(s) -
Tluczkiewicz Inga,
Bitsch Annette,
Hahn Stefan,
Hahn Torsten
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
integrated environmental assessment and management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.665
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1551-3793
pISSN - 1551-3777
DOI - 10.1897/ieam_2009-046.1
Subject(s) - european union , biocide , consumption (sociology) , environmental health , business , environmental science , hygiene , member states , medicine , social science , pathology , sociology , economic policy
Under the European Union (EU) Biocidal Products Directive 98/8/EC, comprehensive evaluations on substances of the Third Priority List were conducted until 31 July 2007. This list includes, among other categories, disinfectants for human hygiene (e.g., skin and surface disinfection). For environmental exposure assessment of biocides, the EU emission scenarios apply. Currently available default values for disinfectants are based on consumption data from not more than 8 hospitals and were originally assembled for other purposes. To revalidate these default values, a survey on annual consumption data was performed in 27 German hospitals. These data were analyzed to provide consumption data per bed and day and per nurse and day for particular categories of active ingredients and were compared with default values from the EU emission scenario documents. Although several deviations were detected, an overall acceptable correspondence between Emission Scenario Documents default values and the current survey data was found. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2010;6:273–280. © 2009 SETAC