La immigració a Espanya i Catalunya

478

How researchers can work in alliance with citizens to fight misinformation and improve public debates

S. Vanthournout, Sense About Science EU

Public resistance against glyphosate, GMOs, animal testing, vaccination and numerous other scientific innovations has made many scientists defensive and paranoid about the public. Recent discussion about a post-truth society and anti-intellectualism have increased this perception of a hostile and ignorant public. With concrete examples, Sofie will illustrate a different, more effective approach for both researchers and non-researchers to bring back reason into emotional debates. This approach, called public-led, expert-fed – in which scientists respond directly to real, unedited questions from the public – breaks through polarised and difficult debates because conversation is led by the questions and issues people raise. It allows researchers to identify gaps and misunderstandings in the public debate and to respond to them. With this approach, rather than fighting the public resistance against new technologies, researchers can work in an alliance with citizens to fight misinformation and improve the public debates.

479

Discussion: the need to promote good science and evidence in public debates

480

How to communicate the risks posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals? (I)

J. Legler, Utrecht University / Institute for Environmental Studies There is emerging evidence that some of the increasing occurrences of endocrine-related disorders in humans and wildlife are linked to the exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Because of the potential of significant impacts on organismal and population health that can result from disruption of endocrine homeostasis, numerous governments have established legislations that regulate chemicals that have the potential to interact with the endocrine system of humans and wildlife. However, while there is agreement on the need for regulation of EDCs, the frameworks to assess and regulate candidate EDCs differ significantly among regions. Furthermore, the mixed messages delivered by the media to the public with regard to the risks EDCs may pose add to the confusion currently existing within society, and which has split opinions on how to address this issue. This presentation will review the issue of endocrine disruption from a human health and environmental perspective, and discuss current approaches to the assessment of the risk/hazard of EDCs in Europe and North America. Through discussions among the presenters and the audience we aim to explore a roadmap on how to address the risks posed by EDCs and where the priorities for future research should lie.

481

How to communicate the risks posed by endocrine disrupting chemicals? (II)

M. Hecker, University of Saskatchewan / School of the Environment & Sustainability and Toxicology Centre

There is emerging evidence that some of the increasing occurrences of endocrine-related disorders in humans and wildlife are linked to the exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Because of the potential of significant impacts on organismal and population health that can result from disruption of endocrine homeostasis, numerous governments have established legislations that regulate chemicals that have the potential to interact with the endocrine system of humans and wildlife. However, while there is agreement on the need for regulation of EDCs, the frameworks to assess and regulate candidate EDCs differ significantly among regions. Furthermore, the mixed messages delivered by the media to the public with regard to the risks EDCs may pose add to the confusion currently existing within society, and which has split opinions on how to address this issue. This presentation will review the issue of endocrine disruption from a human health and environmental perspective, and discuss current approaches to the assessment of the risk/hazard of EDCs in Europe and North America. Through discussions among the presenters and the audience we aim to explore a roadmap on how to address the risks posed by EDCs and where the priorities for future research should lie.

482

Discussion Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

483

A regulator’s perspective in involving stakeholders and the public in the regulation of a substance

C. Ajao, ECHA-European Chemicals Agency; W. de Wolf, ECHA / Product Safety & Regulatory Compliance

the REACH Regulation, and the registration of all substances already on the market above 1 ton per annum will be completed in 2018. Since its start the areas of responsibility expanded from industrial chemicals to biocides, capturing as well the communication of chemical hazards to workers and the public through the Classification, Labelling and Packaging Regulation (CLP), and the regulation of international trade of hazardous chemicals. The latter includes support for the protection of human health and the environment by providing developing countries with information on how to store, transport, use and dispose of hazardous chemicals safely through the Prior Informed Consent Regulation (PIC). \nIn its decision making and opinion forming, ECHA uses the scientific information provided by academia and industry and applies them within the regulatory framework that it operates. Transparency is one of the values that is driving ECHA in its interactions with its different stakeholders, and the ECHA Scientific Committees invite ECHA’s accredited stakeholders as regular observers and contributors to its meetings. \nThis presentation will look at regulatory science communication by describing the different stakeholders that ECHA interacts with, the forms of communication used and their timeframes. It will also explain the regulatory boundaries ECHA has to abide to, which influence the uptake of the latest science developments, and their communication with a special focus on the decision making and opinion forming at the Member State Committee. DISCLAIMER: ‘The views expressed in this abstract are solely those of the authors and the content of the paper does not represent the views or position of the European Chemicals Agency’.

