News
09.12.2016

Winter 2016 ECETOC e-newsletter published

Dear Readers,

The Winter 2016 ECETOC e-newsletter is now available at http://bit.ly/ecetoc-enl31

2016 has been another productive year for ECETOC. One of the highlights was the launch last May of the new ECETOC website, which introduces ‘Topics’ pages grouping information, publications and a series of YouTube video interviews with experts on some of the most important topics in the ECETOC Science Programme. Development of the website has continued and a series of language options have recently been added to spread the visibility of ECETOC even further afield.

The strong Asian interest in ECETOC and its activities over recent years continued in 2016 with Japanese and South Korean delegations visiting the ECETOC secretariat this year to learn more about the Targeted Risk Assessment (TRA) Tool and to present their national equivalents. ECETOC and its TRA Steering Group look forward to developing this collaboration as part of the ECETOC transformational programme to expand the use and applicability of the TRA Tool beyond Europe and REACH, and also welcome the translation into Japanese of the ECETOC Technical Reports supporting the current version of the TRA Tool by the Japanese Chemical Industry Ecology Toxicology & Information Center (JETOC). Meanwhile ECETOC is continuing to work with ECHA to address questions raised about the conservatism of the TRA model and to explore opportunities to protect workers’ health in the workplace.

JETOC also published a Japanese translation of the series of papers on grouping of nanomaterials published by the ECETOC nano-grouping task force. Since the papers were published, ECETOC has been working to develop a nano-grouping risk assessment tool which is currently being adapted to coincide with discussions at ECHA on nano grouping and read-across of chemicals. The tool should be ready early in 2017. Development has also started on a human exposure data app following the 2016 task force report on effective use of human exposure data in risk assessment of chemicals and associated workshop on advances in consumer exposure science: data, modelling and aggregate exposure assessment (see Technical Report no.126 and Workshop Report no.31). These tools will be freely available on the ECETOC website when added to the ‘Tools’ section.

Over the course of 2016, ECETOC has published 8 ECETOC reports and 5 Papers in the Open Scientific Literature on subjects as diverse as: building a prenatal developmental toxicity ontology, human exposure data in risk assessment of chemicals, non-coding RNA in regulatory toxicology, freshwater ecotoxicity as an impact category in life cycle assessment, toxicity thresholds for aquatic ecological communities and assessing impacts of chemical exposures, assessment and application of adverse outcome Pathways (AOPs) relevant to the endocrine system, to name but a few.

During 2016, ECETOC also held 5 workshops, 2 review meetings, a workshop/round table at EUROTOX 2016 and participated in 7 international scientific symposia. Further details of these activities along with all the 2016 output will be published in the 2016 Annual Report which will be available on the ECETOC website towards the end of February 2017 to coincide with the Annual General Meeting and Annual Technical Meeting for Member Companies and invited guests on 8th March 2016.

Finally, on behalf of all the ECETOC Secretariat, I would like to wish all our Members a happy holiday season and thank you for your loyalty and goodwill throughout the year.

In this issue:

  • Changes to the Secretariat staffing
  • New Task Force: Geospatial approaches to increasing the ecological relevance of chemical risk assessments
  • ECETOC Environmental science related award
  • ECETOC Christa Hennes Young Scientist Award
  • Recent Events
    • Improving chemicals risk assessment with refined exposure characterisation
    • Environmental and (eco)toxicological omics and epigenetics: science, technology and regulatory applications
    • Applying ‘omics technologies in chemicals risk assessment
    • Guidance on the selection of cohorts for extended one-generation reproduction toxicity study (OECD 443)
    • Human evidence for chemical respiratory sensitisation – How to use it and how to improve it
    • Developing a strategy to improve the hazard and risk assessment of difficult to test multi-component substances
  • Upcoming Events
    • 2017 Environment Progress Review
      02-03 February 2017, Brussels, Belgium
    • 2017 Annual General meeting followed by 2017 Annual Technical Meeting
      08 March 2017, Brussels, Belgium
    • 2017 Annual General meeting followed by 2017 Annual Technical Meeting
      08 March 2017, Brussels, Belgium
  • Latest Publications
    •  ECETOC Publications:Special Report no.19: Building a prenatal developmental toxicity ontologyWorkshop Report no.29: Defining the role of chemical activity in environmental risk assessment within the context of mode of action: practical guidance and advice
      29-30 October 2015 Snowbird, Utah, USAWorkshop Report no.30: The role of epigenetics in reproductive toxicity
      12-13 November 2015, Brussels

      Workshop Report no.31: Advances in consumer exposure science: data, modelling and aggregate exposure assessment
      26 January 2016, Brussels

      Workshop Report no.32: Noncoding RNAs and risk assessment science
      3 – 4 March 2016, Málaga

      Technical Report no.126: Guidance for effective use of human exposure data in risk assessment of chemicals

      Technical Report no.127: Freshwater ecotoxicity as an impact category in life cycle assessment

      Technical Report no.128: Guidance on assessment and application of Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) relevant to the Endocrine System

    • Published Articles:
      Struijs J, van de Meent D, Schowanek D, Buchholz H, Patoux R, Wolf T, Austin T, Tolls J, van Leeuwen K, Galay-Burgos M. 2016.
      Adapting SimpleTreat for simulating behaviour of chemical substances during industrial sewage treatment.
      Chemosphere. 2016 Sep;159:619-27.
      doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2016.06.063Aigner A, Buesen R, Gant T, Gooderham N, Helmut Greim, Hackermüller J, Hubesch B, Laffont M, Marczylo E, Meister G, Petrick JS, Rasoulpour RJ, Sauer UG, Schmidt K, Seitz H, Slack F, Sukata T, van der Vies SM, Verhaert J, Witwer KW, Poole A. 2016.
      Advancing the use of noncoding RNA in regulatory toxicology: Report of an ECETOC workshop.
      Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 82:127-139 (Open Access)
      Doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2016.09.018Belanger S, Barron M, Craig P, Dyer S, Galay-Burgos M, Hamer M, Marshall S, Posthuma L, Raimondo S, Whitehouse P. 2016.
      Future needs and recommendations in the development of species sensitivity distributions: Estimating toxicity thresholds for aquatic ecological communities and assessing impacts of chemical exposures.
      Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2016 Aug 17. Doi: 10.1002/ieam.1841 [Epub 29 September 2016 ahead of print]
      Doi: 10.1002/ieam.1841

      Moore NP, Beekhuijzen M, Boogaard PJ, Foreman JE, North CM, Palermo C, Schneider S, Strauss V, van Ravenzwaay B, Poole A. 2016.
      Guidance on the selection of cohorts for the extended one-generation reproduction toxicity study (OECD test guideline 443).
      Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology 80:32-40.
      Doi: 10.1016/j.yrtph.2016.05.036 (Open Access)

      Brown AR, Whale G, Jackson M, Marshall S, Hamer M, Solga A, Kabouw P, Galay-Burgos M, Woods R, Nadzialek S, Maltby L. 2016.
      Towards the Definition of Specific Protection Goals for the Environmental Risk Assessment of Chemicals: A Perspective on Environmental Regulation in Europe.
      Integr Environ Assess Manag 2016 Aug 10.
      Doi: 10.1002/ieam.1797 (Open Access)

I hope that you will find this edition useful and informative; your feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

With best regards,
Ian

Ian Cummings
Communications, Media and Web Manager
ECETOC (European Centre for Ecotoxicology and Toxicology of Chemicals)

E-mail: ian.cummings@ecetoc.org