title: Bridging the gap between life cycle inventory and impact assessment for toxicological assessments of pesticides used in crop production.
abstract: In Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI) provides emission data to the various environmental compartments and Life Cycle Impact Assessment (LCIA) determines the final distribution, fate and effects. Due to the overlap between the Technosphere (anthropogenic system) and Ecosphere (environment) in agricultural case studies, it is, however, complicated to establish what LCI needs to capture and where LCIA takes over. This paper aims to provide guidance and improvements of LCI/LCIA boundary definitions, in the dimensions of space and time. For this, a literature review was conducted to provide a clear overview of available methods and models for both LCI and LCIA regarding toxicological assessments of pesticides used in crop production. Guidelines are provided to overcome the gaps between LCI and LCIA modeling, and prevent the overlaps in their respective operational spheres. The proposed framework provides a starting point for LCA practitioners to gather the right data and use the proper models to include all relevant emission and exposure routes where possible. It is also able to predict a clear distinction between efficient and inefficient management practices (e.g. using different application rates, washing and rinsing management, etc.). By applying this framework for toxicological assessments of pesticides, LCI and LCIA can be directly linked, removing any overlaps or gaps in between the two distinct LCA steps.
authors: Department of Environmental Science, Institute for Water and Wetland Research, Radboud University Nijmegen, P.O. Box 9010, 6500 GL Nijmegen, The Netherlands. Electronic address: r.vanzelm@science.ru.nl.
authors: Rosalie
authors: R
authors: van Zelm
authors: Irstea, Research Unit: Information & Technologies for Agro-processes, 361 rue JF Breton, 34196 Montpellier, France.
authors: Pyrène
authors: P
authors: Larrey-Lassalle
authors: Irstea, Research Unit: Information & Technologies for Agro-processes, 361 rue JF Breton, 34196 Montpellier, France.
authors: Philippe
authors: P
authors: Roux
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018556:Crops, Agricultural / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000254:growth & development*; D054750:Ecotoxicology / Q000379:methods*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010575:Pesticides / Q000633:toxicity*
chemical_list: D010575:Pesticides
keywords: Ecotoxicity; Exposure pathway; Fate; Human toxicity; Life cycle assessment; Technosphere