|
ACTRA Australasian College of Toxicology
and Risk Assessment |
|
I |
|
June 2009 E-Newsletter |
|
I |
|
Member
news… |
|
I |
|
Editor’s
Note |
|
ACTRA welcomes comments on any aspect of the e-newsletter. Please feel free
to share suggestions or news, write letters to the editor or comment on
articles presented. Your feedback is important to us! Positions Vacant – Feel free to advertise positions in this newsletter.
The dates for publication follow. This
is your newsletter!!
Please
send contributions and Calendar notices to the Secretariat actra@meetingsfirst.com.au or editor jfrangos@bigpond.com Submission deadlinesIssue 3: 21st
August
Issue 4: 30th October Submission rules Publication of
any material submitted to the ACTRA Newsletter will be the sole discretion of
ACTRA. ACTRA reserves the right to make amendments to the submission prior to
publication, or to refuse publication.
|
|
I |
|
President’s
Report |
|
Welcome to the second ACTRA newsletter for 2009. Thanks
are due once again to the ACTRA Secretary John Frangos and the Meetings First
Secretariat for putting together an interesting compilation of news and
information about forthcoming events.
ACTRA Register of
toxicologists and risk assessment professionals As previewed in the February 2009 e-Newsletter (with
further details elsewhere in this current e-Newsletter), the ACTRA program to
develop a Register of Toxicologists and Risk Assessors has been established.
Listing on the Register will be restricted to ACTRA members who satisfy the
Registration Tribunal of their credentials and its main purpose is to provide
information on the professional standing of those ACTRA members who choose to
seek registration. As such it will hopefully provide an accreditation process
analogous to those by which overseas toxicological societies recognise
professional achievements (e.g. DABT).
I would urge ACTRA members to consider making an application to be
listed on the Register. Members should note that the process and fee
structure for Registration is separate and distinct from the process of becoming
a member of ACTRA. Significant reviews
of risk assessment methodology As previewed in the February 2009 e-newsletter, the
seminal reference for HRA methodology in Australia Environmental Health Risk
Assessment: Guidelines for assessing human health risks from environmental
hazards (enHealth 2004) is currently being reviewed and updated. The draft
update is being prepared by the Australian Centre for Human Health Risk
Assessment (ACHHRA) in conjunction with Toxikos Pty Ltd. Some of the critical
areas where the document is being updated include an expanded Exposures
Handbook, information on benchmark dose methodology and risk assessment for
carcinogens. Watch out for announcements of consultative workshops outlining
key elements of the update. A separate process is also underway as part of the
revision of the Assessment of Contaminated Sites NEPM. This process, which is
being undertaken by a team from ERM, includes reviewing and updating HHRA
methodology and the preparation of a new series of toxicological monographs
on substances covered by the NEPM. The work is being overseen by the NHMRC
and a NEPM review team. It is likely that these two reviews will ultimately have
significant impacts on HHRA practices in Australia. ACTRA Annual
Scientific Meeting (December 2009) Following from the success of scheduling scientific
papers for presentation by ACTRA members at the Annual General Meeting last
November, the ACTRA Management Committee has decided to convene an Annual
Scientific Meeting (ASM) in 2009. The
meeting will be held in Canberra at a venue to be announced shortly. It will
most likely be held on either 4 or 5 December, in the margins of the Annual
Scientific Meeting of the Australian Institute of Occupational Hygienists
(AIOH). Pencil these dates into your diaries. ACTRA members are invited to
contribute papers for oral presentation and to attend symposia sessions.
Holding the ASM in Canberra should offer opportunities for greater engagement
with Canberra-based regulators and ACTRA members are encouraged to lobby
their regulatory colleagues to join ACTRA and attend the ASM. Please note
that this year, the ASM will be on a separate date to ACTRA’s business
meeting (AGM), which will be held in Adelaide on 26 September 2009. Brian Priestly |
|
I |
|
Asbestos Workshop 27th
September 2009 |
|
As part of the 3rd International Contaminated Site
Remediation Conference to be held at the Hilton Adelaide hotel, To find out more or register for the workshop go to http://www.cleanupconference.com/welcome.htm |
|
I |
|
ACTRA Annual General Meeting |
|
Annual General Meeting will be
held on 26 September in |
|
I |
|
ACTRA Annual
Scientific Meeting to be held in |
|
A one-day
Annual Scientific Meeting will be held in early December. The time and venue
will be announced shortly and members will be informed by email. The
Scientific Programme Director for the meeting is Professor Brian Priestly (brian.priestly@med.monash.edu.au) who is seeking ideas for themes and speakers. Don’t forget to: -
Pencil in a trip to - Consider presenting a paper - Consider sponsoring the meeting |
|
I |
|
ACTRA finalises Accreditation Process for Registration as a
Toxicologist and Risk Assessor |
|
ACTRA has finalised the procedural
process for applicants and assessment of applications for the qualification
as a Registered Australasian
Toxicologist and Risk Assessor. The
qualification Registered Australasian
Toxicologist and Risk Assessor shall be available to those Members who
meet the required criteria. Application forms and qualification criteria can
be obtained from the Secretariat (actra@meetingsfirst.com.au). Applications will be assessed by the
Registration Panel. The Registration Panel (yet to
be finalised) is to have at least 4 members, consisting of at least 2 members
of the ACTRA Management Committee and at least 2 members of international
standing in the field of toxicology and risk assessment appointed by the
ACTRA Management Committee. |
|
I |
|
Scientific
articles of interest |
|
I |
|
Environmental
