DEMETRA is a project funded by the European Commission to address the ecotoxicity evaluation of pesticides in a way suitable for the Directive 91/414 on pesticides.

Under the DEMETRA project, five computer models have been developed to predict toxicity against five endpoints:

1. Acute toxicity for Rainbow Trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss): LC50 96-hours exposure
   
2. Acute toxicity for Water Flea (Daphnia Magna): LC50 48-hours exposure
3. Acute oral toxicity for Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus): LD50 14-days exposure
4. Dietary toxicity for Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus): LD50 8-days exposure
5. Acute contact toxicity for Honey Bee (Apis melifera): LD50 48-hours of exposure.

The participants of the project are:

Partners

• Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche “Mario Negri” (NEGRI) (Coordinator)
• BioChemics Consulting SAS (BCX)
• Central Science Laboratory (CSL)
• Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University “Dunarea de Jos” of Galati (UGAL)
• Politecnico di Milano (POLIMI)
• University of Patras, HCI Group (UNIPATRAS)
• Syngenta Crop Protection AG (SYNGENTA)

Subcontractors

• The Pesticides Safety Directorate (PSD)
• Agricultural Centre BASF (BASF)
• KnowledgeMiner Software (KMINER)
• Technology for Growth (TFG)
• University of Bradford, School of Informatics (UOB)

A book has been written describing in details the model basis, development, validation and novelties in the scenario of QSAR models for regulatory purposes.