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Wednesday 14 October 2015

Workshop – Sustainable Water Quality and Treatment

Thursday 15 October 2015 – Friday 16 October 2015

8th Annual Scientific Meeting – Toxicology in the 21st Century: How does it apply to the water industry?

Australasian College of Toxicology & Risk Assessment8th Annual Scientific Meeting & Workshop

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre14 – 16 October 2015

8th Annual Scientific Meeting & Workshop

ACTRA gratefully acknowledges the 2015 ASM sponsors

WELCOMEI would like to welcome you to the 8th Annual Scientific Meeting (ASM) of the Australasian College of Toxicology and Risk Assessment (ACTRA). The ASM will provide an important opportunity for ACTRA members and delegates to network; present their work; gain insight into new research developments and innovative finds; discover the latest industry trends and hear presentations on current science from distinguished keynote speakers both nationally and internationally.

The Annual Scientific meeting will be held over two days at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre from Thursday 15 October to Friday 16 October 2015 on the theme “Toxicology in the 21st Century: How does it apply to the water industry? “The ASM will be preceded by a one day Workshop on the relatable theme “Sustainable Water Quality and Treatment on Wednesday 14 October 2015.

The Pre-ASM Workshop will feature eight invited speakers who will cover various aspects of water quality management, including information on disinfection by-products, bio-analytical tools, and cyanobacterial toxins. The ASM will follow with a keynote address by Dr Robert Kavlock, Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD). Robert will provide an update on the ToxCast, ExpoCast and Tox21 programs that are providing new paradigms for toxicity assessment, taking us into the 21st Century. Professor Matti Lang, Director of EnTox, will present on mechanism-based toxicity bioassays and Dr Roger Drew, Principal Toxicologist of ToxConsult Pty Ltd will discuss the Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) approach.

The ASM will also offer a variety of presentations and demonstrations on current research and other commentaries in the industry submitted by ACTRA members. One of these key presentations will be presented on Friday 16 October by the winner of the Student Prize Thomas McGrath. The Student Prize is a new innovation put forward by ACTRA that aims to support participation in important industry events by students studying toxicology and/ or risk assessment.

Both the ASM and the Workshop are a ‘festchrifte’ in memory of the contributions of the late Professor Michael Moore to environmental toxicology and water quality. Michael was one of the founders of ACTRA and was serving as Vice-President at the time of his untimely death in August 2014. There will be tributes made during both the Workshop and the ASM to honour Michael’s achievements.

Finally, the ACTRA Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held during the lunchbreak on Thursday 15 October. All ACTRA members are encouraged to attend to hear what the Board has been doing to progress the activities of ACTRA and to contribute to forward thinking and planning.

I am looking forward to seeing you all in Brisbane, and I hope you will take this opportunity to catch up with your friends and colleagues, and enjoy some stimulating science to boot!

Peter Di MarcoPresident, ACTRA

Australasian College of Toxicology & Risk Assessment 8th Annual Scientific Meeting & Workshop

The Late Professor Michael Ritchie MooreI wished to send a short personal tribute for the late Professor Michael Ritchie Moore, who I worked with in connection with plumbosolvency control on the Glasgow water supply before he moved to Australia.

Michael’s work on public health aspects of environmental lead was just one element of his wide expertise and experience in the field of toxicology, but I felt his important work in Glasgow from a water supply perspective should be mentioned. Michael’s toxicology colleagues will be able to report far better than I from a public health perspective on his contribution to research on lead in tap water, which of course subsequently extended considerably beyond Glasgow.

I first met Michael in 1991, when he was a Reader at Glasgow University and I was an Operations Scientist in the then Strathclyde Water. Michael had co-authored a paper as early as 1972 (1) relating to the influence of lead in tap water on blood lead concentrations in Glasgow residents, and he had published many other papers on public health aspects of lead in tap water over the following two decades.

It was through Michael’s initiative that a research project was established in 1992, which became known as the Glasgow 93 Lead Study. This research essentially observed maternal blood lead concentrations after the introduction of orthophosphate-dosing into the city’s Loch Katrine water supply. The research team included those working in public health at Glasgow University, and those working on the water supply in Strathclyde Water.

Orthophosphate-dosing had been introduced into the Loch Katrine water supply in 1989 to enhance plumbosolvency control, after lime-dosing was introduced in 1978. The very low alkalinity of Loch Katrine water, which also contained low but significant organic colour, made it exceptionally plumbosolvent.

