LC50 Determination and Probit Analysis

In environmental risk assessment, the possible chronic effects of industrial chemicals, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and agrochemicals on aquatic species can be estimated from acute toxicity data. The aquatic environment covers three quarters of the total earth’s surface, making it one of the most threatened ecosystems. A large amount of toxicity test data is required to identify safer chemical compounds and then get them approved for marketing. There is not enough data for newly developed chemicals or compounds. In such cases, manufacturers, regulatory agencies and environmental scientists must demand and rely on computational-in silico modeling that tracks toxicity prediction of new and/or untested chemicals. Results from toxicity tests with varying durations and different aquatic species are used for aquatic toxicity databases. Prediction data depend on the quality of the model based on the accuracy and precision of the database. Therefore, this book chapter discusses the most frequently studied aquatic toxicity databases and comprehensive information to facilitate their efficient use by experimental scientists as well as computational scientists.