Archive of wca's blogs from 2018
Environmental risk assessment of medicinal products
December 7, 2018 by Becky Brown
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) have published draft revised guidelines for assessing the environmental risks of medicines in the environment (EMA 2018)1. The guidelines are published with a six-month consultation period and stakeholders are invited to provide comments by 30th June 2019.
Fresenius Endocrine Disrupter Conference, Cologne
November 26, 2018 by Becky Brown
Last week Becky Brown attended the 9th International Fresenius Conference on Endocrine Disrupters in Cologne, Germany.
Call-off contracts and REACH training
October 24, 2018 by Rhiannon Smith
wca are proud to present some new offerings – call-off contracts and REACH training.
HSE & Defra Meeting: Chemicals EU Exit Stakeholder Event
October 16, 2018 by Ed Stutt
Last week Ed attended an event put on by Defra and HSE to highlight what would happen to chemicals regulation in the UK in the event of a no deal Brexit (when UK would become a ‘3rd country’ in relation to the EU).
ET&C Editors Spotlight
October 12, 2018 by Adam Peters
A recent paper led by wca in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry describing the application of the nickel Biotic Ligand Model to a number of both tropical and temperate species in Australian surface waters, is currently highlighted in the Editors Spotlight.
29th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting (Helsinki; 26th - 30th May 2019)
October 12, 2018 by Dean Leverett
The 29th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting will be held in Helsinki from the 26th to the 30th May 2019. Dean Leverett will be chairing a session (with Mirco Bundschuh of Landau University and Mathijs Smit of Shell) on Wastewater effluents: How research can improve risk assessment and regulation under the Ecological risk assessment and human health risk assessment of chemicals, mixtures and stressor, and risk mitigation strategies track.
ALGA PFAS Summit, Sydney ICC; 2nd October
October 3, 2018 by Graham Merrington
Graham attended, and presented at the ALGA PFAS Summit at the International Conference Centre in Sydney held on the 2nd October.
wca in New Caledonia
September 27, 2018 by Graham Merrington
Graham Merrington is currently in New Caledonia on behalf of NiPERA meeting local scientific organisations involved in environmental research in the behaviour and fate of nickel from local mining activities.
Update from the UK government of no deal Brexit on chemical regulation
September 25, 2018 by Rhiannon Smith
The UK government has recently released some further information regarding the regulation of chemicals if there is no Brexit deal.
Refinery effluent assessment: Options for using effects-based tools in combination with passive samplers
September 19, 2018 by Becky Brown
wca has conducted a critical evaluation of available “effects based tools” (EBTs) that could be used in conjunction with passive samplers in monitoring surface waters associated with the oil and gas industry. The study is based on a literature review of monitoring data for twenty-two assays, including some novel whole organism bioassays (or surrogate for whole organism effects), and in vitro or bacterial assays designed to assess the potential for endocrine (oestrogen, androgen and thyroid), genotoxicity, oxidative stress, and metabolism effects from polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
2018 EcoForum Meeting in Sydney from the 2nd to 4th October 2018
September 11, 2018 by Graham Merrington
Graham has been invited by the Australasian Land and Groundwater Association to deliver two keynotes at their 2018 EcoForum Meeting in Sydney from the 2nd to 4th of October.
Updating and upgrading NONS registrations under REACH
August 8, 2018 by Rhiannon Smith
NONS substances (Directive 67/548/EEC) can be regarded as REACH registered, however maintenance of the registration is necessary to keep it up to date, to change tonnage bands, to join a joint submission, or in response to a request from ECHA. wca can assist companies who have submitted NONS notifications.
Beyond registration…what next for REACH?
July 24, 2018 by Becky Marks
With the passing of the final REACH registration deadline for phase in substances in May, many breathed a sigh of relief at having accomplished the successful registration of their substances. But we all know registration was only the start of the REACH process, so what next?
Joint Northern Contaminated Land Fora Summer Conference 2018 - Hosted by Yorkshire Contaminated Land Forum, 10th July
July 11, 2018 by Ed Stutt
Ed Stutt has attended the annual Joint Northern Contaminated Land Fora meeting, this year held in Leeds. The meeting focussed on waste and material reuse, linking legislation and guidance on waste classification with the appropriate reuse of materials.