484

Questions/Discussion

485

General Discussion with panel of Sofie Vanthournout, Juliette Legler and Markus Hecker

486

Concluding remarks part I and a teaser for part II!

A. Leopold, Calidris Environment BV / Calidris Environment BV; T. Seiler, RWTH Aachen University / Ecosystem Analysis; C. Ajao, ECHA-European Chemicals Agency

Ecological risks under complex, multiple-stressor threat

scenarios: integrating chemical effects with environmental

drivers (III)

487

The impact of chemical pollution on the resilience of soils under multiple stress

A. Schaeffer, RWTH Aachen University / Chair of Environmental Biology and Chemodynamics; W. Amelung, University of Bonn; H. Hollert, RWTH Aachen University / Institute for Environmental Research; M. Kaestner, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ / Dept Environmental Biotechnology; E. Kandeler, University of Hohenheim; J. Kruse, University of Bonn; A. Miltner, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ / Department of Environmental Biotechnoloy; R. Ottermanns, RWTH Aachen University / Institute for

Environmental Research; H. Pagel, University of Hohenheim; S. Peth, University of Kassel; C. Poll, University of Hohenheim; G. Rambold, University of Bayreuth; M. Schloter, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen / Research Unit Environmental Genomics; S. Schulz, Helmholtz Zentrum Munchen; T. Streck, University of Hohenheim; M. Roß-Nickoll, RWTH Aachen University / Institute for Environmental Research

Soils are faced with man-made chemical stress, such as the input of organic or metal-containing pesticides, in combination with non-chemical stressors like soil compaction due to agricultural traffic and natural disturbance like drought. Although multiple stress factors are typically co-occurring in the environment, research in soil sciences on this aspect is limited and focuses mostly on single structural or functional endpoints. A mechanistic understanding of the reaction of soils to multiple stressors is currently lacking. Based on a review of resilience theory, we introduce a concept for research on the ability of soil polluted by xenobiotics or other chemicals as one stressor to resist further natural or anthropogenic stress and to retain its functions and structure. There is strong indication that pollution as a primary stressor will change the system reaction of soil, i.e., its resilience, stability and resistance. It can be expected that pollution affects the physiological adaption of organisms and the functional redundancy of the soil to further stress. We hypothesize that the recovery of organisms and chemical-physical properties after impact of a follow-up stressor in polluted soil differ from that in non-polluted soil, i.e., polluted soil has a different dynamical stability, and resilience of the contaminated soil is lower compared to that of not or less contaminated soil. Thus, a polluted soil might more easily change into another

system regime after occurrence of further stress. We highlight this issue by compiling the literature exemplarily for the effects of Cu contamination and compaction on soil functions and structure. However, examples of further co-occuring stress scenarios will be described as well. In this discussion paper, we propose to intensify research on effects of combined stresses involving a multidisciplinary team of experts and provide suggestions for corresponding experiments. Our concept offers thus a framework for system level analysis of soils paving the way to enhance ecological theory.

488

Combined effects of temperature and metal exposure on cell membrane fatty acid composition, lipid peroxidation, antioxidant capacities and desaturase and elongase transcription in freshwater fish

M. Fadhlaoui, INRS - Eau, Terre et Environnement / Centre Eau Terre

Environnement; F. Pierron, Université de Bordeaux / UMR EPOC CNRS 5805; P. Couture, INRS / Centre Eau Terre Environnement

