ENVI Committee Report

GLOSSARY

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Active Ingredient (ingrédient actif): A substance that is intentionally added to a product that makes the product work as desired.

Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) (dose journalière admissible (DJA)): The daily intake of chemical which, during an entire lifetime, appears to be without appreciable risk on the basis of all known facts at the time. The ADI is obtained by dividing the no observable adverse effect level by a safety factor (e.g.100 or 1000) that is intended to make allowances for possible variability between the animal test species and humans, as well as for inter-individual variations within the human population.

Acute effect (effet aigu): An effect in a human or animal, with severe symptoms developing rapidly and coming quickly to a crisis.

Acute exposure (exposition aiguë): A single exposure to a substance or multiple exposures occurring within a short time, usually 24 hours or less.

Acute toxicity (toxicité aiguë): Toxicity dealing with the adverse effects resulting from a single dose of, or exposure to, a substance.

Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPS) (sanctions pécuniaires administratives (SPA)): AMPs are penalties that are imposed for a violation and that are determined through an administrative process, rather than through prosecution and court hearings.

Adsorption (adsorption): The attraction of gases, liquids, or solids to a solid surface.

Aggregate risk (risque combiné): Risk from all sources of a pesticide.

Allomone (allomone): A semiochemical produced by plants that helps protect them from predatory insects.

Bioaccumulation (bioaccumulation): A process whereby substances collect in all, or part of, a living organism.

Biomagnification (bioamplification): The process by which the tissue concentration of bioaccumulated chemical residues increases as materials pass up the food chain through two or more trophic levels.

Biopesticide (biopesticide): Any biological agent that adversely affects pest species.

Carbamates (carbamates): A salt of carbamic acid. An acid with the formula NH2-CO-OH.

Cholinesterase inhibitors (inhibiteurs de cholinestérase): Cholinesterase inhibitors inhibit the enzyme cholinesterase thereby allowing the concentration of acetylcholine to increase in the brain.

Chronic effects (effets chroniques): An effect on the health of a person or test animal that develops: 1. over time, following a single exposure to a toxic substance; or 2. from prolonged or repeated exposure to a toxic substance under conditions that do not produce that effect from a single exposure.

Chronic exposure (exposition chronique): A long-duration, low-level exposure (usually daily or weekly) in which the rate of exposure exceeds the body's capacity for detoxification of the substance.

Chronic toxicity (toxicité chronique): An adverse effect caused by repeated or long-term exposure to low doses of a toxic substance.

Concentration (concentration): Quantity of a solid, liquid or gas suspended or dissolved in another substance .

Cumulative risk (risque cumulatif): Risk posed by chemicals that work in similar ways.

Depressant (dépresseur): A drug or chemical that inhibits, slows down or depresses neural activity.

Dermal Toxicity (toxicité cutanée): Adverse effects resulting from the skin's exposure to a material. Ordinarily used to denote effects on experimental animals.

Desorption (désorption): The process of removing an adsorbed material from the solid on which it is adsorbed (opposite of adsorption).

Developmental Toxicity (toxicité au développement): Adverse effects produced by exposure of developing organisms to toxicants during development.

Efficacy (efficacité): The ability of a substance to elicit the desired response or result.

Endocrine disrupting substance (modulateur (perturbateur) endocrinien): Also referred to as "hormone-disrupting substance" or "environmental estrogens," endocrine disruptors are synthetic chemicals or naturally occurring compounds that can affect the hormone (endocrine) system, which consists of various glands which release hormones that act as chemical messengers. A disrupted endocrine system may lead to health, developmental and reproduction problems in wild and laboratory animals. It is suspected that they may cause similar effects in humans.

Endocrine system (système endocrinien): A widely dispersed complex of glands and hormones. The hormones of these glands are secreted directly into the bloodstream and exert their actions on body tissues and functions generally or at remote and specific sites. The complex consisting of the hypothalamus, anterior and posterior pituitary, thyroid, adrenal cortex and gonads.

Environmental Effects Concentration (EEC) (concentration à effet sur l'environnement (CEE)): The concentration at which effects are expected to be observed in the environment.

Environmental indicator (indicateur environnemental): Selected key statistics which represent or summarize a significant aspect of the state of the environment, natural resource sustainability and related human activities. They focus on trends in environmental changes, stresses causing them, and how the ecosystem and its components are responding to these changes.

Enzyme (enzyme): Protein molecule which is able to cause particular chemical reactions to take place and which is manufactured by living organisms for this purpose.

Formulant (formulant): Any substance other than the technical active ingredient that is intentionally included in a product.

