Sunday 31st May Congress Hall during opening ceremony 
(18:30 – 19:00 hours)  

Christina Rudén (the Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden):
Risk assessment for a sustainable chemical use -  Within REACH, and beyond

The implementation of the new European chemicals legislation, REACH, has advanced the prerequisites for an effective chemicals control. Test requirements have increased for a large number of industrial chemicals and this has contributed to putting intensified scientific focus on the development of efficient tests and test systems for the generation of (eco)toxicity data for risk assessment purposes. In this presentation I will discuss what REACH does, and does not achieve towards the aim of a sustainable chemicals control in terms of data generation; The REACH data requirements will be analysed in relation to what data are minimally needed for regulatory hazard identification (classification and warning labelling), and it is concluded that REACH does not ensure the generation of sufficient data for all substances for which this is needed. I will furthermore propose some general principles for designing tiered test systems, taking the reliability, validity, sensitivity, cost, and regulatory impact of the tests into account. This analysis includes the presentation of a tentative method to evaluate the usefulness of tests for regulatory hazard identification: the efficiency ratio. Finally I will introduce the concept of risk-neutral defaults as an approach to handling remaining scientific uncertainty in the risk assessment process.

Christina Rudén is associate professor at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm, Sweden (http://www.kth.se/). She received her PhD in toxicology at the Karolinska Institute in 2002. Rudén’s research has two main focus areas. One that concentrates on the evaluation of the workings of the regulatory system for chemicals control, and the overall purpose of this research is to contribute to developing scientifically well-motivated improvements of this system. The second focus area concerns the development of methods and principles to improve test systems for chemicals. The overall purpose of this research is to empirically determine the efficiency of different toxicity and ecotoxicity tests (or combination of tests) to identify chemicals of concern to human health or the environment. Rudén has published over 30 scientific papers on regulatory toxicology in international peer-reviewed journals. She is a member of the Swedish Chemicals Agency’s Supervisory Board, the President of the Swedish Society of Toxicology, and the Program Director of the Swedish national research program MistraPharma (http://www.mistrapharma.se/).

Monday 1st June  2009, Congress Hall (16:15 – 17:00 hours)

Tom Hutchinson (Plymouth Marine Laboratory, UK):
Our seas, our health, our wealth – the human wildlife connection

Within the early years of the 21^st century, global concern over climate change, energy security and food supplies is increasing our focus on the oceans.  Marine ecosystems also support >90% of the planet’s living biomass, representing essential food sources and also a repository of new medicines and other biotechnologies.  In terms of human health and the importance of coastal ecosystem quality, three quarters of the world’s megacities are located by the sea and the United Nations estimate that by 2010, over 80% of people on the planet will live within 100 km of the coast. 
Historically, the focus of research and concern has been on the impact of human activities on the oceans, particularly through anthropogenic contaminants and the exploitation of fish stocks and other bioresources.  In recent years, there has been greater recognition of the potential direct impact of the seas on human health, both detrimental and beneficial.  Key challenges include: global change and coastal flooding, eutrophication and harmful algal blooms (HABs), microbial and chemical contamination of seafood supplies.  From neurophysiology to Green Fluorescent Protein and beyond, there are also key opportunities based on marine organisms for biomedical research and other marine technologies.  The talk will discuss the global implications of these trends for environmental risk assessment, highlighting examples of natural and synthetic chemicals to emphasize the need to better understand the chemical-biological interactions underpinning systems toxicology and the human-wildlife health connection.

Tom Hutchinson is professor and Head of Science for Environment and Health at Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML), a collaborative centre of the UK’s Natural Environment Research Council.  He read ecotoxicology at King’s College London, completed his PhD in wildlife immunotoxicology at the University of Plymouth (UK) and holds honorary professorships at Brunel University (UK) and the University of Exeter (UK).  Tom also has 21 years of industrial R&D experience in the UK, mostly working on the environmental risk assessment of pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and waste management issues for AstraZeneca, ZENECA and ICI.  He was also employed as a toxicologist at AstraZeneca’s R&D headquarters in Sweden, working on molecular biomarkers and the use of aquatic organisms as alternative models in drug discovery.   Tom has also contributed to a range of national and international environmental science and animal welfare activities, including ECETOC, ECVAM, the European Science Foundation and the OECD.  Today, his research interests are in strengthening risk assessment through an evolving systems toxicology approach, utilising an understanding of chemical – biological interactions across natural compounds, emerging contaminants and potentially novel marine biotechnologies.