Michael moved to Australia during the course of the Glasgow 93 Lead Study, but he continued to contribute to the study mainly by email, and was a co-author of the final report and the three papers subsequently published. The first of those papers (2) outlined key findings of the study. A second paper (3), for which Michael was corresponding author, reported a sub-study that observed blood lead in mothers living in the same maternity hospital catchment in Glasgow that Michael had observed a decade earlier (before and after lime-dosing had been introduced into the water supply). These papers reported a marked fall in maternal blood lead, which followed marked reductions in tap water lead and a fall in other environmental sources of lead.

I recall Michael’s enormous enthusiasm for the research project and his great encouragement, which served to give much support. One of my last communications with him related to a possible follow-up study to part of the Glasgow 93 Lead Study, essentially to observe maternal blood lead two decades later, to follow-on the trends that he had first begun to record in the 1970s. His enthusiasm and encouragement were still very evident, and will now be very greatly missed.

I am grateful to the Australasian College of Toxicology and Risk Assessment for an opportunity to submit this tribute relating to an element of Michael’s work in Glasgow. Holding the Annual Scientific Meeting in honour of Michael seems an important way for colleagues to remember him.

May I wish you well and a successful meeting.

Stuart J Robertson Formerly Strathclyde Water / West of Scotland Water / Scottish Water

References

(1) Environmental Lead Pollution in an Urban Soft-water Area. A. D. Beattie, M. R. Moore, W. T. Devenay, A. R. Miller, A. Goldberg. BMJ. 1972, 2 (No. 5812): 491-493

(2) Is Lead In Tap Water Still A Public Health Problem? An Observational Study In Glasgow. Graham C. M. Watt, Andrew Britton, W. Harper Gilmour, Michael R. Moore, Gordon D. Murray, Stuart J. Robertson, John Womersley. BMJ. 1996, 313 (No. 7063): 979-981

(3) Decline of maternal blood lead concentrations in Glasgow. Michael R. Moore, Stuart J. Robertson, W. Harper Gilmour, Gordon D. Murray, Andrew Britton, Robert A. Low, Graham C. M. Watt. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1998, 52(10): 672–673

Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre | 14 – 16 October 2015 3

WORKSHOPSustainable Water Quality and TreatmentWednesday 14 October 2015

Time Speakers Topic Area

08.00am – 09.00am Registration, Tea and Coffee

09.00am – 09.15amPeter Di Marco ACTRA President

Welcome and Introduction to the Workshop

09.15am – 10.05amDr Dan DeereWater Futures

Challenges for a Sustainable Water Industry in Australia

10.05am – 11.00amMr Mark PascoeInternational Water Centre

Water quality regulation – some current and future issues

11.00am – 11.20am Morning Tea

11.20am – 12.10pmAssociate Professor Fred LeuschWater Futures, Griffith University

Bioanalytical tools in water quality assessment

12.10pm – 13.10pmDr Janet TangThe University of Queensland, Entox

Disinfection By Products

13.10pm – 14.00pm Lunch

14.00pm – 14.40pmDr Andrew HumpageAustralian Water Quality Centre

Cyanobacterial Toxins

14.40pm – 15.20pmDr Ian Stewart,Food and Water Consulting

The Cylindrospermopsin Analogue Deoxy-Cylindrospermopsin: In Vitro and In Vivo Acute Toxicity

15.20pm – 15.50pm Afternoon Tea

15.50pm – 16.20pmAssociate Professor Anne RoikoEnvironmental Health, Griffith University

Engaging with the Community

16.20pm – 16.50pm

Dr Mark O’DonohueAustralian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence

Research Priorities and the Way Forward

16.50pm – 17.30pm Open Discussion & Workshop Close


WORKSHOP GUEST SPEAKERSDr Dan Deere Director, Water Futures Pty Ltd

Dan Deere provides support to water utilities in assessing and managing risks from drinking water supply and effluent recycling. Dr Deere has a PhD in waterborne pathogen fate

and transport from the University of Liverpool, an MBA in Technology Management from La Trobe University and a BSc (Hons) Class 1 in Biotechnology from the University Leeds. He has won many awards including the International Water Association 2002, Young Professional of the Year (biennial award) and his contributions to the Australian Water Association’s Water journal have been recognised with the awarding of the Guy Parker Award for best paper.

