resources (I)
236
Multiple exposure to pesticides and other emerging pollutants – problems and solutions for healthy ecosystems and humans
M. Santen, G. Ungherese, Greenpeace
Industrial pollution is a severe threat to water resources around the world, particularly in the Global South factories release hazardous chemicals that impact our precious water resources - causing long term devastation to human health and the environment. Rivers supply vital resources, including drinking water, crop irrigation, and food. They also serve as a critical support system for industrial activity. In the past decades Greenpeace did several investigations on persistent chemicals like pesticides and industrial chemicals polluting waterbodies. Producing our food within an agricultural system highly dependent on synthetic-chemical pesticides doesn’t come without consequences. The impacts of industrial agriculture like Apple and fruit production are widespread, ranging from contaminated soil and water, to impacts on bees and other beneficial insects, as well as on farmers, their families and consumers. Starting in 2011 investigations in the
context of Greenpeace’s detox campaign have found a wide range of hazardous substances in the waste waters of textile production or in the effluent of communal wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) from industrial zones in China, as well as in nearby rivers. Case Studies on per- and polyfluorinated chemicals show that PFAS (perfluorinated alkyl substances) are widespread compounds of environmental concern. Because of their well-recognized hazardous properties, long chain PFASs have been subject to increasing regulation. In 2015 Greenpeace conducted 8 expeditions in remote areas, snow and lake water samples were taken at 10 remote high altitude sites showing that these persistent chemicals are present everywhere on the planet. In 2017 Greenpeace Italy carried out PFASs analysis in wastewaters, analysis revealed PFASs presence in all tested samples of rivers and drinking water collected in schools and public fountain . It is not too late to act – but new rules and responsibilities are required. The use of pollution control or wastewater treatment does not deal effectively with all hazardous substances, and only postpones the need for more effective measures. The problem has to be tackled at its source. The Detox campaign challenges top textile brands to work with their suppliers and eliminate PFAS and all other hazardous chemicals across their entire supply chain, and the entire life-cycle of their products. The growing concern about Europe’s massive pesticide use goes hand in hand with an increasing need to search for ecological solutions. To be effective, action needs to be based on knowledge, which requires transparency as a first step, the quantities of hazardous substances used and discharged to be reported and monitored, with full availability of data to the public. [1] http://gain.fas.usda.gov/Recent%20GAIN%20Publications/Fresh%20Deciduous% 20Fruit%20Annual_Vienna_EU-27_10-28-2011.pdf [1] http://www.greenpeace.org/international/Global/international/publications/toxics/ Water%202011/dirty-laundry-12pages.pdf [1] https://www.greenpeace.de/sites/www.greenpeace.de/files/20121203-Toxic-Threa ts-China-engl..pdf <sup>[1]</sup> Greenpeace (2015), Footprints in the Snow: http://detox-outdoor.org/assets/uploads/Report%20RAE/RAE_report_08_2015_en glish_final.pdf <sup>[1]</sup> Greenpeace Italy (2017) Pfas in Veneto: inquinamento sotto controllo? (in italian)
http://www.greenpeace.org/italy/Global/italy/report/2017/Inquinamento/PFAS-in- Veneto.pdf <sup>[1]</sup> Greenpeace Italy (2017) Non ce la beviamo. Presenza di PFAS nell’acqua delle scuole venete (in italian)
http://www.greenpeace.org/italy/Global/italy/report/2017/Inquinamento/Report_N on_ce_la_beviamo.pdf
237
Benefits of international Science & Policy cooperation to promote a paradigm shift in water quality and safety assessment framework
A. Hebert, VEOLIA Environnement Recherche et Innovatio / Environment and Health; S. Rinck-Pfeiffer, Global Water Research Coalition; B. Escher, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UFZ / Cell Toxicology; F.D. Leusch, Griffith University / Australian Rivers Institute; P.A. Neale, Griffith University / School of Environment; A. van Wezel, KWR Watercycle Research Institute / Chemical Water Quality and Health; M. Dingemans, KWR Watercycle Research Institute; M. Meeker, Water Environment & Reuse Foundation (WE&RF) Bioanalytical tools hold great promise as an additional tool of our current water monitoring strategies. In vitro bioassays, which are increasingly being applied in water quality assessment, provide relevant and robust predictive biosystems able to specifically and quantitatively measure early adverse effects of contaminants in water, including providing a measure of mixture effect, even in low doses, where individual components of the mixture alone would not show an effect. They provide comprehensive and high-throughput monitoring systems for a wide range of water contaminants, without the use of experimental animals. Smart combinations of chemical & biological analytics can lead to reduced uncertainty in safety assessments, especially with regards to endocrine disruption, oxidative stress as other relevant primary adverse outcome pathways triggered by environmental mixtures of water micropollutants. Gathering the experts worldwide, recent large scale projects delivered several methodological advances leading to a
comprehensive framework including the most promising panel of assays and expanded effect-based trigger values (EBT) for both drinking water and environmental waters (GWRC Endocrine Toolbox II, FP7 DEMEAU, FP7 Solutions, BRAVE initiative). These innovations could contribute to strengthen the safety of conventional water treatment plants and be integrated in future
