All Huntsman environmental toxicology studies are conducted to meet the principles of Good Laboratory Practices with regards to project management, documentation, quality assurance, and archiving samples and study records. Our expertise and facilities provides significant capacity for the Huntsman to offer toxicology support to Study Sponsors using published standard methods or custom study designs for a broad range of sectors that may affect the aquatic ecosystem.

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• Standard Methods
  Our facilities are well equipped to complete aquatic standard tests as outlined by Environment Canada, US Environmental Protection Agency, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and any other regulatory agency globally. These studies typically prescribe general or universal conditions and procedures for testing a variety of stressors for their effects on specific species and life stages over a range of concentrations or doses. Industry and government alike require these studies to develop safety data for consumer and commercial products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and to enforce environmental regulations. 

 

• Custom Exposure Studies
  Our ability to develop and implement custom exposure studies, which focus on non-standard but local species that often have cultural and fishery significance, provides further advantage to our Study Sponsors. Huntsman capacity ensures these species and target life stages are available in abundance, amenable to culture conditions, and easy to use within exposure trials. Examples of frequent customized studies include:

 

• Exploring the effects of contaminants on early life stages of commercially important species to our region, such as Atlantic cod, American lobster, Atlantic salmon, Atlantic herring and snow crab.

• Both static and flow-through exposure systems are often used within Huntsman toxicology studies. Delivering study contaminants using novel passive dosing methods are also achieved at the Huntsman on a regular basis.

• Oral gavage and voluntary feeding methods have been developed to study the effects of in-feed aquaculture medications on non-target species located in the vicinity of fish farm operations, such as juvenile and adult American lobsters.

• Identifying generational effects following exposure of individuals in collaboration with Huntsman Breeding and Genetics expertise to establish a breeding matrix that, when combined with family-based toxicity data, may detect fisheries recruitment concerns through differential performance within and between families.

• Research capacity in Aquatic Animal Health and field-based environmental monitoring rounds out our scientific capacity at Huntsman that may be involved to support toxicology studies as required.