Validation of the nickel biotic ligand model for locally relevant species in Australian freshwaters
June 25, 2018 by Graham Merrington & Adam Peters
A new paper has been accepted for publication, with Adam Peters as lead author, on the validation of the nickel biotic ligand model for locally relevant species in Australian freshwaters in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
Endocrine disruptors and biocides
June 19, 2018 by Becky Brown
The new endocrine disrupter criteria for biocides apply from the 7th June 2018 under Regulation (EU) No 528/2012 . This means that new biocides and biocides currently going through the authorisation process will need to have an endocrine disrupter assessment included as part of their application.
SETAC Rome 2018; Days 3 and 4
May 18, 2018 by Iain Wilson
wca had a very productive final two days at the SETAC Europe 2018 conference, presenting both platforms and poster presentations, interacting with other delegates and attending numerous interesting session; in addition to Dean Leverett co-chairing a session.
SETAC Rome 2018; Day 2
May 16, 2018 by Graham Merrington & Iain Wilson
wca have had another busy day on Tuesday at SETAC Rome; with Graham presenting in a platform session, and Iain and Becky presenting three posters on wca's work. Find out more of our activities on our blog.
SETAC Rome 2018 Day 1
May 14, 2018 by Ed Stutt & Iain Wilson
wca are at SETAC Rome 2018 (Booth 33) along with over 3000 delegates; and have been very busy interacting with the delegates and attending numerous sessions
Nanosilver less toxic than ionic silver in standardised ecotoxicity tests
May 3, 2018 by Dean Leverett
During 2017, Dean was part of a team of scientists supporting a REACH testing programme aimed at comparing the ecotoxicity of the ionic and nano forms of silver using standardised tests.
As part of the REACH Substance Evaluation for silver, a read-across approach from ionic silver to silver nanoforms was proposed based on existing ecotoxicity data. However, further justification of this read-across approach was requested and therefore standardised ecotoxicity and fate/ behaviour tests were undertaken to directly compare the toxicity of ionic silver and the smallest silver nanoform with the highest specific surface area registered under REACH. A paper detailing the results of the comparative testing programme in soil will shortly be published.
wca at SETAC Rome
March 22, 2018 by Dean Leverett
wca have a long history of involvement with, and support for, the Society for Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). Our staff have, over the years, attended and presented our work at SETAC conference in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia. We are sustaining members of SETAC Europe, and pride ourselves on getting involved as possible in the scientific programme of SETAC Europe conferences, as well as having a presence in the exhibition hall.
This year is no exception, and we look forward to presenting our work at SETAC-Europe 2018 in Rome this May.
SETAC Workshop on Bioavailability-Based Freshwater Quality Criteria for Metals
January 29, 2018 by Adam Peters and Graham Merrington
Adam and Graham were invited to attend a SETAC Workshop on Bioavailability-Based Freshwater Quality Criteria for Metals from 3-7 December 2017. The meeting was initiated by the USEPA and was aimed at reviewing and advancing the state-of-the-science for characterizing metal bioavailability in aquatic environments and the models that are available for predicting metal bioavailability and toxicity for the purpose of criteria derivation and application.
New article on weight of evidence approaches for endocrine disrupters
January 25, 2018 by Melanie Gross
Melanie Gross recently co-authored a paper reviewing weight-of-evidence (WoE) approaches for the assessment of endocrine disrupting properties. The aim of this paper was to review examples of endocrine-specific WoE evaluations and distil key recommendations for WoE evaluations within a European regulatory context.
Latest updates
February 17, 2021 by Becky Marks
From 27th March 2021, the Transparency Regulation (EU 1381/2019) will come into force, and this aims to increase transparency of data and decision making for risk assessments in the food chain, to increase public trust. Amongst the changes brought in as a result of the Transparency Regulation is a transition to using IUCLID (International Uniform Chemical Information Database) software for the submission of dossiers for Plant Protection Products.
February 9, 2021 by Grace Panter
Becky Brown and Grace Panter recently attended an interesting webinar by European Food Safety Authority/European Chemicals Agency (EFSA/ECHA) on how to consider the Xenopus eleuthereombryonic thyroid assay (XETA) in the assessment strategy of the endocrine disrupter (ED) guidance.
January 14, 2021 by Dean Leverett
Since the formation of wca environment Ltd in 2005, the company has operated out of a single office in southern England. During 2020, with the end of the Brexit transition period looming, the management team explored options for opening a European office.