regulations. They also could provide robust monitoring frameworks to promote alternative water schemes as promoted by the Blue Print Initiative in Europe to better safeguard water resources and the WHO Potable Reuse Guidance document. While leading players in Australia, Europe and US recommend to incorporate predictive tools in the water cycle regulatory monitoring (Water Research Australia, US (CA), Canada, RIVM, EAWAG, KWR, UFZ, EU-JRC and EU DG-Env, WHO and GWRC), these bioanalytical tools need to be more comprehensively validated and benchmarked across the entire water cycle and against human and ecological health outcomes before they can be adopted in regulatory frameworks. A critical next step will be to derive further EBT for an expanded scope of bioassay endpoints. Several strategies for the derivation of EBT have been proposed but there remains a lack of acceptance and harmonization across the field to allow better acceptance of these innovative water quality and safety frameworks. Covering a wide range of issues including water quality and
quantity management and the management of water-related risks, the OECD is endeavouring to capture science as policy recommendations that derive from its past and recent work on water in a single, consistent and action-oriented policy. By hosting a collaborative task-force or expert working group including GWRC experts and gathering international organizations such as WHO, UNESCO and the OECD we can get to benchmark these new effect-based trigger values, and contribute to the water challenge by targeting Water effect-based guidelines. Complementary tasks could also be taken up by such Science to Policy interface as a supportive action to better explain and disseminate the associated benefits for stakeholders as citizen towards their health protection, municipalities and local authorities, water professionals and institutional bodies.
238
Chemicals of emerging concern (CEC) in the water cycle – a regulatory perspective
M. Helmecke, Umweltbundesamt (UBA)
Environmental authorities increasingly need to address the challenge of contaminants of emerging concerns found in the water cycle. The German Environment Agency has assessed entry paths, critical characteristics of chemicals and the existing legislation to derive potential measures to minimize
micro-pollutants in the aquatic environment. A holistic and precautionary approach is needed that combines measures at the source, during the usage of products and chemicals as well as end-of-pipe measures. The EU Water Framework Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive pose a legal frame to achieve good status of all waterbodies and prohibit any further deterioration. Environmental Quality Standards (EQS) are defined and used for the assessment of chemical status. Further provisions are defined in regulations specific to pesticides, biocides, pharmaceuticals and chemicals under REACH. These existing legal provisions need to be continuously developed and supplemented in order to reflect new knowledge and best available technology regarding micro-pollutants. This also includes more holistic approaches for the assessment and monitoring of chemicals. The review of the Water Framework Directive can provide a suitable window of opportunity in this regard as agreed by the European Water Directors in 2016. However, there are challenges regarding the inclusion of new approaches to a regulatory context.
239
Non-target Screening for Holistic Chemical Monitoring and Compound Discovery: Open Science, Real-time and Retrospective Approaches
E. Schymanski, University of Luxembourg / Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB); R. Aalizadeh, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens / Department of Chemistry; N. Alygizakis, Environmental Institute; J. Hollender, Eawag / Environmental Chemistry; M. Krauss, T. Schulze, Helmholtz centre for environmental research - UFZ / Effect-Directed Analysis; J. Slobodnik, Environmental Institute; N.S. Thomaidis, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens / Department of Chemistry; A.J. Williams, US EPA / ORDNCCT Non-target screening (NTS) with high resolution mass spectrometry (HR-MS) provides opportunities to discover chemicals, their dynamics and effects on the environment far beyond the current 45 “priority pollutants” or even “known” chemicals. Open science and the exchange of information (between for example scientists and regulatory authorities) has a critical role to play in the continuing evolution of NTS. Using a variety of case studies from Europe, this talk will highlight how open science activities such as MassBank.EU (https://massbank.eu), the NORMAN Suspect Exchange
(http://www.norman-network.com/?q=node/236) and NORMAN Digital Sample Freezing Platform (http://norman-data.eu) as well as the US EPA CompTox Chemistry Dashboard (https://comptox.epa.gov/dashboard/) can support NTS. Further, it will show how initiatives such as near “real time” monitoring of the River Rhine and retrospective screening via so-called “digital freezing” platforms have opened up new potential for exploring the dynamics and distribution even of as-yet-unidentified chemicals. Collaborative European and international activities facilitate data exchange amongst analytical data scientists and enable quick, effective and reproducible provisional compound identification in digitally archived HR-MS data. This is leading to new ways of assessing and prioritizing the next generation of “emerging pollutants” in the environment, enabling a pro-active approach to environmental assessment unthinkable only a few years ago. Note: This
abstract does not reflect US EPA policy.