Fungicide (fongicide): A chemical compound that destroys or inhibits the growth of fungi.

Half-life (demi-vie): The period of time for a chemical substance to lose half its concentration or activity due to metabolic uptake, decay or other chemical change. Certain substances (such as PCBs) persist for a long time in the environment (half-life of more than 2 years).

Herbicide (herbicide): A chemical used to control, suppress, or kill plants or severely interrupt their normal growth processes.

Immune system (système immunitaire): The body's defence system that protects against foreign invading substances or organisms (e.g. micro-organisms).

Immunotoxicity (immunotoxicité): Adverse effects on the immune system and toxic effects that are mediated by the immune system.

Insecticide (insecticide): A substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate insects.

Integrated pest management (IPM) (lutte intégrée) (LI): An approach to pest control that strives to manage pests at acceptable levels instead of completely eliminating them. It begins with techniques that are least disruptive, such as planting resistant varieties, using biological controls, less toxic sprays and appropriate cultural techniques, and only using synthetic pesticides as a last resort.

Kairomone (kairomone): Communication chemical that benefits the receiver and is disadvantageous to the producer.

Margin of safety (marge de sécurité): A numerical estimate of the ratio between the expected dose and the toxic dose.

Maximum Residue Limit (MRL) (limite maximale des résidus (LMR)): The amount of a pesticide which has been determined may safely remain in, or on, the food crop without hazard to the ultimate consumer.

Median Effect Concentration (EC^₅₀) (concentration efficace moyenne (CE^₅₀)): The concentration of a chemical that produces a response in 50% of the test population over a specific period of time.

Median Lethal Dose (LD^₅₀) (dose létale 50 (DL^₅₀)): The dose required to result in 50% mortality within a population.

Metabolism (métabolisme): The overall biochemical reactions that take place in a living organism. It includes the building of more complex molecules (anabolism) and the breakdown of molecules to provide energy (catabolism).

Metabolite (métabolite): An intermediate material produced and used in the processes of a living cell or organism; a product of metabolism.

Neurotoxic (neurotoxicité): Having a adverse effect on the nervous system.

NOAEL (No Observable Adverse Effect Level) (concentration sans effets toxiques observée (CSENO)): The highest dosage administered that does not produce detectable adverse effects.

Organic farming (agriculture biologique): Production of a natural commodity without synthetic chemicals or a process that uses living organisms.

Organochlorine (organochloré): A compound in which an atom of chlorine is bound to a molecule that contains carbon and hydrogen.

Organophosphate (organophosphate): A compound in which an atom of phosphorus is bound to a molecule that contains carbon and hydrogen atoms.

Parasitoid (parasitoïde): An organism which lives at the expense of the host and kills it when it is an adult. The term "parasitoid," which is becoming more and more common, includes all arthropods which develop to the detriment of crop pests, regardless of their mode of action.

Persistent (persistant): Chemically stable, long-lived in soil and aquatic environments and in animal and plant tissues.

Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) (polluant organique persistant (POP)): Set of organic compounds that: (i) possess toxic characteristics; (ii) are persistent; (iii) are liable to bioaccumulate; (iv) are prone to long-range atmospheric transport and deposition; and (v) can result in adverse environmental and human health effects at great distances from their source.

Pesticide (pesticide): Any substance or mixture of substances intended for killing or controlling insects, rodents, fungi, weeds, and other forms of plant or animal life that are considered to be pests.

Photodegradation (photodégradation): The process of the breakdown of complex, large organic molecules into small, simple molecules by light energy.

Pyrethroids (pyréthroïdes): The synthetic substances that are derivatives of naturally occurring pyrethrins are called pyrethroids. Pyrethroids include compounds such as permethrin, chlormethrin, bromethrin and fenvalerate.

Reproductive Toxicity (toxicité pour la reproduction): The adverse effect of a substance on the capability of an organism to produce offspring.

Safety factor (facteur de sécurité): The factor is intended to account for the uncertainties inherent in estimating effects of a chemical on humans from results obtained on test animals. The safety factor allows for possible differences in sensitivity between the test animal and humans, between average humans as well as for variations in the sensitivity of individuals within the human population.

Systemic (systémique): Substance that is absorbed by, and flows through, the entire system of a plant or animal. Systemic or translocated pesticides can be applied to the soil as granules and will move through the plant roots to control insects, weeds or fungi.

Toxicokinetics (toxicocinétique): Quantification and determination of the time course of absorption, distribution, biotransformation and excretion of chemicals by the body.

Transgenic (transgénique): An organism whose genome has been modified by the introduction of one or more genes from another species and which therefore shows a new characteristic at the individual level.