Perspectives for integrating human and environmental risk assessment and synergies with socio-economic analysis

International audienceFor more than a decade, the integration of human and environmental risk assessment (RA) has become an attractive vision. At the same time, existing European regulations of chemical substances such as REACH (EC Regulation No. 1907/2006), the Plant Protection Products Regulation (EC regulation 1107/2009) and Biocide Regulation (EC Regulation 528/2012) continue to ask for sector-specific RAs, each of which have their individual information requirements regarding exposure and hazard data, and also use different methodologies for the ultimate risk quantification. In response to this difference between the vision for integration and the current scientific and regulatory practice, the present paper outlines five medium-term opportunities for integrating human and environmental RA, followed by detailed discussions of the associated major components and their state of the art. Current hazard assessment approaches are analyzed in terms of data availability and quality, and covering non-test tools, the integrated testing strategy (ITS) approach, the adverse outcome pathway (AOP) concept, methods for assessing uncertainty, and the issue of explicitly treating mixture toxicity. With respect to exposure, opportunities for integrating exposure assessment are discussed, taking into account the uncertainty, standardization and validation of exposure modeling as well as the availability of exposure data. A further focus is on ways to complement RA by a socio-economic assessment (SEA) in order to better inform about risk management options. In this way, the present analysis, developed as part of the EU FP7 project HEROIC, may contribute to paving the way for integrating, where useful and possible, human and environmental RA in a manner suitable for its coupling with SEA

The interface between assisted reproductive technologies and genetics: technical, social, ethical and legal issues

The interface between assisted reproductive technologies (ART) and genetics comprises several sensitive and important issues that affect infertile couples, families with severe genetic diseases, potential children, professionals in ART and genetics, health care, researchers and the society in general. Genetic causes have a considerable involvement in infertility. Genetic conditions may also be transmitted to the offspring and hence create transgenerational infertility or other serious health problems. Several studies also suggest a slightly elevated risk of birth defects in children born following ART. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) has become widely practiced throughout the world for various medical indications, but its limits are being debated. The attitudes towards ART and PGD vary substantially within Europe. The purpose of the present paper was to outline a framework for development of guidelines to be issued jointly by European Society of Human Genetics and European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology for the interface between genetics and ART. Technical, social, ethical and legal issues of ART and genetics will be reviewed.JRC.J.5-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Ethics Dumping Case Studies from North-South Research Collaborations

This book provides original, up-to-date case studies of “ethics dumping” that were largely facilitated by loopholes in the ethics governance of low and middle-income countries. It is instructive even to experienced researchers since it provides a voice to vulnerable populations from the fore mentioned countries. Ensuring the ethical conduct of North-South collaborations in research is a process fraught with difficulties. The background conditions under which such collaborations take place include extreme differentials in available income and power, as well as a past history of colonialism, while differences in culture can add a new layer of complications. In this context, up-to-date case studies of unethical conduct are essential for research ethics training

Understanding the Distribution of Marine Megafauna in the English Channel Region: Identifying Key Habitats for Conservation within the Busiest Seaway on Earth

The temperate waters of the North-Eastern Atlantic have a long history of maritime resource richness and, as a result, the European Union is endeavouring to maintain regional productivity and biodiversity. At the intersection of these aims lies potential conflict, signalling the need for integrated, cross-border management approaches. This paper focuses on the marine megafauna of the region. This guild of consumers was formerly abundant, but is now depleted and protected under various national and international legislative structures. We present a meta-analysis of available megafauna datasets using presence-only distribution models to characterise suitable habitat and identify spatially-important regions within the English Channel and southern bight of the North Sea. The integration of studies from dedicated and opportunistic observer programmes in the United Kingdom and France provide a valuable perspective on the spatial and seasonal distribution of various taxonomic groups, including large pelagic fishes and sharks, marine mammals, seabirds and marine turtles. The Western English Channel emerged as a hotspot of biodiversity for megafauna, while species richness was low in the Eastern English Channel. Spatial conservation planning is complicated by the highly mobile nature of marine megafauna, however they are important components of the marine environment and understanding their distribution is a first crucial step toward their inclusion into marine ecosystem management

Understanding the distribution of marine megafauna in the English channel region: identifying key habitats for conservation within the busiest seaway on earth.

Published onlineJournal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tThis is the final version of the article. Available from Public Library of Science via the DOI in this record.The temperate waters of the North-Eastern Atlantic have a long history of maritime resource richness and, as a result, the European Union is endeavouring to maintain regional productivity and biodiversity. At the intersection of these aims lies potential conflict, signalling the need for integrated, cross-border management approaches. This paper focuses on the marine megafauna of the region. This guild of consumers was formerly abundant, but is now depleted and protected under various national and international legislative structures. We present a meta-analysis of available megafauna datasets using presence-only distribution models to characterise suitable habitat and identify spatially-important regions within the English Channel and southern bight of the North Sea. The integration of studies from dedicated and opportunistic observer programmes in the United Kingdom and France provide a valuable perspective on the spatial and seasonal distribution of various taxonomic groups, including large pelagic fishes and sharks, marine mammals, seabirds and marine turtles. The Western English Channel emerged as a hotspot of biodiversity for megafauna, while species richness was low in the Eastern English Channel. Spatial conservation planning is complicated by the highly mobile nature of marine megafauna, however they are important components of the marine environment and understanding their distribution is a first crucial step toward their inclusion into marine ecosystem management.The INTERREG IV A France (Channel) – England cross-border European cooperation programme, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund as part of the CHannel integrated Approach for marine Resource Management (CHARM) Phase III project provided funding for the meta-analysis presented in this manuscript through EU postdoctoral fellowships to C. McClellan and S. Patrick. R. Deaville provided the UK cetacean strandings data, which together with the marine turtle data was co-funded by the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and by the devolved governments in Scotland and Wales. G. Bradbury and J. Darke provided data from the UK's Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, which was funded by the Department of Energy and Climate Change. T. Dunn provided the Joint Cetacean Database and the European Seabirds at Sea data. P.S. Hammond provided the SCANS and SCANS-II data funded by EU LIFE Nature projects LIFE 92-2/UK/027 and LIFE04NAT/GB/000245, respectively. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript

Ethical standards for mental health and psychosocial support research in emergencies: review of literature and current debates (vol 13, pg 8, 2017)

Originally published in Biomedical Optics Express on 01 March 2014 (boe-5-3-907

Banking and the Limits of Professionalism

A primary question is whether banking could become a profession. The business terrain of finance is the most hazardous on which to establish the practices of profession.. We start from the position that whether banking is, or might become, a profession is not obvious, for a number of reasons. The first is the intense government regulation which is generally the primary mode of securing the benefits of banking and limiting its undesirable effects. External regulation tends be regarded as a definitional and practical threat to the self-regulation that marks out traditional professionalism. Second, traditional professional logic is said to promote as one of its distinguishing features a contrast with, and at least to some extent, a corrective to the world of business, a world ‘dominated by large bureaucratic organizations, competitive markets, managerial control, deskilling or dehumanizing tendencies and a markedly for-profit logic’. Meanwhile, some bankers perceive this aggressive for-profit orientation as essential and a justification against change. Evidence to the Inquiry included the view of a senior banker that: ‘Banking is a strictly profit-making business, and is not, and never has been, a profession in the sense that, say, medicine or law is’