240
Toxicological profiling of water samples with in vitro bioassays and assessment using effect-based trigger values
B. Escher, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research GmbH - UFZ / Cell Toxicology; R. Altenburger, UFC Centre for Environmental Research / Department Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology; S. Aїt-Aїssa, Institut National de lEnvironnement Industriel et des Risques (INERIS); P.A. Behnisch, Biodetection Systems BV; W. Brack, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ / Effect-Directed Analysis; F. Brion, INERIS / Ecotoxicology Unit; S. Buchinger, Federal Institute of Hydrology / Department G Biochemistry Ecotoxicology; W. Busch, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ GmbH / Bioanalytical Ecotoxicology; S.E. Crawford, RWTH Aachen University / Institute for Environmental Research,
52 SETAC Europe 28th Annual Meeting Abstract Book
Dept. of Environmental Analysis; T. Hamers, VU University Amsterdam, Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM) / Department of Environment and Health; K. Hettwer, new diagnostics GmbH; K. Hilscherova, Masaryk University, Faculty of Science, RECETOX / Research Centre for Toxic Compounds in the Environment RECETOX; H. Hollert, RWTH Aachen University / Institute for Environmental Research; R. Kase, Swiss Centre for Applied Ecotoxicology Eawag-EPFL; C. Kienle, Ecotox Centre Eawag-EPFL; J. Legradi, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; J. Tuerk, IUTA, Institute of Energy and Environmental Technology; R. van der Oost, Waternet / Onderzoek en Advies; E. Vermeirssen, Ecotox Centre Eawag-EPFL / Aquatic Ecotoxicology; P.A. Neale, Griffith University / School of Environment
In vitro bioassays including cell-based bioassays and low-complexity
whole-organism assays have been applied for decades in water quality monitoring. However, there is no common understanding what level or response is acceptable. As of now, bioassay results were only benchmarked against each other but not against an absolute measure of chemical water quality. The EU environmental quality standards (EQS) differentiate between poor and acceptable surface water concentrations for individual chemicals of concern but cannot capture the thousands of chemicals that are in water and their biological action as mixtures. We developed a method that reads across from existing EQS and makes additional mixture considerations to assure that the derived EBT are protective for complex mixtures as they occur in surface water. The EBT derivation method was applied to 48 in vitro bioassays with 37 of them having sufficient information to yield preliminary EBTs. 30 of those were considered robust enough to pursue further and for the remainder it is necessary to obtain more experimental data for single chemicals but also to derive more EQS values. To assess the practicability and robustness of the proposed approach, we tested the EBTs numerous case studies from the literature where wastewater treatment plants and surface water were evaluated with bioanalytical tools. In this presentation, we highlight specifically case studies from the EU project SOLUTIONS, where water quality was assessed in large streams (e.g., Danube), hot spots of contamination (e.g., disposal of untreated wastewater into the Danube in Novi Sad) and influence of wastewater treatment plant effluent into small creeks (case study of small Rhine tributaries in Switzerland). In many cases the proposed EBTs were able to differentiate wastewater from surface water and EBTs for different bioassays gave very consistent results indicating the benefit of a common derivation method. Despite the limitations due to limited effect data availability and limitations of the existing lists of EQS, the proposed generic methods to derive EBTs is a first step to harmonise existing approaches and explore various different options of a large diversity of in vitro bioassays commonly applied for water quality assessment.
Acknowledgement – This study was a joint effort of the EU project SOLUTIONS
(grant 603437) and the workgroup bioassays of the NORMAN network.
241
Chemical gene interactions for associating contaminants with biological effects
A. Schroeder, University of Minnesota-Crookston / Math, Science and Technology; D. Martinovic-Weigelt, University of St. Thomas / Biology; G.T. Ankley, D.L. Villeneuve, U.S. EPA / National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory
Evaluating the potential human health and ecological risks associated with exposures to complex chemical mixtures in the environment is one of the main challenges of chemical safety assessment and environmental protection. There is a need for approaches capable of integrating chemical monitoring and biological effects data to evaluate risks associated with chemicals present in the environment. We will present an approach that uses prior knowledge regarding the biological effects of individual contaminants to predict toxicity of mixtures and prioritize contaminants. More specifically, we use chemical-gene interactions networks to develop knowledge assembly models (KAMs; which is specific to the aquatic system of interest) based on chemical monitoring data and publically available chemical-gene interaction data. When only chemical data are available, KAMs allow for the development of site-specific hypotheses for follow-up biological effects testing. When transcriptomics data are available, KAMs can be used with statistical approaches, such as reverse causal reasoning approaches to prioritize risk and contaminants. Two brief examples using chemical-gene interactions and KAMs will be presented. The first example used chemical monitoring data from the effluent of a local wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) to develop chemical-gene interaction networks. The networks were used to develop hypotheses about the biological effects of the effluent. To test the network predictions, targeted gene expression, using quantitative polymerase chain reaction, was measured from adult male and female fathead minnows that were exposed to the effluent. The second example used prior knowledge about chemical-gene interactions to develop a KAM for detected chemicals at five locations near two WWTPs. Hepatic transcriptome data from fathead minnows exposed to site-water at each location were mapped to the assembly models to evaluate the likelihood of a chemical contributing to the observed biological responses using richness and concordance statistics. The use of chemical-gene interaction networks and KAMs have strong potential for associating chemical occurrence data to biological effects that, when integrated with adverse outcome pathway knowledge, can guide research and/or monitoring efforts related to the effects of contaminants in the environment. The contents of this abstract neither constitute nor necessarily represent official US EPA views and
policies.