The Environment Agency (EA) has decided to withdraw the Soil Guideline Value (SGV) for nickel and the supporting reports following discussions with Public Health England (PHE) about new information. The SGV report, the toxicity (TOX) report, and the supporting information document for nickel will remain available for historical reference on the EA archives.
The SGV for nickel was published in 2009. In February 2015, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) published their scientific opinion on the public health risk from the presence of nickel in food and drinking water. The full report is available here: http://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/efsajournal/pub/4002.htm.
EFSA recommend an oral TDI for nickel that is considerably lower than the oral HCV used in the derivation of the SGV. The EA is withdrawing their reports in light of this new expert opinion. The EA will not be updating them as it no longer undertakes work to derive new SGV or TOX reports, but it will continue to recommend that relevant public health bodies are consulted on any new industry-led guideline value projects.