Mr Mark Pascoe Chief Executive Officer, International Water Centre

Mark Pascoe has worked for his more than 40 year career in the water industry – predominately in Brisbane, Australia. His professional background

is in Applied Science and Environmental Engineering. He spent many years with Brisbane City Council where he was most recently the Manager, Water and Sewerage. Other roles in Brisbane City Council included Manager of Water Treatment and Manager of Wastewater Treatment. For a brief period in the mid 1990’s he worked for the environmental consultancy firm, Woodward-Clyde. He left the BCC role to take up a position as Deputy Director, International Water Association in London, which he held for three years before returning to Brisbane early in 2005. Mark has held positions of President, Australian Water Association; Board Member, Water Services Association of Australia; Board Member, Co-operative Research Centre, Water Quality and Treatment; Member of Panel for development of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines; Board Member, Global Water Research Coalition, and Advisory Board Member, UNEP International Environment Technology Centre, Osaka, Japan; Board Member, Environment Business Australia , Board Member of Queensland Manufactured Water Authority and the Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence. Currently he holds the positions of; Board Member of the Advanced Wastewater Management Centre, University of Queensland. Mark is also an Adjunct Professor with the University of Queensland’s Faculty of Engineering, Architecture and Information Technology. He is currently CEO of the International WaterCentre where his role is to lead the development of the Joint Venture of four Australian Universities in providing solutions to Water Management issues for national and international clients in the areas of Education, Training, Applied Research and Knowledge Services.

Dr Janet Yat-Man Tang Group leader of Bioanalytical Tools, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), The University of Queensland

Dr Janet Tang is an environmental toxicologist who now leads the group Bioanalytical Tools at the National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox) at The University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. She obtained her undergraduate degrees at The University of Queensland and then moved to Hong Kong to study her PhD in Environmental Science at the City University of Hong Kong. She has extensive experience in in vitro and in vivo cell toxicology. Her research interests are to develop methods and tools for the risk assessment of organic micropollutants and for effect-based assessment for water and sediment quality monitoring.

Associate Professor Fred Leusch Griffith University, QLD

Fred Leusch has a BSc in Biology from McGill University in Canada, a MSc in Environmental Science from the University of New Brunswick

in Canada and a PhD in Environmental Toxicology from Lincoln University in New Zealand, and he was a Global Water Research Coalition Fellow from 2005-2008. His current research focuses on endocrine active substances in the Australian environment, alternatives to animal toxicity testing, developing novel bioanalytical tools for water quality assessment, and the application of toxicogenomics for monitoring exposure to environmental pollutants. Dr Leusch has contributed to the development of the Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling and is involved in the on-going review of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. He currently serves on various national and international committees on issues related to the significance of trace organic pollutants to drinking and recycled water quality as well as development and validation of animal alternatives for toxicity testing.

Dr Andrew Humpage Senior Scientist, Australian Water Quality Centre

Andrew Humpage has 24 years postgraduate research experience in in vivo and in vitro toxicology, particularly in the study of cyanobacterial toxins.

For the last 15 years a key interest has been the application of the mechanistic information generated by these studies to the development of rapid toxicity assays for chemicals of concern to the water and wastewater industries. He has over 20 years experience in a project management role and in the supervision of students, and technical and research staff. He has been an invited keynote speaker at a number of international conferences or symposia, and was an invited contributor to US EPA and WHO monographs on cyanotoxin toxicology and carcinogenicity. Over the last 10 years, Dr Humpage has also become increasingly involved in public health policy development. He is a member of the National Health and Medical Research Council’s Water Quality Advisory Committee (which supervises the rolling


revision of the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines) and leads its Disinfection By-Products working group. Andrew has contributed to a range of expert advisory panels such as: Development of safe levels of cyanotoxin contamination of seafood (for the Health Department of Victoria, Australia); The use of bioanalytical tools for human health risk assessment related to water; Evidence review for an association between chlorinated drinking water and bladder cancer; Development of “A Roadmap for Hazard Monitoring and Risk Assessment of Marine Biotoxins on the Basis of Chemical and Biological Test Systems”.

Dr Ian Stewart Consultant at Food & Water Toxicology Consulting and Honorary Fellow at The University of Queensland National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology

Ian Stewart has a biological science degree and a Master of Public Health. His PhD studies investigated the epidemiology and toxicology of cyanobacteria in recreational waters. Since being awarded his doctorate in 2004, Dr Stewart has conducted public health research projects in both university and state government sectors pertaining to natural toxins: cyanobacteria, ciguatera and other marine algal biotoxins, and more recently toxic metals in seafood for the South Australian Government.

