February 9, 2016
Dr. Tim Verslycke participated in a Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) Pellston WorkshopTM on endocrine disruptors as one of 48 international invited experts (13 from government, 13 from academia, and 12 independent consultants). The workshop was titled, “Environmental Hazard and Risk Assessment Approaches for Endocrine-Active Chemicals (EHRA): Developing Technical Guidance Based on Case Studies to Support Decision Making,” and took place in Pensacola, Florida from 31st January to 5th February 2016.
The primary aim of the workshop was to provide objective advice, based on the current level of scientific understanding, to enable regulators/policy makers to make considered, informed decisions on whether to select a hazard- or a risk-based approach for a given endocrine-disrupting substance (EDS) under review. The workshop additionally considered recent developments in the identification of EDSs.
Case studies were undertaken on six endocrine active substances, representative of a range of endocrine modes of action and considered to be data-rich in relevant information at all levels of biological organisation. Data were assessed for reliability and weighted accordingly.
The workshop also highlighted areas of scientific uncertainty, and made specific recommendations for research and methods-development to resolve some of these issues.
The overall conclusion of the Workshop is that if environmental exposure, effects on relevant taxa/life-stages, delayed effects and dose/concentration-response relationships are adequately characterized, then conducting environmental risk assessment of EDSs is scientifically sound. The outputs of the workshop are a set of papers to be published in peer-reviewed journals.