In this project, two freshwater fish commonly found in areas affected by metal contamination were acclimated to different temperatures (9 and 28°C for yellow perch (Perca flavescens) and 15, 25 and 30°C for fathead minnow (Pimephales

promelas)) and exposed either to Cd or Ni during 8 weeks. At the end of exposures,

we measured cell membrane phospholipid fatty acid composition, the activities of superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione-S-transferase, glutathione peroxidase (enzyme indicators of antioxidant capacities), the concentrations of glutathione (antioxidant) and malondialdehyde (indicator of lipid peroxidation (LPO)) as well as the transcription levels of desaturases (fads2, degs2, scd2) and elongases (elovl2,

elovl5, elovl6). Both yellow perch and fathead minnow counteracted the effects of

changes in acclimation temperature on cell membrane properties by remodelling their phospholipid fatty acid composition. Specifically, in the muscle of both species, polyunsaturated fatty acids increased in cold-acclimated fish compared to warm-acclimated fish, in agreement with the theory of homeoviscous adaptation. However, brain cell membrane composition was more conservative, especially in fathead minnows. Polyunsaturated fatty acids are more vulnerable to LPO than saturated fatty acids and metal contamination leads to oxidative stress. We therefore tested the hypothesis that temperature-induced changes in cell membrane polyunsaturation are accompanied by variations in LPO in metal-exposed fish. Unexpectedly, in both species, metal exposure itself affected membrane fatty acid composition. In yellow perch, the normal response of cell membrane composition to thermal acclimation was reversed by exposure to both metals. Yet, in spite of the high polyunsaturation level in warm-acclimated fish under Ni exposure, MDA concentration was the lowest, suggesting a massive response of the antioxidant system to fight against LPO. In fathead minnow, metal exposure also affected the membrane fatty acid composition of both tissues, but the response was subtler than for yellow perch. We observed a mismatch between desaturase and elongase gene transcription and membrane composition. Overall, our results suggest that levels of control of cell membrane fatty acid composition other than gene transcription may be affected by temperature and metal exposure, such as post-transcriptional regulation of gene transcription and de novo phospholipid biosynthesis.

489

The effect of water chemistry on cadmium induced olfactory impairment in juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss)

S. Volz, RWTH Aachen University / Department of Ecosystem Analysis; S. Bogart, A. Macdonald Wilson, University of Lethbridge / Department of Biological Sciences; H. Hollert, RWTH Aachen University / Institute for Environmental Research; G.G. Pyle, University of Lethbridge / Biological Sciences Fish are dependent on olfaction since a variety of essential behaviours, such as foraging, predator avoidance and mate selection, are mediated by the olfactory system. Metals are well known to affect the olfactory system of fishes at environmentally-relevant concentrations. As metal toxicity varies with water chemistry in a predictable manner, modelling approaches, such as the Biotic Ligand Model (BLM), are powerful tools to predict site-specific effect concentrations. To date, the BLM used in risk assessment for fish only predicts gill-based metal toxicity. However, metal-binding dynamics at the olfactory epithelium may be different than for gills. For this reason, the present study investigated the impact of water chemistry on cadmium(Cd)-induced olfactory impairment. In order to assess the effect of Cd on the olfactory system, fish were exposed to 45-720 µg/L Cd for 24 h. Subsequently, olfactory responses to two odorants were measured via electro-olfactography (EOG). To investigate the impact of water chemistry on Cd-induced olfactory impairment, fish were exposed to the EOG-based 24-h IC50 of Cd (210 µg/L) in reconstituted water with varying hardness, pH, and dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentrations for 24 h. Cd inhibited the EOG response of rainbow trout in a concentration dependant manner. Fish exposed to 210 µg/L Cd for 24 h showed reduced olfactory response to TCA by 50%. Changes in water chemistry had a significant impact on Cd-induced olfactory impairment.

Decreasing water hardness from 150 to 40 mg/L as CaCO3 increased the inhibitory effect of Cd on the EOG response from 55% to more than 95%, respectively. Hence, hardness ions ameliorated Cd-induced olfactory impairment. By contrast, Cd-induced olfactory inhibition increased with rising pH, which may be due to a difference in metal speciation. DOC had a protective effect against Cd-induced olfactory impairment, l ikely by forming complexes with Cd ions and reducing their