health risk assessment of nickel contamination of drinking water in a country
town in NSW |
|
A small country town in New South Wales (referred to as Sampleton) was supplied with drinking water sourced from a local surface water catchment until 2001. In 2002, due to drought conditions a decision was made by the local government authority to supplement this supply with extracted water from an underground mining operation. The water was treated before it was supplied as drinking water to the residents. Between 2002 and 2005, water samples recorded at Sampleton intermittently exceeded the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines (ADWG) value for nickel of 0.02 mg/L. This risk assessment was undertaken to assess the potential health risk associated with consumption of drinking water with an elevated nickel concentration…click here to read more |
|
I |
|
Carcinogen
dose response methodology |
|
In
September 1999 the National Health and Medical Research Council (NH&MRC)
endorsed a dose response method for carcinogens in which no assumptions are made
about the shape of the dose-response curve substantially outside the
experimental range. The modified-BMD provides a reproducible, consistent
starting point for derivation of Guideline Doses for carcinogens whether or
not they possess genotoxic properties. On the 10th Anniversary of the NHMRC
document (commonly referred to as the “Brown Book”) the findings of a soon to
be published paper by Baiiley et al. (2009 in press) support the science
policy approach taken at that time (see also article on the recent US NAS
Risk Assessment Report that also supports such an approach)… click here to read
more |
|
I |
|
Why are
12% of SOT Members rating fructose as a health risk? |
|
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is present in
up to one-third of the general population and in the majority of patients
with metabolic risk factors such as obesity and diabetes. Insulin resistance
is a key pathogenic factor resulting in hepatic fat accumulation. NAFLD is
associated with an increased risk of all-cause death, probably because of
complications of insulin resistance such as vascular disease (Adams et al
2005). The incidence of this disease is increasing in children…click here to read
more |
|
I |
|
Toxicology in
the press |
|
I |
|
Note from Editor: The
purpose of this regular feature in this newsletter, extracts from Australian media
outlets where scientists have been interviewed on their research or concerns
that may be of interest to ACTRA members. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE and/or share your
thoughts. |
|
I |
|
Indoor Air
Pollutant levels (NOx) in NSW Schools |
|
Wednesday, 27 May, 2009
12:38:00, The World Today - Delay in acting over toxic school heaters
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2008/s2582028.htm] Reporter: Simon Santow;
Expert: Len Ferrari (NSW based consultant, air quality). Extract: To their critics, unflued gas
heaters are dangerous and should be banned from all schools. But to others,
it's a case of a scare-paign burying the truth. Whatever you believe, the New
South Wales Education Department says it's taking seriously a report which
shows that children are being exposed to dangerous levels of toxic gases in
the classroom this winter. The department says it's doing further tests. But
the delay in acting has angered some parents and experts who say the evidence
is already there to ban the heaters from all New South Wales schools. Submitted by John
Frangos |
|
I |
|
Foetal
Alcohol Syndrome / Neurodevelopmental toxicity |
|
Editors Comment: Neurodevelopmental toxicity is
an emerging discipline in toxicology. One of the reasons it is emerging at
the present time is a growing research focus on brain development. The
developing central nervous system appears to be especially susceptible to
some substances and it is thought that functional changes can be induced at a
lower exposure level than those resulting in toxicity in adults (Haas 2006)…click here to
read more |
|
I |
|
News from other
organisations and members |
|
I |
|
A recent survey of 937 members
of the Society of Toxicology (SOT) was administered online from Jan 27 to
March 2, 2009 by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Statistical Assessment
Service (STATS) and Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason
University…click here to read more |
|
I |
|
US EPA
National Research Council – Report on Risk Assessment |
|
A US National Research
Council committee has developed scientific and technical recommendations for
improving the risk analysis approaches used by the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA). The committee focused primarily on human health risk analysis
but commented on the broad implications of its findings and recommendations
to ecological risk analysis…click here to read
more |
|
I |
|
Managing
Conflict of Interest and Public Policy |
|
Gori (2009) has produced an insightful
editorial in a recent issue of the journal Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology
(v53 pg 159-160) on disclosure of conflict of interest and in particular the
participation of scientists with industry affiliations in public policy
formulation. This age old conundrum of improper influence versus utilising a
limited pool of expertise for the public good is becoming increasing relevant
as the pool of experienced scientists in the field of toxicology and
environmental health risk assessment shrinks. The editorial makes several
contentions/conclusions of merit…click here to read
more |
|
I |
|
Contributions by individual members
and opinions expressed within these contributions are not intended to nor do
they represent the views of the |
|
Diary of events |
|
I |
|
ACTRA
is actively planning several meetings in 2009. Members will be informed of
these as the details become available.
Details will be published in future e-news’ and on the website www.actra.org.au. To view the diary of events, please click here. |
|
I |
|
ACTRA
Secretariat
Meetings First 4/184 Main Street LILYDALE VIC 3140 Phone +61 3 9739 7697 Fax +61 3 9739 7076 |