Cefas scientists centre stage at UK-Japan endocrine disrupters workshop
29 October 2012
Cefas scientists will play a leading role at an
inter-governmental research workshop on the impacts of
environmental endocrine disrupters, to be held at Windsor,
Berkshire from 31 October to 2 November 2012.
Endocrine disrupters include a wide range of industrial
chemicals, natural hormones, pesticides and pharmaceuticals (often
collectively termed "emerging contaminants").
These have been shown to affect the reproductive health of fish
and wildlife or to pose risks to humans through contamination
of the food chain or drinking water sources.
Endocrine disrupters are a major issue in the UK and Japan, both
densely populated island nations with public and scientific concern
expressed about such emerging contaminants.
The purpose of the workshop - funded by the UK's Department for
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Japanese Ministry of
Environment - is to build strong collaboration and facilitate the
exchange of information between the two countries.
Cefas scientists will be playing a key role during the workshop.
The scientists and the subjects they will address are as
follows:
- Dr Ioanna Katsiadaki (Science Leader for
Cefas' Aquatic Animal Health division): the use of small fish
models, such as the three-spined stickleback, to compare
inter-species sensitivity of emerging contaminants likely to impact
the reproductive endocrine system
- Prof Tom Hutchinson (UK Science Leader and
Windsor workshop co-chair, plus Cefas Programme Director for
Chemical and Nanotechnology Risk
Assessment): the use of mechanistic biological information to help
guide the identification of sensitive freshwater and marine species
to different classes of endocrine-disrupting chemicals
- Prof Alex Scott (Cefas
Emeritus Fellow): a critical review of the endocrinology of
freshwater and marine molluscs, an important group of organisms now
being included for reproductive and developmental effects
assessment in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and
Development (OECD) test guideline programme
- Dr Tim Bean (Research Scientist): the use of
biomarkers for endocrine disrupters in marine finfish and
shellfish.
The workshop will be attended by over
50 scientists from the UK and Japan, plus representatives from
other OECD countries.
The Windsor workshop programme is
available to download (PDF, 56.5
KB).
Fact file
Both the UK and Japan have made significant contributions
internationally towards protecting ecosystems, whilst continuing to
promote free trade between the 44 countries of the OECD.
UK-Japan research co-operation on endocrine disrupters covers
four key areas:
- the fate of endocrine-disrupting chemicals and emerging
contaminants in the environment and their remediation
- advancing testing systems for application within the
international OECD test guideline programme
- promoting the use of molecular and genomic approaches to
understanding the impacts of endocrine disrupters on finfish
- understanding population impacts on fish and shellfish
populations in the field and environmental risk assessment.
For more information about UK-Japan research co-operation visit
http://www.uk-j.org/.