Contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) are substances and microorganisms including physical, chemical, biological, or radiological materials known or anticipated in the environment, that may pose newly identified risks to human health or the environment. They require a clear technical approach on how to identify and evaluate them while acknowledging uncertainties in their environmental fate and transport, receptor exposure, and/or toxicity.
To improve regulatory response resources and provide a foundation for communicating potential risk, ITRC produced the Contaminants of Emerging Concern Framework (CEC-1, 2023) which includes a white paper and four associated fact sheets. These materials were developed to help environmental regulatory agencies and other stakeholders identify examples of contaminants of emerging concern monitoring programs, evaluate potential hazard, communicate real and perceived risk, and understand how laboratory analytical methods can be used in the identification process.
Topic(s): Contaminants of Emerging Concern, Risk Assessment
