concrete5 :: Blog Archive 2018

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.

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Environmental risk assessment of medicinal products

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.

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Fresenius Endocrine Disrupter Conference, Cologne

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.

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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).

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HSE & Defra Meeting: Chemicals EU Exit Stakeholder Event

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.

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ET&C 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.

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29th SETAC Europe Annual Meeting (Helsinki; 26th - 30th May 2019)

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.

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ALGA PFAS Summit, Sydney ICC; 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.

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wca in New Caledonia

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.

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Update from the UK government of no deal Brexit on chemical regulation

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).

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Refinery effluent assessment: Options for using effects-based tools in combination with passive samplers

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.

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2018 EcoForum Meeting in Sydney from the 2nd to 4th October 2018

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.

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Updating and upgrading NONS registrations under REACH

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?

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Beyond registration…what next for REACH?

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.

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Joint Northern Contaminated Land Fora Summer Conference 2018 - Hosted by Yorkshire Contaminated Land Forum, 10th July

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

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Validation of the nickel biotic ligand model for locally relevant species in Australian freshwaters

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.

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Endocrine disruptors and biocides

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.

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SETAC Rome 2018; Days 3 and 4

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.

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SETAC Rome 2018; Day 2

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

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SETAC Rome 2018 Day 1

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.

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Nanosilver less toxic than ionic silver in standardised ecotoxicity tests

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.

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wca at SETAC Rome

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.

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SETAC Workshop on Bioavailability-Based Freshwater Quality Criteria for Metals

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.

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New article on weight of evidence approaches for endocrine disrupters

Latest updates

July 19, 2021 by Graham Merrington

Using Water Framework Directive Watch List Data Sets to Estimate Europe‐wide Chemical Exposures and Potential Aquatic Risks: Representativity and Uncertainty?

We at wca been working over the last year and a half on the exposure data for some of the Watch List substances under the Water Framework Directive (WFD), including diclofenac, to assess the reliability and representativity of these monitoring data for use in EU-wide risk assessment.

June 17, 2021 by Rhiannon Smith

Employee Ownership Day

Did you know that 25 June is employee ownership day? wca are proud to be an employee owned company and will be celebrating this day along with a wide variety of other employee owned companies.

May 10, 2021 by Dean Leverett

Pharmaceuticals in the Environment - a Global Challenge Session at SETAC Europe

Dean Leverett co-chaired a live virtual discussion on Pharmaceuticals in the Environment in the final session block of SETAC Europe 2021.