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nvs-vocabs / EMODnetChemVocabs

A repository for the management of issues related to vocabulary concepts and collections used by the EMODnet Chemistry project.
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Harmonisation of classification of parameters associated with chlorophenol compounds #8

Open gwemon opened 4 years ago

gwemon commented 4 years ago

I am proposing to link all the P01 codes related to the quantification of chlorophenol compounds in sediment, biota, and water body to the P02 groups for "pesticides". Is there any objections or exceptions? At present, about half the codes are mapped to "Other organic contaminants" and half to "Pesticides". From the info I have available, chlorophenols tend to be used as "pesticides, herbicides, or disinfectants".

The definitions of "Pesticides" in the P02 groups are:

Identifier PrefLabel Definition Date
PEBI Pesticide concentrations in biota Concentration parameters for substances synthesised by man to kill other life forms in either whole organisms or their constituent parts. 2010-01-27
PEWB Pesticide concentrations in water bodies Concentration parameters for substances synthesised by man to kill other life forms in either solution or suspension (i.e.includes measurements in both the dissolved and particulate phases) in any body of salt or fresh water. 2010-01-27
PESD Pesticide concentrations in sediment Concentration parameters for substances synthesised by man to kill other life forms in sediment, which is considered to be anything from the bed sampled by a grab or corer, including 'fluff'. 2010-01-27

And in P36:

Identifier PrefLabel Definition Date
PESTBI Pesticides and biocides Concentrations of synthetic organic compounds designed to kill plants (including algae) or insects deemed physically or economically harmful to man. 2014-10-01

To remove any ambiguity, we could propose to broaden PEBI, PEWB, PESD to include biocides in its preflabel. Please commnet below or vote with thumb up if you agree or send me your comment by email if you're not a registered giuthub user.

roy-lowry commented 4 years ago

Hi Gwen,

The pesticide classification was based upon whether I could find evidence at the time that the compound had been used in an agricultural context to kill pests, diseases or weeds. To me this is significantly different from disinfectants, with biocide = pesticide + disinfectant. Might the best approach be to have a specific category for disinfectants and see what that clears out from the 'other organic contaminants' bucket? There may well be pesticides incorrectly labelled in haste as 'other organic contaminants'.

roy-lowry commented 4 years ago

As I think about it 'biocide' is getting uncomfortably broad providing a seamless semantic bridge from pesticide to disinfectant to antibiotic to pharmaceutical. Another approach for disinfectants might be to put them in broadened P02 pharmaceutical categories as both are associated with human health.