Significant progress has been made in the scientific understanding of factors that influence the outcome of biodegradation tests used to assess the persistence (P) of chemicals. This needs to be evaluated to assess whether recently acquired knowledge could enhance existing regulations and environmental risk assessments. Biodegradation tests have limitations, which are accentuated for “difficult-to-test” substances, and failure to recognize these can potentially lead to inappropriate conclusions regarding a chemical's environmental persistence. Many of these limitations have been previously recognized and discussed in a series of ECETOC reports and workshops. These were subsequently used to develop a series of research projects designed to address key issues and, where possible, propose methods to mitigate the limitations of current assessments. Here, we report on the output of a Cefic LRI–Concawe Workshop held in Helsinki on September 27, 2018. The objectives of this workshop were to disseminate key findings from recent projects and assess how new scientific knowledge can potentially support and improve assessments under existing regulatory frameworks. The workshop provided a unique opportunity to initiate a process to reexamine the fundamentals of degradation and what current assessment methods can achieve by (1) providing an overview of the key elements and messages coming from recent research initiatives and (2) stimulating discussion regarding how these interrelate and how new findings can be developed to improve persistence assessments. Opportunities to try and improve understanding of factors affecting biodegradation assessments and better understanding of the persistence of chemicals (particularly UVCBs [substances of unknown or variable composition, complex reaction products, or biological materials]) were identified, and the workshop acted as a catalyst for further multistakeholder activities and engagements to take the persistence assessment of chemicals into the 21st century. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1123–1135. © 2021 European Petroleum Refiners Association – Concawe Division. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

中文翻译：

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提高我们对化学品环境持久性的理解

在对影响用于评估化学品持久性 (P) 的生物降解测试结果的因素的科学理解方面取得了重大进展。需要对此进行评估，以评估最近获得的知识是否可以增强现有法规和环境风险评估。生物降解测试具有局限性，这对于“难以测试”的物质尤为突出，未能识别这些可能会导致关于化学品环境持久性的不适当结论。许多这些限制之前已经在一系列 ECETOC 报告和研讨会中得到承认和讨论。这些随后被用于开发一系列旨在解决关键问题的研究项目，并在可能的情况下提出减轻当前评估局限性的方法。在这里，我们报告了 2018 年 9 月 27 日在赫尔辛基举行的 Cefic LRI-Concawe 研讨会的成果。该研讨会的目标是传播最近项目的主要发现，并评估新的科学知识如何潜在地支持和改进现有评估监管框架。研讨会提供了一个独特的机会来启动重新审查退化的基本原理以及当前评估方法可以通过以下方式实现的过程：相互关联以及如何开发新发现以改进持久性评估。Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021；17:1123-1135。© 2021 欧洲石油精炼商协会 - Concawe 分部。综合环境评估和管理由 Wiley Periodicals LLC 代表环境毒理学与化学学会 (SETAC) 发布。