Associate Professor Anne Roiko Program Director, Environmental Health, Griffith University

Anne Roiko is the Program Director for Environmental Health within the School of Medicine at Griffith University and a researcher with the Menzies Health

Institute, Queensland and the Smart Water Research Centre at Griffith University. She has an extensive and varied background in transdisciplinary, team- based research, and has particular expertise in health risk assessment, health and environment data linkage and indicator development. Her current research covers Bayesian modeling of water-related health risks, the transfer of risk-based evidence into policy, the health impacts of climate change and climate change adaptation.

Dr Mark O’Donohue Chief Executive Officer, The Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCE)

Mark O’Donohue is a research manager with a strong interest and background in developing science

policy partnerships for urban and environmental water. Prior to joining the AWRCE he was the Director of Environmental Water Policy for the Australian overnment Department of Environment, Water, Heritage and the Arts in Canberra. Mark has also been Director of a $50 million Urban Water Security Research Alliance, executive manager with a major water utility, and a research scientist with the CSIRO and several Australian universities




09.30am – 10.00amPeter Di Marco, ACTRA President

Welcome and Introduction Tribute to Professor Michael Moore

10.00am – 10.50amDr Robert KavlockOffice of Research and Development, US EPA

The ToxCast, ExpoCast and Tox21 Programs for 21st Century Toxicological Assessments


11.10am – 11.40amProfessor Matti LangNational Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, Entox

Improving Mechanism – Based Bioassays for Predicting Toxicity of Environmental Contaminants

SESSION 1: Presentation of Submitted Papers

11.40pm – 12.00pmSneha SatyaNational Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS)

Emerging Approaches to Human Health Hazard Assessments

12.00pm – 12.20pmKerry Nugent National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme (NICNAS)

IMAP in Review – “Fit for Purpose” Risk Assessment

12.20pm – 12.40pmBrian PriestlyMonash University

HDm1 – An Alternative to the ADI/TDI Encompassing Variability?

12.40pm – 14.20pm Lunch & ACTRA Annual General Meeting (AGM)

14.20pm – 15.00pmDr Roger DrewToxConsult

Application of the Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) to Recycled Water Quality



15.30pm – 15.50pmJohn FrangosGolder Associates

Rapid Risk Assessment to Address Public Health Concerns

15.50pm – 16.10pmCraig Dalton Hunter England Population Health, (HNEPH)

Decrease in Children’s Blood Levels Following Closure of a Lead Zinc Smelter, Boolaroo, Australia

16.10pm – 16.30pmTarah HagenToxConsult

Peace (PAX) and birds

16.30pm – 16.50pmJohn FrangosGolder Associates

Risk-based Methods to Derive Aquatic Ecosystem Guidelines

16.50pm – 17.10pmBenjamin EdokpoloGriffith University

Health Risk Assessment for Exposure to Benzene in Petroleum Refinery Environments

17.10pm – 17.30pm Close of Meeting Day 1

18.30pm – 22.00pm Conference Dinner

ASM PROGRAM DAY 1Toxicology in the 21st Century: How does it apply to the water industry?Thursday 15 October 2015





09.20am – 09.40amRhian CopeTherapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)

What Level of Feed Aflatoxin Does Not Inhibit Production in Sheep and Cattle?

09.40am – 10.00amJack Ng EnTox

In-Vitro Toxicity Evaluation of Water Samples from a Gold Mine and Nearby Rivers in Honiara, Solomon Islands

10.00am – 10.20amRoss SadlerGriffith University

Improved Sanitation as a Means of Reducing the Risks Posed by Nitrate in Village Wells: A Study in Central Java



11.00am – 11.20amJackie WrightEnRiskS

Risk Communication and CSG

11.20am – 11.40amRuth JarmanEnRiskS

Exposure Assumptions for Contaminated Land HHRA: How Far is to Far?

