Status of local soil contamination in Europe: Revision of the indicator “Progress in the management contaminated sites in Europe”

On this report the findings of the questionnaire commissioned by the European Commission Joint Research Centre for the revision of the Indicator "Progress in the management of contaminated site in Europe" in 2016 are presented. It has been produced with the contribution of data provided by the National Reference Centres (NRCs) in member states and cooperating countries within EIONET and funded by the country to work with the EEA and relevant European Topic Centres (ETCs) in specific thematic areas related to the EEA work programme. The NRCs Soil are nationally funded experts, or groups of experts, in organisations which are regular collectors or suppliers of soil data at the national level and/or possess relevant knowledge of specific environmental issues, monitoring or modelling. NRC Soil plays a role in the technical coordination of these topics and work with the EEA, the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) and the ETC on Urban, land and soil systems (ETC/ULS). An analysis of the information extracted from the Soil Wiki platform, which contains an overview of European and national soil-related policy instruments is also presented. The Land and Soil Indicator LSI003 aims to answer the following policy-relevant questions: What is the estimated extent of soil contamination? How much progress has been achieved in the management and control of local soil contamination? Which sectors contribute most to soil contamination? What are the main contaminants affecting soil and groundwater in and around Contaminated Sites? How much is spent on cleaning up soil contamination? And how much of the public budget is used? An overall improvement in the management of contaminated sites in Europe has been observed. For the total of the 39 surveyed countries, 2.5 million sites have been estimated where polluting activities have taken place considering the artificial surface. Nowadays, there are more than 650 000 registered sites where polluting activities took/are taking place in national and regional inventories of replying countries; more than 65 500 sites have been remediated. Efforts are mainly focused on investigation and remediation of sites where polluting activities took/are taking place due to many countries already have an accurate inventory. Overall, the production sectors contribute more to local soil 'pollution' than the service sectors (60 % compared to 32 %). The most frequent contaminants are mineral oils and heavy metals. The most commonly used remediation procedure seems to be the ex-situ technique “dig-and-dump”, which implicates the excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil. With the available data provided by replying countries, the average overall expenditures to assess soil 'pollution' account for €4.3 billion where on average more than 32 % of total expenses comes from public budget.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Remediated Sites and Brownfields. Success Stories in Europe

From the 80's until today Europe has developed numerous laws to reduce and restore the adverse effects of emitting hazardous pollutants to soil and the environment. Every country has gathered very valuable information and published their work in the national language (normally not accessible and not known by other countries in Europe), on how to manage contaminated sites originated by industrial settlements or by accidents. With the aim of sharing best practices of soil restoration and management of contaminated sites among European countries and to raise awareness of the enormous efforts made to succeed in such difficult commitment, the experts of the EIONET Soil working group on contaminated sites and brownfields on March 2015 agreed to gather their country's interesting cases and successful stories of recovery of contaminated areas; Thirteen countries comprising 21 European Regions have presented a total of 28 cases that illustrate the recovery of polluted sites or brownfields into recreational areas; cases of sustainable remediation, polluters who present projects to remediate the subsoil, development of innovative technologies, innovative funding mechanisms etc. These stories have been compiled in the present report as contribution of this group to the International Year of Soils.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

Building a knowledge and innovation platform on diffuse and point soil contamination as base for (inter)national soil policies

This article highlights the importance of soil contamination, both from diffuse and point source pollution. It summarises a series of presentations at the Global Soil Week 2015 illustrating the current understanding of soil exposed to pollutants, including the main sources of contamination, the hazards and risks that pollutants in soil present for the environment and human health, as well as the possible ways to address the problem from both global and EU perspectives. It summarises the World Café discussions on four themes that participants identified as the key areas for further action: remediation of contaminated sites, alternatives to the use of chemicals and pollutants, harmonisation of monitoring and approaches and Knowledge and innovation platform.JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen

The European Chemicals Bureau: an Overview of 15 Years Experience in EU Chemicals Legislation

From its creation in 1993, the European Chemicals Bureau (ECB) has played a vital role in the conception, development, implementation and monitoring of European Union (EU) legislation on chemicals and in contributing to the European Commission¿s participation in international chemicals programmes. The ECB has housed much of the European Commission¿s experience, capacity and historical memory in chemical risk assessment and safe chemical management. The contribution of ECB to the drafting, development and implementation of the REACH regulation has been an important one. The provision of scientific/technical expertise to the start-up phase of the newly born European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has been essential for a swift and effective implementation of REACH. The ECB has contributed to that effort not only by selecting, recruiting and training ECHA staff but also by seconding part of its own key staff to the agency. And finally, during 2008 the ECB is completing the hand-over files and transmitting them to the ECHA, which is taking over responsibility for the operational implementation of EU legislation on chemicals.JRC.I-Institute for Health and Consumer Protection (Ispra

