Abstract：
Plant-based products such as essential oils and other extracts have been used for centuries due to their beneficial properties. Currently, their use is widely disseminated through a variety of industries and new applications are continuously emerging. For these reasons, they are produced industrially in large quantities and consequently they have the potential to reach the environment. However, the potential effects that these products have on the ecosystems\' health are mostly unknown. In recent years, the scientific community started to focus on the possible toxic effects of essential oils and plant extracts towards non-target organisms. As a result, an increasing body of knowledge has emerged. This review describes the current state of the art on the toxic effects that essential oils and plant extracts have towards organisms from different trophic levels, including producers, primary consumers, and secondary consumers. The majority of the studies (76.5%) focuses on the aquatic environment, particularly in aquatic invertebrates (45.1%) with only 23.5% of the studies focusing on the potential toxicity of plant-derived products on terrestrial ecosystems. While some essential oils and extracts have been described to have no toxic effects to the selected organisms or the toxic effects were only observable at high concentrations, others were reported to be toxic at concentrations below the limit set by international regulations, some of them at very low concentrations. In fact, L(E)C50 values as low as 0.0336 mg.L-1, 0.0005 mg.L-1 and 0.0053 mg.L-1 were described for microalgae, crustaceans and fish, respectively. Generally, essential oils exhibit higher toxicity than extracts. However, when the extracts are obtained from plants that are known to produce toxic metabolites, the extracts can be more toxic than essential oils. Overall, and despite being generally considered \"eco-friendly\" products and safer than they synthetic counterparts, some essential oils and plant extracts are toxic towards non-target organisms. Given the increasing interest from industry on these plant-based products further research using international standardized protocols is mandatory.
摘要：
植物基产品，如精油和其他提取物，由于其有益的特性，已经使用了几个世纪。目前,它们的使用在各种行业中广泛传播，新的应用不断涌现。由于这些原因,它们在工业上大量生产，因此它们有可能到达环境。然而,这些产品对生态系统健康的潜在影响大多是未知的。近年来,科学界开始关注精油和植物提取物对非靶标生物可能产生的毒性作用。因此,越来越多的知识已经出现。这篇评论描述了精油和植物提取物对来自不同营养水平的生物体的毒性作用的最新状态，包括生产者,主要消费者,和次要消费者。大多数研究(76.5%)关注水生环境，特别是在水生无脊椎动物（45.1％）中，只有23.5％的研究集中在植物衍生产品对陆地生态系统的潜在毒性上。虽然一些精油和提取物被描述为对所选生物体没有毒性作用，或者毒性作用仅在高浓度下观察到，据报道，其他人在低于国际法规规定的浓度下有毒，其中一些浓度非常低。事实上,L(E)C50值低至0.0336mg。L-1,0.0005mg。L-1和0.0053mg。L-1被描述为微藻，甲壳类动物和鱼类，分别。一般来说,精油比提取物具有更高的毒性。然而,当提取物从已知产生有毒代谢物的植物中获得时，提取物可能比精油更有毒。总的来说,尽管通常被认为是“环保”产品，比合成产品更安全，一些精油和植物提取物对非靶标生物有毒。鉴于行业对这些基于植物的产品的兴趣日益增加，必须使用国际标准化协议进行进一步研究。