11.40am – 12.00pmThomas McGrath (Student Prize Winner)RMIT University

Determining Polybrominated Dephenyl Ether (PBDE) Levels in Urban Soils of Melbourne, Australia

12.00pm – 12.20pmJanet CummingEnTox

THMs and Public Health

12.20pm – 13.30pm Lunch (Possible Poster Session)


13.30pm – 13.50pmDes ConnellGriffith University

Health Risk Assessment on a Global Basis of Volatile Aromatic Hydrocarbons (VAHs) in the air of Residential Houses

13.50pm – 14.10pmGiorgio De NolaCardno

Trichloroethylene: Toxicological Reference Values for Site-Specific Risk Assessments and SAEPA Action Levels

14.10pm – 14.30pmVincent LalEnTox

Towards Understanding the Uptake of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Human Liver Cells

14.30pm – 14.50pmSasikumar MuthusamyEnTox

Flow Cytometry Based in Vitro Micronucleus Test for Genotoxicity Assessment of Environmental Chemicals

14.50pm – 15.10pmJean MeaklimGreencap

Personal Protective Clothing (PPC) Treated with Proban Exposure to Formaldehyde Through Skin and Inhalation


15.30pm – 16.10pmRaghad Nathom Al-SaadiUniversity of Queensland

Toxicity Evaluation of Copper and Zinc Cyanide Complexes Using Euglena Gracilis Z and SMZ as an in-vivo Model

16.10pm – 16.30pm General Discussion/Close of Meeting Day 2

ASM PROGRAM DAY 2Toxicology in the 21st Century: How does it apply to the water industry?Friday 16 October 2015


ASM GUEST SPEAKERSDr Robert Kavlock Deputy Assistant Administrator for Science, Office of Research and Development, United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Robert Kavlock is the Deputy Director for Science in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD). ORD is the scientific research arm of EPA, whose leading-edge research helps provide the underpinning of science and technology for the Agency. He has over 33 years of scientific experience and was previously the Director of the National Centre for Computational Toxicology (NCCT) within ORD, a post he occupied since its founding in 2005. The NCCT has pioneered the application of modern molecular biology and computational sciences through its ToxCast program to bring high throughput methodologies to the study of chemical effects on biological systems. Prior to that time Dr Kavlock spent 15 years as the Director of the Reproductive Toxicology Division in ORD where he focused on improving approaches to risk methods for non-cancer health outcomes. He has published more than 225 scientific papers and has served on scientific advisory groups for the NIH, EU, WHO, IPCS, IARC, the Canadian government and the OECD. For the OECD, he is co-chair of the Extended Advisory Group on Molecular Screening and Toxicogenomics. His PhD is in Biology from the University of Miami and he is a past president of the Teratology Society

Dr Roger Drew Principal Consultant at ToxConsult Pty Ltd

Roger Drew has primary degrees in biochemistry and pharmacology and postgraduate degrees in toxicology, further toxicology

training was undertaken as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health, National Cancer Institute in the USA. Twelve years were spent at Flinders University of South Australia as a lecturer/senior lecturer teaching medical students, conducting toxicological research and participating at University administration. Later, he was Manager of the Toxicology Information Section and also Corporate Toxicologist of ICI Australia and was principal toxicologist with SHE Pacific Pty Ltd, Safety Health and Environmental Consultants. In 1996 Dr Drew was certified in toxicology by earning Diplomate status of the American Board of Toxicology. Dr Drew has over 40 years of experience in toxicological research, interpretation of toxicological data and health based risk assessment. He has been a toxicology consultant to Federal and State Health Authorities, was appointed to several standing National Health & Medical Research Council (NH&MRC) expert committees constituted for regulatory assessment of chemicals and an invited member of many expert task groups of the World Health Organization for the International Programme on Chemical Safety. He is one of the authors of the Australian publication Recycled Water Quality: A guide to determining, monitoring and achieving safe concentrations of chemicals in recycled water, in which the Threshold of Toxicological Concern (TTC) was applied to derive guidelines for chemicals found in recycled water.

Professor Matti A. Lang Director of the National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology, The University of Queensland, QLD

Matti A. Lang has been the Director at the National Research Centre for

Environmental Toxicology (Entox), University of Queensland, Australia since January 2009. He has been an Honorary Professor at University of Queensland since 2005. Previously, he was Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmaceutical Biochemistry at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, Head of the Molecular Toxicology/Carcinogenesis programme at the World Health Organization (International Agency for Research on Cancer) in Lyon, Professor of Toxicology at the University of Kuopio in Finland, and research director at Eflab company in Finland. His PhD is from the University of Kuopio in Finland. Professor Lang’s research focuses on molecular mechanisms of cells’ response to chemical and oxidative stress, and mechanisms of chemical carcinogenesis. Special areas of interest include mechanisms of gene regulation, molecular genetics and individual drug sensitivity. Professor Lang has trained about 45 PhD students in five different countries: Finland, Sweden, USA, France and Australia, and his publications include about 200 articles in highly ranked peer reviewed journals, as well as chapters in books. He has been an invited speaker at numerous international meetings, referee for several peer reviewed journals and Chairman of the Finnish Society of Toxicology.


