Risk assessment for paraffin oil

Paraffin and other oils are used as insecticides, offering a potential means to reduce the reliance on synthetic organic pesticides in agriculture. Presently, several products containing paraffin oil as an active ingredient are approved in the EU/Netherlands under the current risk assessment framework. However, the complex and varying composition of these type of oils (alkanes from approximately C15 to C30), and their insolubility in water, pose challenges that are not adequately addressed by the current regulatory risk assessment methods. These challenges include direct and indirect effects of an oil layer on the water surface or dispersed oil drops for aquatic organisms. As such, a refined approach to the risk assessment of paraffin oil in aquatic systems is needed. Our research seeks to underscore the limitations of current assessment methods and shed light on the intricate exposure and effects of paraffin oil in aquatic environments, advocating for a novel approach to environmental risk assessment.