Proposed biological testing methods for the United States incineration-at-sea research program

As part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Incineration-at-Sea research programme, a suite of toxicity tests has been selected for assessing the toxicity of incinerator emissions generated during the combustion of chlorinated wastes. The test organisms for the five short-term chronic tests are, Menidia beryllina, Mysidopsis bahia, Champia parvula, Dinophilus gyrociliatus , and gametes from Arbacia punctulata . The durations of individual tests range from 2 h to 7 days. The endpoints include survival, growth and reproductive effects. The results have demonstrated that the proposed methodologies can be used to test the toxicity of gaseous emissions, and that there appears to be no significant toxicity associated with the combustion products of a carrier fuel oil.