Masaaki Hosomi* and Hidehiro Kaneko**

* Department of Chemical Engineering, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
** Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Yamanashi University

+ Correspondence should be addressed to Masaaki Hosomi:
(2-24-16 Nakamachi, Koganei, Tokyo 184-0012 Japan)

Abstract

The traditional approach to hazardous waste management has been to make a series of chemical analyses of regulated pollutants and to use these concentrations in conjunction with existing chemical standards. In using this approach ecological considerations are minimized relative to human health concerns. On the other hand, bioassays provide a more direct measure of environmentally relevant toxicity levels and they also provide a means of screening a wide variety of samples for acute toxicity levels. This is not to say that short term bioassays using bacteria, algae, and zooplankton are without their limitations (for example, bioaccumulation factors, carcinogenic and mutagenic effects, etc.) . The lack of consensus on which tests to use and on how to apply them to hazardous waste management has hindered their general application. As this had been the case, an acceptable approach had to be developed. In this paper, some possible suggestions for such an approach were introduced.

Key words: acute toxicity, Daphnia, algae, Microtox, hazardous waste, leaching test