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"plaintext": "Higher concentrations result in larger risk of adverse effects for mussels and other aquatic organisms. The dioxin-like PCBs are also toxic to humans. The European Food Safety Authority set a tolerable weekly intake of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs for humans in 2018. PCBs are typically transferred through the consumption of contaminated food, particularly meat, fish, and dairy .",
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"plaintext": "Figure 2. Concentrations of PCB118 relative to assessment criteria",
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"plaintext": " Classifications of hazardous substances measured in mussels and oysters between 2010-2022 are summarised below (also Figure 1). Concentrations were classified by several classifications: lower limits were either Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) in biota or OSPAR Background Assessment Concentrations (BAC) . Upper limits for the 'low' and 'moderate' classes were OSPAR Environmental Assessment Criteria (EAC), EQS in biota, or Maximum\u00a0Permissible Concentrations (MPC) for humans.",
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"footnote": "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n<div class=\"csl-bib-body\" style=\"line-height: 1.35; \">\n <div class=\"csl-entry\">EEA, 2011, <i>Hazardous substances in Europe’s fresh and marine waters: an overview.</i>, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.</div>\n</div>\n",
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"text": " measured in mussels and oysters between 2010-2022 are summarised below (also Figure 1). Concentrations were classified by several classifications: lower limits were either "
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"footnote": "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n<div class=\"csl-bib-body\" style=\"line-height: 1.35; \">\n <div class=\"csl-entry\">EU, 2013, Directive 2013/39/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 August 2013 amending Directives 2000/60/EC and 2008/105/EC as regards priority substances in the field of water policy, OJ L 226, 24.8.2013, p. 1–17.</div>\n</div>\n",
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"footnote": "<?xml version=\"1.0\"?>\n<div class=\"csl-bib-body\" style=\"line-height: 1.35; \">\n <div class=\"csl-entry\">Dietz et al_2021_A risk assessment of the effects of mercury on Baltic Sea, Greater North Sea.pdf, (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412020321334/pdfft?md5=e5c7edb323d4244cae244fd7f1a8e0d2&pid=1-s2.0-S0160412020321334-main.pdf&isDTMRedir=Y) accessed August 15, 2022.</div>\n</div>\n",
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Supporting information
Methodology
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"text": "). The databases contain measurements for a large number of species, but to achieve a relatively homogenous dataset, only data from bivalves of the following species were used: "
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"text": " (Baltic clam). This left us with approximately 300,000 measurements. Approximately 10% of the stations had data in both databases and needed database cleaning to avoid using the same measurement from both databases. Furthermore, only data from the late summer and autumn were used, as concentrations of mussels in the spring are affected by spawning. For status, the 90% percentile over the 10 year period 2010-2022 was used to classify concentrations in 'low', 'moderate', and 'high' classes using two threshold values per contaminant (some thresholds also differ between blue mussels and oysters). The lower of the two thresholds was mostly OSPAR's BAC criterion or EQS (for cadmium and mercury).\u00a0The higher threshold value was either the EQS from the WFD, OSPAR EAC, or Maximum Permissible Concentration (MPC) for seafood security. In order to calculate status, at least one year (Mediterranean) or three years (other areas) of data since 2010 were needed. For trends, dry-weight concentrations for metals and wet-weight concentrations for organic substances were used. Data before 2005 were excluded and trends were calculated for time series of 5-10 years that ended in 2015 or later. If the data series had no median concentrations under LOQ, we used linear regression; otherwise, a Bayesian model (with non-informative priors) implemented in "
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Data sources and providers
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Definition
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"text": "The indicator is based on concentrations of nine hazardous substances measured in eight species of mussels and oysters. The nine substances are cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), lead (Pb), Copper (Cu), hexachlorobenzene (HCB), lindane (gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane, HCHG), DDT (using the breakdown product p,p'-DDE), benzo[a]pyrene (BAP) and 2,3',4,4',5-Pentachlorobiphenyl (PCB118). For each station, the 90% percentile over the 10 year period 2010-2022 was used to classify concentrations in \u2018low\u2019, \u2018moderate\u2019 and \u2018high\u2019 classes. These classifications are based on OSPAR's Background Assessment Concentrations (BAC) criteria, the Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) from the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Maximum Permissible Concentration (MPC) for food."
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Policy / environmental relevance
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"text": "states that \u2018human activities affect the marine environment through the release of chemical contaminants, which degrade the state of marine waters and can cause serious damage to its functioning\u2019. The indicator is based on bivalves, which live as water filterers and are very effective \u2018harvesters\u2019 of any contaminants found in the water. In our process of selecting contaminants, we wanted to have contaminants that have been recorded in as many parts of Europe as possible \u2014 as well as contaminants that span a range of sources and behave differently in the environment. For instance, mercury is very volatile, which makes the atmosphere (including rain) an important source. Many of the other contaminants are mostly found in the aquatic environment. Many of the contaminants \u2014 such as DDT, lindane \u2014 represent \u2018legacy\u2019 contaminants. These are now largely banned but still exist in the environment, including in ocean sediments. "
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Frequency of dissemination
1
Accuracy and uncertainties
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"text": "There is a large variation in coverage between regions and parameters \u2014 with especially low coverage in the Black Sea. It is important to use sensitive analytical measurements that have sufficiently quantification levels. Of the 182 species in the databases, there were 86 fish species, and species monitored vary between regions (e.g. there were 64 fish species in the Atlantic region, but only four fish species in the Mediterranean). Assessment of contaminants in fish from high trophic levels are important supplement to mussel data for identifying risks to human health. Possibly normalisation to lipid content or dry weight as described in "
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"text": "the implementation strategy for the Water Framework Directive"
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"footnote": "European Commission. Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). Guidance Document No. 32 on Biota Monitoring (the Implementation of EQSbiota) under the Water Framework Directive.; Technical Report; Publications Office: Luxembourg, 2014.",
"label": "European Commission. Common Implementation Strategy for the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC). Guidance Document No. 32 on Biota Monitoring (the Implementation of EQSbiota) under the Water Framework Directive.; Technical Report; Publications Office: Luxembourg, 2014.",
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"text": "Also, \u2018novel\u2019 contaminants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were not included in the indicator because there was no coverage in the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions. PFAS were analysed by only a limited number of countries of which PFOS was the most common PFAS reported. There was high variation in species, tissue and coverage of different PFAS analysed. A direct comparison of levels between regions is therefore challenging. Exceedances of the current EQS for PFOS was observed for mammals, birds and fish. The highest exceedances were observed for polar bears with 100 times exceedances of EQS. The current EQS for PFOS will probably be replaced by a proposed and much lower EQS for the sum of "
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"footnote": "European Commission. European Commission - Have your say. European Commission - Have your say. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022PC0540 Accessed 21 January 2025",
"label": "European Commission. European Commission - Have your say. European Commission - Have your say. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022PC0540 Accessed 21 January 2025",
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"value": "European Commission. European Commission - Have your say. European Commission - Have your say. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52022PC0540 Accessed 21 January 2025"
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