Scientific commentary: Strategic analysis of environmental policy risks-heat maps, risk futures and the character of environmental harm

We summarise our recent efforts on the policy level risk appraisal of environmental risks. These have necessitated working closely with policy teams and a requirement to maintain crisp and accessible messages for policy audiences. Our comparative analysis uses heat maps, supplemented with risk narratives, and employs the multidimensional character of risks to inform debates on the management of current residual risk and future threats. The policy research and ensuing analysis raises core issues about how comparative risk analyses are used by policy audiences, their validation and future developments that are discussed in the commentary below

Risk communication policy design: Cyprus compared to France and the Netherlands

This study aims at analyzing differences between risk communication policies in Cyprus, compared to the Netherlands, and France. It analyzes risk communication policies indirectly through a qualitative analysis of the information provided by official websites, which are considered to be proxies of these policies. The websites review will focus on the type of the information disclosed online, and the similarities and differences between the websites, regarding the information provided, the way it is communicated, the backing on credible sources, and the supplying of more information if desired, but also simply through the presenting of the WebPages. The results indicate that the Netherlands and France have created risk dedicated websites besides the ministries’ websites with information on risks, prevention and the authorities’ actions. There is a gap between strategies. The Dutch strategy is to give more responsibilities to the public, by encouraging individuals to be resilient and responsible for their own safety at a certain level by promoting preventive behaviors. The French strategy is to provide risk-dedicated information to the public, also on prevention and government actions. Opposed to this, the Cypriot authorities simply avoid this strategic question by confining the risk communication to the crisis phase, without entrusting people with a role in risk management, and by strictly one-directional communication, with government delivering and the public digesting (or not). Suggestions for risk communication policy development are discussed

Contribution to the economic impact assessment of policy options to regulate animal cloning for food production with an economic simulation model

The EU is currently evaluating different policy options towards the use of cloning or products derived from cloned animals in the food chain. This study presents a first attempt to quantify the likely effects of different policy scenarios on international trade and EU domestic production. In the context of the Impact Asessment process the JRC was requested to simulate via a modelling study the economic impact of selected policy options. Based on a literature review and the specific constraints for this study, the choice was made to perform the analysis through the use of a computable general equilibrium model and focus on the dairy and beef sector . The different model scenarios are constructed based on combinations of the discussed policy options such as a ban or traceability and labelling requirements with the productivity increase associated with cloning. The results show that only the situation where trade with countries using the technique of cloning is suspended has an effect on competitiveness. This suspension could be due to express prohibitions or a de facto decision by exporters when traceability and labeling costs increase. Unde this scenario imports drop significantly which is followed by a slight increase in domestic production and prices, especially for beef and cattle.JRC.J.4-Agriculture and Life Sciences in the Econom

Contribution to the economic impact assessment of policy options to regulate animal cloning for food production with an economic simulation model

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The Potential for Ontogenetic Vertical Migration by Larvae of Bathyal Echinoderms

Planktotrophy is a relatively common developmental mode among bathyal and abyssal echinoderms, but the sources of food used by deep-sea planktotrophic larvae remain generally unknown. Very few deep-sea echinoderm larvae have been collected in plankton samples, so we do not know whether larvae migrate to the euphotic zone to feed or if they rely on bacteria or detritus at greater depths. We approached this question indirectly by investigating whether larvae of bathyal echinoids can tolerate the temperatures they would encounter in the euphotic zone and whether they possess sufficient energy stores to migrate to the euphotic zone without feeding. Twenty-four hour survival at 20 and 24 °C was always much lower than survival at colder temperatures, but there were species-specific and stage-specific differences in temperature tolerances. A numerical model of the energy consumed by migrating larvae predicted that larvae should be able to reach adequate phytoplankton concentrations before exhausting parental reserves, unless they swim very slowly and have very high metabolic rates. These results suggest that long vertical migrations are more likely to be limited by physiological tolerances than by energy stores

In Vitro Analysis of Tobramycin-Treated Pseudomonas aeruginosa Biofilms on Cystic Fibrosis-Derived Airway Epithelial Cells

P. aeruginosa forms biofilms in the lungs of individuals with cystic fibrosis (CF); however, there have been no effective model systems for studying biofilm formation in the CF lung. We have developed a tissue culture system for growth of P. aeruginosa biofilms on CF-derived human airway cells that promotes the formation of highly antibiotic-resistant microcolonies, which produce an extracellular polysaccharide matrix and require the known abiotic biofilm formation genes flgK and pilB. Treatment of P. aeruginosa biofilms with tobramycin reduced the virulence of the biofilms both by reducing bacterial numbers and by altering virulence gene expression. We performed microarray analysis of these biofilms on epithelial cells after treatment with tobramycin, and we compared these results with gene expression of (i) tobramycin-treated planktonic P. aeruginosa and (ii) tobramycin-treated P. aeruginosa biofilms on an abiotic surface. Despite the conservation in functions required to form a biofilm, our results show that the responses to tobramycin treatment of biofilms grown on biotic versus abiotic surfaces are different, as exemplified by downregulation of genes involved in Pseudomonas quinolone signal biosynthesis specifically in epithelial cell-grown biofilms versus plastic-grown biofilms. We also identified the gene PA0913, which is upregulated by tobramycin specifically in biofilms grown on CF airway cells and codes for a probable magnesium transporter, MgtE. Mutation of the PA0913 gene increased the bacterial virulence of biofilms on the epithelial cells, consistent with a role for the gene in the suppression of bacterial virulence. Taken together, our data show that analysis of biofilms on airway cells provides new insights into the interaction of these microbial communities with the host