ABSTRACTSWorkshopWednesday 14 October 2015

The Challenges for a Sustainable Water Industry in AustraliaDan DeereWater Futures Pty Ltd

Excellent progress has been made towards sustainability in the Australian water sector. Looking forward, improved communication by toxicologists and risk assessors will become an ever more important contributor to continuing Australia’s progress towards a genuinely sustainable water future. The business of water supply is being increasingly influenced by political factors. Actions can be influenced by a desire to keep down the headline water price in the short term which doesn’t necessarily lead to minimal cost solutions over the long term. Solutions that push costs onto the community but off the water bill may be favoured over solutions that lead to lower overall community cost. Genuine sustainability requires the community to understand more about the total community and environmental cost of water and wastewater management solutions. Critical decisions are increasingly being made by persons that don’t have a long history in the water industry and the experience that such a background brings. Both conventional and new media is increasingly looking for ‘scare’ stories and rapidly disseminating those to communities. Nervous politicians are entrapped to respond to such feedback. Fortunately, good communications with communities over many decades has helped to place Australia’s water industry in a relatively good position relative to many parts of the world. However, there have been some important lessons learnt in the recent past and there are some important challenges being faced now, that highlight the importance of the application of the state of the art in both toxicology, risk assessment and the communication thereof. Historical challenges have included the Western Corridor potable reuse scheme and a range of dual reticulation recycling schemes. Current challenges include packaging complex solutions that make optimal use of an overwhelming range of traditional centralised solutions, e.g. large dams and wastewater recycling plants, as well as alternative decentralised solutions, e.g. household roof water harvesting and community wastewater treatment centres. The need for objective evidence in relation to health and environmental risks, communicated in forms that can be understood and objectively compared, has never been greater.

Water quality regulation – some current and future issuesMark PascoeInternational WaterCentre

Mark will discuss some of the contemporary issues for water quality regulation and management in the industry. These will include the challenges of managing new approaches to water supply service delivery including the move to decentralized systems and recycled water use. He will also provide some local context through his role as the Chair of the Queensland Government water minister’s expert panel on water. The Expert Panel has identified some key issues related to the management of water quality in the context of a 30 year outlook.

Bioanalytical tools in water quality assessmentDr Janet Yat-Man TangGroup leader of Bioanalytical Tools, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox), The University of Queensland

Conventional chemical monitoring provides a quantitative assessment of single organic contaminant concentrations in a water sample but it has been criticized that the full range of chemical pollutants may not be accounted for, especially the presence of unknown compounds such as transformation products and untargeted emerging chemicals. The interactions among chemicals and the combined effects of mixtures have also been neglected. Bioanalytical tools are effects-based methods complement to chemical analysis to provide information on all bioactive micropollutants, and these tools may therefore complement chemical analysis for cost-efficient water quality monitoring. A major advantage of bioanalytical tools is the ability to detect the toxicity of mixtures of known and unknown compounds, while chemical analysis can only quantify the concentration of known, targeted chemicals irrespective of toxicity. They provide measures of the cumulative effects of chemicals that exhibit the same mode of toxic action, for which the selected bioassays are indicative plus they can give a measure of the cytotoxicity of all chemicals acting together in a water sample. Improved detection of the presence of chemicals in water enhances risk assessment and informs water management options, in particular for quality assessment of wastewater treatment plant effluent, recycled water, or stormwater harvesting and reuse. In this paper the design of a modular battery of bioassays will be presented and some illustrative examples from recent applications in South East Queensland, Australia. The bioassays were selected from three main categories of modes of action, namely non-specific, receptor-mediated specific and reactive toxicity. This bioanalytical test battery was used for monitoring organic micropollutants across an indirect potable reuse scheme testing sites across the complete water cycle from sewage to drinking water to assess the efficacy of different treatment barriers, including source control, wastewater treatment plant, microfiltration, reverse osmosis, advance oxidation, natural environment in a reservoir and drinking water treatment plant. Using bioanalytical tools it was possibly to follow the removal of groups of micropollutants through the various wastewater treatment steps. Treatment efficiency varied between different types of water treatment. Ozonation was very efficient in destroying specific toxicity such as estrogenicity while baseline toxicant’s effects were better removed by membrane filtration processes, presumably because mild oxidation processes only transform chemicals and do not mineralize them. Also herbicides were often recalcitrant towards biodegradation in conventional wastewater treatment plant, while removal of phytotoxicity was much better with tertiary treatment and advanced oxidation processes.

