SETAC Europe advisory groups are established for specific scientific areas with the aim of communicating and advancing the science, practices, and applications related to the topic and advising the SETAC Europe Council in relation to specific actions to reach these goals. At present four different groups are organised within SETAC Europe:
- Life-cycle assessment
- Dung Organism Toxicity Testing
- Soil
- Sediments
1. Life-cycle Assessment Advisory Group
The mission of the Life-cycle Assessment (LCA) Advisory Group in Europe is to advance the science, practice, and application of LCAs to reduce the resource consumption and environmental burdens associated with products, packaging, processes, or activities. The organisation serves as the focal point in Europe of a broad-based forum for the identification, resolution, and communication of issues regarding LCAs, and it facilitates, coordinates, and provides guidance for the development and implementation of LCAs in close cooperation with the North America LCA Advisory Group.
Core tasks of the LCA Advisory Group include planning and organising LCA sessions at the annual meetings and conferences, such as the LCA Case Studies Symposium; coordination of topical working groups; preparation and global integration of SETAC LCA publications; and promotion of the SETAC-UNEP Life-cycle Initiative.
LCA Advisory Group Steering Committee
- Rana Pant, Chair (Procter & Gamble Eurocor NV/SA, Strombeek-Bever, Belgium)
- David Pennington, -Secretary (European Commission DG Joint Research Centre (JRC), Ispra(Va), Italy)
- Annette Köhler, Treasurer (Technology and Society Laboratory, Empa, Dübendorf, Switzerland)
- Angeline de Beaufort (FEFCO, Swalmen, the Netherlands)
- Anna Braune, Student Representative (LBP Universität Stuttgart, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany)
- Paolo Frankl (Ecobilancio Italia, Rome, Italy)
- Michael Hauschild (Danish Technical University, Lyngby, Denmark)
- Walter Klöpffer (LCA Consult & Review, Frankfurt/M, Germany)
- Johannes Kreissig (PE Europe GmbH, Leinfelden-Echterdingen, Germany)
- Lars Gunnar Lindfors (Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL), Stockholm, Sweden)
- Paolo Masoni (ENEA, Bologna, Italy)
- Ellen Riise (SCA Personal Care, Göteburg, Sweden)
Non-voting Members/Ex Officio Members
- Bart Bosveld (SETAC Europe Executive Director)
- Alain Dubreuil (SETAC North America LCA Advisory Group)
- Jim Fava (SETAC-UNEP LCI representative)
- Bruce Vigon (SETAC Globe representative)
- Gjalt Huppes (Working Group Chair)
- David Hunkeler (Working Group Chair)
The 2006 LCA Case Study Symposium was held in Stuttgart. Johannes Kreissig chaired the organising committee for this meeting, which focussed on building and construction and attracted 200 participants from within this field. On the occasion of this meeting, the SETAC Europe Young Scientist LCA Award was presented. This newly established award recognises exceptional achievements by a young scientist in the field of life-cycle assessment.
2. Dung Organism Toxicity Testing (DOTTS)
The Dung Organism Toxicity Testing (DOTTS) Advisory Group was established to exchange information about testing the effects of veterinary drugs on dung organisms; to develop test protocols for toxicity testing with dung flies and dung beetles; and to perform ring tests with dung flies and dung beetles in order to standardise and validate the test protocols.
Much of this work was completed in 2006. The OECD has accepted the dung fly guideline “Determination of Developmental Toxicity of a Test Chemical to Dipteran Dung Flies (Scathophaga stercoraria L. (Scathophagidae), Musca autumnalis De Geer (Muscidae)” as prepared by DOTTS for review by OECD member states. In the future, the focus will be on preparing a guidance document for the performance of dung beetle tests.
DOTTS ring testing: participating laboratories
- Amanda Sharples: Covance Laboratories Ltd., United Kingdom
- Jörg Römbke, Adam Scheffczyk: ECT Oekotoxikologie GmbH, Germany
- Jörn Lehmhus, Silvio Knäbe: GAB Biotechnologie GmbH, Germany
- Katie Barrett, Jane Gray: Huntingdon Life Sciences, United Kingdom
- Boris Rosenkranz, Tatsuya Sekine: IBACON GmbH, Germany
- Thomas Schmidt: RCC Ltd., Switzerland
- Nicola Davies, James Murdock: CEM Analytical Services Ltd., United Kingdom
- Wolf Blanckenhorn: University of Zurich-Irchel, Switzerland
Jörg Römbke (Chair of the DOTTS advisory group)
“Technically speaking, DOTTS has fulfilled the tasks it was founded for: to provide industry and authorities with standard test guidelines with dung organisms. While some experiences about the effects of antiparasitics were available in the literature, no test guidelines were available when test results were required for the registration of certain veterinary pharmaceuticals. No organisation took the responsibility to select the most appropriate test methods, to prepare draft guidelines, to organise a ring test, to evaluate its results, and to help the responsible organisation -in this case the OECD- during the standardisation process. Obviously, an organisation like SETAC, and in particular an advisory group, is needed in such a situation, where a certain goal has to be reached in a limited time and without external support. DOTTS combines resources, experiences, and flexibility – and has proven that such an approach works.”
3. Soil Advisory Group
The Soil Advisory Group’s main objectives are to promote soil ecotoxicology and to create a network of experts in this field. The network includes nearly 200 members. The activities of the advisory group are coordinated by a steering committee.
Soil Advisory Group Steering Committee
- Els Smit (chair) (the Netherlands)
- Monica Amorim (Portugal)
- Kristin Becker van Slooten (Switzerland)
- Fred Heimbach (Germany)
- Jörg Römbke (Germany)
The activities of the Soil Advisory Group in 2006 focussed on promoting contributions on soil sciences to the 2006 Annual Meeting. Although the visibility of the topic was not high in terms of session titles, the number of individual contributions on the subject was high, and the Annual Meeting is considered a successful platform for soil scientists to exchange views and opinions on the topic. Other issues taken up by the Soil Advisory Group include the development of test guidelines and regulatory affairs.
4. Sediments Advisory Group
The SETAC Europe/SEDNET Advisory Group for Sediments was initiated in 2005 by Prof. Wolfgang Ahlf, the former SETAC Europe president, and Dr. Susanne Heise, member of the steering group of SedNet, the European Sediment Network. The group currently includes 40 participants. The group has organised short courses and sessions on sediment-related topics at SETAC Europe annual meetings. There were four sessions at the 2006 meeting: 1) Methods in Sediment Ecotoxicology, 2) Ecosystem Structure and Function, 3) Sediment Quality Criteria, and 4) Chemical processes and Interactions in Sediments and Suspended Matter.
Another important activity of this group includes the launching of the “Sediment Corner” in the SETAC Globe. Sabine Apitz (SEA Environmental Decisions), Mark Crane (WFC Environment Limited), and Susanne Heise (BIS Hamburg) act as editors for this section. The section includes news on European sediment issues, a bimonthly commentary, and an expert contribution focussing on sediment issues at the national level. From the beginning, overviews on the UK, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Italy, and Norway have been published.
The activities of the group initially focussed on Europe, but their aim is to involve participants from the rest of the world and to embrace a global approach.