Evidence for classification of c.1852_1853AA>GC in MLH1 as a neutral variant for Lynch syndrome

Background: Lynch syndrome (LS) is an autosomal dominant inherited cancer syndrome characterized by early onset cancers of the colorectum, endometrium and other tumours. A significant proportion of DNA variants in LS patients are unclassified. Reports on the pathogenicity of the c.1852_1853AA>GC (p.Lys618Ala) variant of the MLH1 gene are conflicting. In this study, we provide new evidence indicating that this variant has no significant implications for LS. Methods: The following approach was used to assess the clinical significance of the p.Lys618Ala variant: frequency in a control population, case-control comparison, co-occurrence of the p.Lys618Ala variant with a pathogenic mutation, co-segregation with the disease and microsatellite instability in tumours from carriers of the variant. We genotyped p.Lys618Ala in 1034 individuals (373 sporadic colorectal cancer [CRC] patients, 250 index subjects from families suspected of having LS [revised Bethesda guidelines] and 411 controls). Three well-characterized LS families that fulfilled the Amsterdam II Criteria and consisted of members with the p.Lys618Ala variant were included to assess co-occurrence and co-segregation. A subset of colorectal tumour DNA samples from 17 patients carrying the p.Lys618Ala variant was screened for microsatellite instability using five mononucleotide markers. Results: Twenty-seven individuals were heterozygous for the p.Lys618Ala variant; nine had sporadic CRC (2.41%), seven were suspected of having hereditary CRC (2.8%) and 11 were controls (2.68%). There were no significant associations in the case-control and case-case studies. The p.Lys618Ala variant was co-existent with pathogenic mutations in two unrelated LS families. In one family, the allele distribution of the pathogenic and unclassified variant was in trans, in the other family the pathogenic variant was detected in the MSH6 gene and only the deleterious variant co-segregated with the disease in both families. Only two positive cases of microsatellite instability (2/17, 11.8%) were detected in tumours from p.Lys618Ala carriers, indicating that this variant does not play a role in functional inactivation of MLH1 in CRC patients. Conclusions: The p.Lys618Ala variant should be considered a neutral variant for LS. These findings have implications for the clinical management of CRC probands and their relatives.Generalitat Valenciana in Spain (AP140/08) and the Biomedical Research Foundation from the Hospital of Elche, Spain (FIBElx0902). Conselleria de Educació (Generalitat Valenciana); Fundacion Juan Peran-Pikolinos; Fundacion Carolina-BBVA and Fondo Investigación Sanitaria (FI07/00303). Instituto de Salud Carlos III (INT09/208)

European achievements in soil remediation and brownfield redevelopment

With the aim of sharing best practices of soil restoration and management of contaminated sites among European countries and to raise awareness of the enormous efforts made to succeed in such difficult commitment, the experts of the EIONET Soil working group on contaminated sites and brownfields agreed to gather their country's interesting cases and successful stories of recovery of contaminated areas. This second edition of the monograph presents seventeen new cases from eight European countries and its Regions of how polluted sites and brownfields have been remediated like new methodologies of sustainable restoration of the subsoil, development of innovative technologies, and funding mechanisms etc. These stories have been compiled to present what national, regional or local governments are doing to improve the quality of the environment and the living conditions of their population. A second aim is the promotion of best practices among industry, consultancies and business operators.JRC.D.3-Land Resource

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure < 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate < 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Present and Future in the risk assessment of chemicals with PBT properties

The paper will illustrate the current status of the evaluation of 127 high production volume substances (HPVCs) , biocides and pesticides which has been carried out by the EU Technical Committee on New and Existing Substances subgroup for the evaluation of potential PBTs or vPvBs or POPs in the context of the EC's Interim Strategy for Management of PBT and vPvB substances (Directive 93/67, Regulation 1488/94, Directive 98/8/EC and Directive 91/414/ECC). The main elements of the guidance developed on how to assess PBT/vPvB substances under REACH Regulation will be presented.JRC.I.3-Toxicology and chemical substance

A revisao do indicador LSI003 da terra e do solo e a gestao de locais contaminados na Europa

In recent years, public and private organizations are producing more evidence of the current and long-term impacts on human health and the environment from exposure to contaminants from soil and groundwater. This is very relevant at the local level1, around contaminated sites, but has also implications at regional and national level. Following the initiative of the WHO meeting in Syracuse (2011) and Catania (2012); Directorate General of the Environment of the European Commission produced in 2013 the report "Soil pollution, impacts on human health" and the Joint Research Centre published in 2014 the report "Progress in the management of contaminated sites in Europe". A set of indicators contributes to the Core Set Indicator “Progress in the Management of Contaminated Sites” (CSI015) of the European Environment Agency (EEA), which is used for reporting on the State of the Environment (SOER 2015).JRC.H.5-Land Resources Managemen