Bioanalytical tools in water quality assessmentFred LeuschSmart Water Research Centre, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University

In vitro bioassays (aka “bioanalytical tools”) have been used for over half a century in assessment of recycled water quality. Today, millions of chemicals and formulations are available for commercial use and most have a high propensity to enter sewage collection systems. Beyond the sheer number of chemicals, the interactions of these chemicals as complex mixtures is largely unaddressed in traditional regulatory schemes. Bioanalytical tools offer a path forward towards more comprehensive chemical evaluations of water, which can provide greater public confidence in the ability of potable reuse schemes to produce clean and safe drinking water.


Cyanobacterial Toxins – Current regulatory status and potential future changesAndrew HumpageAustralian Water Quality Centre

Regulatory guideline values have been derived in Australia and a number of other countries for the best-studied cyanobacterial toxins (microcystins, cylindrospermopsins and saxitoxins). However, the toxicological database for these toxins is still very limited and so it can be expected that guidelines may change as further evidence becomes available. This presentation will summarise the current basis for cyanotoxin guideline values in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines, contrast these with more recent guidelines (particularly the recently promulgated US EPA Health Alert Levels), and summarise recent research results that may lead to revision of guideline values in the future. Lastly, some remaining knowledge gaps will be identified.

The Cylindrospermopsin Analogue Deoxy-Cylindrospermopsin: In Vitro And In Vivo Acute ToxicityIan Stewart1,, Wasantha Wickramasinghe2, Alan Seawright2

1 Food & Water Toxicology Consulting 2 The University of Queensland, National Research Centre

for Environmental Toxicology

The cylindrospermopsin analogue deoxy-cylindrospermopsin (d-CYN) was first isolated by Brisbane researchers in 1999, and reported as non-toxic to mice. Subsequently, independent groups in the USA and Australia have found that d-CYN acts as a protein synthesis inhibitor in vitro, with a similar potency to that of cylindrospermopsin (CYN) in vitro. We extracted and concentrated d-CYN from field-harvested Lyngbya wollei with aqueous methanol and solid-phase extraction; separation was performed with preparative HPLC. Purity was confirmed by 1H NMR. We present here an overview of investigations into the acute toxicity of d-CYN, conducted on female Balb/c mice in separate studies since 2008. Particular challenges for dosing by the i.p. route were presented by the relatively low solubility of d-CYN; the “parent” compound cylindrospermopsin is highly soluble in water. Our in vivo toxicity experiments have delivered disparate findings which, to date, have proven difficult to interpret. We are soon to embark on a d-CYN oral gavage dosing study, which we hope will shed more light on this fascinating but formidable toxicological challenge. We considered the possibility that oestrus effects may have impacted on earlier i.p. dosing studies, so we have changed our study design to utilise male mice. Cylindrospermopsin will be used as a positive control; negative control mice will be dosed with material processed by identical chromatographic methods and lyophilisation procedures to those used to isolate and purify the test material, then dissolved or suspended in ultrapure water.

Engaging with the community: who, how and why when sustainability matters? Anne RoikoGriffith University

How do we bring the community with us on our quest to ensure sustainable supplies of safe water? As a very basic need, we all consume water and we would like it to be readily available, safe, appealing and affordable. So why does community engagement in the water sector present such an issue, attracting consistent investment in the research sector and dedicated teams of salaried staff within industry and government organisations? In reality effective community engagement around water supplies, water quality, safety and treatment is anything but straightforward. Many community engagement exercises connect with only a narrow range of stakeholders and/or have a narrow scope and there is a persistent gulf between the rhetoric and reality of community engagement. This paper explores some of the key social dimensions risk in the water sector and discusses how a better understanding of these can inform the formulation of more effective community engagement strategies.

