VERMEER

The project

LIFE VERMEER is an advanced project for the substitution of substances. Indeed it will provide a flexible, user-friendly tool of broad applicability. In case of substitution of a risky substance a number of issues have to be addressed, in order to avoid that the candidate compound will present another critical issue. Thus, multiple assessment has to be done to cope with the different possible situations related to hazards towards human health or living species, or persistence or bioaccumulation of the chemical, keeping into account the different exposure scenarios, again related to humans or living species. Nowadays this task has to be addressed through a series of tools, with practical and theoretical difficulties, because the different systems may not provide a complete picture.

Therefore, the main objectives of LIFE VERMEER are:

• • To implement a program, ToxEraser, to substitute risky chemicals. This program will be freely available through the internet, and will identify chemical moieties and features associated to the adverse effect of the chemical, suggesting candidate substitutes.

  • To implement a program, SPHERA, to merge the VEGA software for hazard evaluation with the MERLINExpo software for exposure assessment.

  • To implement within SPHERA a tool for the integrated assessment of human and environmental risks, suitable for multiple regulations.

In the framework of this project the METO unit will:

• • Develop Quantitative structure-activity relationships for the prediction of toxicokinetic end (eco)toxicological properties

  • Contribute to the improvement of PBPK modeling for the MERLIN-Expo tool

  • Provide input , know-how, and feedback on selected case-studies on chemical substitution