Tuesday 2nd June, Congress Hall (16:15 - 17:00 hours) 

Dr. Mohiuddin Munawar (Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries & Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries & Oceans, Canada):
Probing Aquatic Ecosystem Health:  A journey through the Great Lakes

Throughout the globe, aquatic ecosystems have been adversely affected by multiple anthropogenic stressors including pollution, eutrophication, over-exploitation of fisheries, the establishment of exotic biota and climate change. As a result of rapid globalization and population growth, the impacts of such stressors have been compounded. The proliferating, cumulative challenges to aquatic ecosystems require integrated, adaptive, science-based approaches to management. A holistic approach to ecosystem management must balance both the maintenance of and benefits from healthy ecosystems. Aquatic resource management is changing from a species-based to a space-based approach. Identifying ecologically significant areas that require attention is a priority.  A journey through the Great Lakes provides a panorama of ecological perturbations due to human abuse and actions.  Since the 1800s, close to 200 exotic species have become established; with a wide range of impacts affecting all trophic levels.  The effects of climate change are already evident in the Great Lakes, affecting productivity and habitats by decimating existing biodiversity and allowing new invasive species to flourish.  A comprehensive understanding of the vulnerability and sensitivity of different habitats to stressors is a critical dimension of risk assessment which provides advice in the face of uncertainty. Given the complexity of ecosystem processes, a risk-based approach to aquatic ecosystem health and management may provide the most effective framework.  Models are being developed in the Great Lakes to synthesize knowledge helping to identify risks and evaluate hypotheses for an ecosystem approach to management.

Mohiuddin Munawar has a Ph.D. in Phycology (Physiological Ecology of phytoplankton). He joined the Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, for post-doctoral research under the National Science Program. In 1969, Dr. Munawar initiated his research of the North American Great Lakes as a Post-doctoral fellow of the National Research Council of Canada, in collaboration with Dr. R.A Vollenweider – an eminent limnologist. In 1972 he joined Fisheries & Oceans Canada as a Research Scientist. Since then he has been actively involved in Great Lakes plankton research and has published more than 200 papers and given over 300 presentations dealing with phycology, physiological ecology, food-web dynamics, ecotoxicology, and ecosystem health of the Great Lakes. Dr. Munawar is the founder-president of the Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management Society established in 1989. He was invited to launch the Society’s primary journal as the chief editor of Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management, published by Taylor & Francis, Philadelphia. The journal is now ranked by ISI and is covered by Thompson Scientific Products. Due to the need for holistic environmental books dealing with the “total ecosystem”, the Ecovision World Monograph Series was initiated by him, as its Series Editor, and already more than 20 peer-reviewed books have been published. Under the banner of the Society, he has been successful in organizing several conferences and symposia on diverse topics and issues around the world. He has received several awards and distinctions such as the Chandler-Misner Award for best scientific manuscript of the year, Canadian Public Service Commission Award, the prestigious Anderson-Everett Award for life time contribution to Great Lakes Science, an honorary doctorate (Doctor Honoris Causa) from the Faculty of Science, Göteborg University, Sweden, and recently he has been conferred the Fellowship of the Academy of Science, Engineering & Technology, from India. In 2008 he was also awarded the Assistant Deputy Minister Distinction Award by the Department of Fisheries & Oceans in recognition of his excellence, leadership and scientific contributions. 

Wednesday 3rd June, Congress Hall (16:15 – 17:00 hours)

Dr. Albertinka J. Murk (WIMEK-WU, The Netherlands):
Assessing ecotoxicological impacts in differing and changing environments

Tinka Murk is professor in Environmental Toxicology at Wageningen University and associated scientist of the Dutch marine research institute Wageningen IMARES. Tinka Murk read Environmental and Molecular Biology at Leiden University, was research fellow at the Institute of Environmental Sciences in Leiden and scientific staff member of the National Health Council of the Netherlands. In 2002 she was appointed associate professor at the division of Toxicology of Wageningen University upon receiving a personal NWO-Aspasia grant. Since 2007 Tinka Murk is professor in Environmental Toxicology. In 2006 she also became scientifically involved in the Dutch Marine Institute IMARES. She has about 25 years of experience in the field of environmental toxicology, developmental toxicology, risk assessment, mechanism-based biomarkers and in vitro and in vivo bioassays. Her research focuses on sub-lethal effects of persistent thyroid- and steroid hormone disrupting chemicals on critical life stages and includes the application of transgenic cell and animal models. Tinka Murk is scientific member of several Dutch and International advisory boards and review panels and is member of the Ethical Committee of Wageningen University and Research Centre.