The SETAC next meeting will be held in Barcelona

The SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry) Annual Meeting will be held in Barcelona from May the 3rd to the 5th. The Congress will discuss on environmental pollution, its effects on human health and ecosystems and pollution remediation. This edition celebrates the 25th  anniversary of its delegation in Europe.

 Congress logoNext May will take place in Barcelona the SETAC Annual Meeting. The main topic this year will be Environmental protection in a multi-stressed world. The scientific program consists of nine main tracks, such as the pollutant substance’s toxicity and the analysis techniques and the emergent pollutants. Special emphasis will be placed on the effect of the pollutants (like the microplastics or the drugs) in the aquatic ecosystems and how remediate it using water and soil treatments.

The increasing environmental impact of drugs (especially those related to mental illnesses and the cardiopathies) and other degradation products will be another important aspect to be discussed.

The idea is to engage on cleaner technological uses and chemicals with fewer effects. New initiatives to remediate the environmental damages caused by the use of pesticides in the intensive agriculture will be addressed too. It has been proposed to delimit untouchable areas– biodiversity areas- in fields sprayed with pesticides. Some companies in Europe, such as BAYER have already begun to implement this proposal. As Carlos Barata -researcher from the IDAEA (Institute of Environmental Diagnostic and Studies of the Water) from CSIC (Spanish National Research Council), and Program Co-Chair – said “this is an effective method, it is an interesting bioremediation”.

It has been proposed to delimit untouchable areas– biodiversity areas- in fields sprayed with pesticides.

The SETAC is a not-for profit, global professional society established in 1979 to provide a forum for individuals and institutions engaged in education, research and development, ecological risk assessment and life-cycle assessment, chemical manufacture and distribution, management and regulation of natural resources, and the study, analysis, and solution of environmental problems. SETAC Europe is one of the five Geographic Units of the global organization.

The 25th Anniversary  Meeting

The SETAC Europe 25th Annual Meeting is the major congress of Europe in this field. More than 2500 works from 69 different countries in 71 parallel sessions will be presented. Also the following keynote speakers will give a talk: Peter Calow, who was the SETAC second president, and at the moment he is professor at the University of Nebraska, USA. He will reflect on 25 years of the Society and its science. John Colbourne, (University of Birmingham) will talk about the application of the genomic technicians in the environmental toxicology. And finally, Mira Petrovic, from the Catalan Institute of Research and Studies Advanced (ICREA) will talk about wastewater treatments.

Regulatory agencies' representatives will attend the Meeting too. They are responsible for regulating the use of the substances developed by the industry. Representatives of the chemical industry will also be there.

Apart from the working sessions, a leisure program has also been prepared: the Science Slam, co-sponsored by the CSIC and the ICRA. A run is also planned (The fun run) on May the 5th, organized by Barcelona City Council.

SETAC Europe 25th Congress

The microplastics: an increasing problem

SeaOne of the main topics of discussion will be the micro and nanoparticles, specifically the microplastics released into the sea. Plastic waste cracks while being transported by the ocean currents, due to solar radiation.

These fragments, called microplastics, may stay until one hundred years on the sea. Polypropylene and polyethylene (used in the manufacture of bags, drink and food containers, packaging, toys) are the most common plastic waste. Many of these microplastics come from cosmetic products (such as dental bleaching, which consist of plastic pellets that erode the tooth surface. This problem might be solved replacing plastic for a mineral substance).

The most accepted hypothesis for the researchers is that the microplastics are swallowed by mesopelagic fishes (they live between 10 and 100 meters below the surface and are fed on preys of the same size of these plastics. Therefore the threat that microplastics enter into the food chain in a permanent way, is very real. In fact it has been showed that the mesopelagic fishes contain bio-accumulated pollutants.

The oceanic plastic also contains pollutants that are added during its manufacture and accumulates other hydrophobic substances that attached it while drifting across the seas.

It does not exist much technology to remove persistent contaminats, such as microplastics. As Carlos Barata said, “at the moment it is being developed new technologies for microplastics treatment using mass spectrometry and methods that allow the separation of very fine particles.”

FaLang translation system by Faboba