Special Symposia
Click HERE to create your personal Itinerary for the Meeting.
Urban Contaminants: Sources, Composition, Fate from a Multimedia Perspective
November 12, 2007 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM, Room Ballroom D
Cities are home to nearly three-quarters of the developed world. As home to so many people as well as infrastructure and institutions, it is little wonder that cities are the geographic foci of resource stocks and flows. Cities have been described as the largest harzardous chemical repositories on the globe because of their drawing power. It is logical then, that cities should have elevated levels of a wide array of contaminants that are emitted from the stock of materials and activities. This session will explore cities in terms of the sources, chemical composition, release rates and fate of toxic chemicals. The presentations will take a multimedia perspective since emissions to one medium rapidly move to others. The goal of the session is to shed light on the current research into sources and mechanisms related to urban contaminants so that we can move forward with scientific and policy agendas.
Diversity in POPs
November 13, 2007 8:00 AM - 11:40 AM, Room Ballroom D
POPs or Persistent Organic Pollutants, have been a central theme over the years at SETAC. As the field has matured, we have come to appreciate their numerous sources, diverse properties that in turn drive their fate at local to global scales, including the role of biota as vectors and receptors. The goal of this session is to assemble a diverse range of studies that take us from POPs emissions through to biotic exposure. By assembling this diverse range of studies, we aim to identify commonalities (the goal of science) as well as major uncertainties and inconsistencies that will feed the next generation of studies. This study will bring together established and new leaders in the field of POPs in addition to students and practitioners.
Environmental fate and effects of manufactured nanomaterials
November 14, 2007 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM, Room Ballroom D
Manufactured nanomaterials are finding increasing use in commercial and industrial use worldwide, largely due to the unique physical and chemical properties imparted by their small size. Many of these same properties render nanomaterials difficult to predict with regard to their activity in biological systems or behavior in environmental systems. Through manufacture, use, and disposal, nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes, metal oxide nanoparticles, and quantum dots will eventually find their way into the ambient environment. There is currently a strong focus on research into the potential impacts of these novel contaminants on environmental systems. Previous sessions at annual SETAC meetings have focused on research needs and regulatory perspectives on nanomaterials in the environment – this session is intended to highlight the excellent body of research that is currently emerging on this topic. A broad spectrum of research topics including multiple classes of nanomaterials (e.g. carbon nanomaterials, metal oxides, etc.), in aquatic, airborne, and biological systems, and studies on both fate and effects of these materials will be presented. The over-arching goal of the symposium is to provide a forum and a means for communication in order to disseminate the most important new findings in the field of environmental impacts of nanomaterials.
Common Effects Endpoints For Persistent Toxic Substances in Human and Ecological Epidemiology
November 13, 2007 1:50 PM - 5:30 PM, Room Ballroom D
Developing parallel approaches for human and ecological epidemiology is potentially cost-effective for not only retrospective epidemiological analyses but also prospective preventive management opportunities in different geographic and temporal settings. This session will address ecological or human receptors for which effects measurements are or could be transferred among humans and other animals. This collection of presentations will foster communication across typical disciplinary barriers and present opportunities for shared research agendas and the transferability of endpoint development, measurement, and cross species use. Speakers will address functional effects endpoints associated with persistent organic pollutants that at a minimum address dioxins, PCBs, pesticides, and mercury. We will address functional endpoints associated with, developmental toxicity, such as brain and heart/vascular development, immunosuppression and relationship to disease, insulin relationships to diabetes, human cancer, immunologic interactions and reproductive effects, and general reproductive and epidemiological biomarkers of exposure and effect.
Environment and Health: From Lab Bench to Classroom to Community
November 13, 2007 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM, Room IP Room
Lifetime exposure to environmental toxicants of humans and wildlife is well-documented, in terms of genetic, physiological, and behavioral effects. While all vertebrates including humans share fundamental mechanisms and overt manifestations of toxicity, it is rare for ecotoxicologists and those involved in environmental and public health to share their experiences and discuss with educators effective methods of communicating this information to the general public, especially to those residing in urban regions that are exposed to myriad environmental challenges. Environmental toxicology and human health can help students and the general public to understand and value science, and for public health professionals to form evidence-based policy and risk communication messages. The key partners in this effort seldom have collaborated to achieve the best pedagogy or risk communication messages for target audiences, although all can benefit by this science. This symposium challenges educators, public health professionals, and scientists to share and broaden the scope of their efforts to include other perspectives on environment and health. Therefore, the goals of this symposium are to: 1) foster communication among educators, public health practitioners, and scientists, and 2) enhance educators’ understanding of science as a process. To achieve these goals, the objectives are to: 1) share methods for translating scientific concepts to community education, 2) demonstrate the validity of using model organisms and computer models in educational contexts, and 3) explore the spectrum of pedagogic techniques in science education as they apply to environmental toxicology and health.
A retrospective view of avian biomonitoring and contaminant effects in the
November 15, 2007 8:00 AM - 5:30 PM, Room Ballroom D
The Great Lakes is home to one of the longest running sets of avian biomonitoring programs in North America, a program that has at times been the result of excellent cross-boundary cooperation between scientists and government regulators. Although there is no single, fully coordinated biomonitoring program, at various times over the past several decades, the many contributing scientists would meet in a variety of fora to cooperatively discuss current monitoring needs and plan future efforts. Resulting publications from some of these efforts have provided guidance and set standards for others as they designed and planned new biomonitoring efforts. In addition, the Great Lakes avian biomonitoring and toxicity studies provided some of the key evidence for a host of advances in environmental assessment including recognizing what was later termed endocrine disruption. To date, the past and current avian biomonitoring efforts on the Great Lakes still provide models of successful integrated biomonitoring and assessment programs that helped drive policy and environmental management decisions within the context of national and international environmental regulations, agreements and treaties. In this retrospective special symposium, the participants will present past biomonitoring and assessment efforts on a local, watershed and regional scale, and highlight lessons learned from past successes and failures that we can pool to provide new guidance for both future cooperative biomonitoring and assessment studies and for for future policy and management efforts within the broader Great Lakes ecosystem.