Research priorities in water quality treatmentMark O’DonohueThe Australian Water Recycling Centre of Excellence (AWRCE)

Bio-analytical tools and in particular, in vitro bioassay methods, play a significant role in the pharmaceutical industry in ensuring the safety and efficacy of new chemical compounds. Over the last decade research has shown that such assays are compatible with water quality assessment and, by combining bioassays with chemical analyses, a significant improvement in water quality assessment may be possible. In particular, bio-analytical tools have the potential to provide a high-throughput platform to address issues of mixture toxicity and transformation product toxicity – both difficult to achieve by chemical analyses alone. Both in vitro and in vivo bioassays have been used in the USA and Europe since the late 1970s in attempts to characterise drinking water hazards and subsequently some industrial wastewater hazards, with varying levels of success. Many of the technical difficulties associated with bio-analytical tools are being progressively overcome. However, there remains a gap in linking these assessments to specific human health questions. It remains unclear how such bioassay results can be meaningfully interpreted in terms of specific human health questions and risks, and, more specifically, how they might be used within a regulatory framework. The AWRCoE organized a 3-day workshop in February 2015 to identify these barriers and map a way forward to address the relevant issues. The workshop involved a small group of international researchers experienced in the development and application of bio-analytical tools, regulators and water industry professionals. This presentation will outline the consensus achieved and the “road map” developed at the workshop as a possible way forward to establish better links between the results of specific bio-analytical tools and human health related to water.


ABSTRACTSASM Day 1Thursday, 15 October 2015

The ToxCast, ExpoCast and Tox21 Programs for 21st Century Toxicological Assessments. Robert KavlockUnited States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

The last two decades have produced dramatic technological advances in molecular biology and computer science. In 2007, The US EPA launched the ToxCast program to explore the use of these technologies in chemical hazard and risk assessment so that we can begin to close the information gap on the large number of chemicals in commerce for which toxicological data are lacking. The program is utilizing over 700 high-throughput assays covering approximately 300 biological signalling pathways to test the effects of over 2000 chemicals that cover industrial and consumer products, food additives and potentially “green” chemicals. ToxCast is a component of the larger Tox21 consortium of U.S. federal organizations (the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences/National Toxicology Program, the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Center for Computational Toxicology, the National Institutes of Health Chemical Genomics Center, the Food and Drug Administration) that is evaluating how best to incorporate these advances into testing strategies in order to broaden scientific knowledge of exposure-related disease mechanisms and ultimately to develop in vitro predictive models for in vivo biological response. The Tox21 chemical library of nearly 10,000 chemicals and its accurate characterization is a central pillar of the effort. The library is unprecedented in its scope, structural diversity, use scenarios, and chemical reactivity characteristics in relation to toxicology and, thus, is ideally suited to extensively probe target interactions, pathways and toxicity mechanisms. The library has been tested in more than 50 biological assays, including ones for nuclear receptor activity and cellular stress responding pathways. Just as ToxCast and Tox21 are beginning to close the information gaps on the biological effects of chemicals, the ExpoCast program is making progress in estimating human exposure potential and has recently ranked nearly 8000 chemicals for that aspect. Combining ToxCast hazard potential measures with ExpoCast exposure potential predictions allows the development of risk based prioritization methods for chemicals in a high throughput manner. The US EPAs Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program is the first application of the tools of computational toxicology in a regulatory setting and its current status will be presented. This is an abstract of proposed presentation and does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.

Improving mechanism- based bioassays for predicting toxicity of environmental contaminantsMatti Lang, Hao Hu, A’edah Abu BakarEntox, UQ

Cell based bioassays are widely used to asses toxicity of chemicals and their mixtures including environmental contaminants. Several so called “mechanism based” assays have been developed (applying recombinant gene technology) where the system is made sensitive to one mechanism or signalling pathway only: for example oxidative stress or gen-toxicity. Using such assays for toxicity assessments can be misleading, as they typically are very (too?) sensitive to one type of insult only, while excluding others. This is problematic when assessing toxicity of complex mixtures, which may activate several stress responding pathways simultaneously. Theoretically, a repertoire of mechanism specific bioassays with different endpoints can be applied in such situations, however, this is unpractical, expensive and time consuming. We have developed an assay system, based on the CYP2A5/CYP2A6 gene. This gene is part of the cellular defence against toxic insults. Its expression is regulated by a several different stress activated transcription factors

and signalling pathway, and is therefore upregulated by different types of toxic insults; hence particularly suitable to assess mixture toxicity.

Emerging Approaches to Human Health Hazard AssessmentsSneha SatyaNICNAS / Office of Chemical Safety/Department of Health

Human health risks from chemical exposure have traditionally been identified through tests conducted with laboratory animals. Increasing animal welfare concerns and bans on the use of animal testing for some purposes have resulted in the emergence of new approaches to toxicology that rely on understanding the molecular mechanisms of chemical effects on human cells and tissues. Non-standard in vitro tests from high-throughput assays in mammalian cell lines, cell cultures and/or tissue surrogates, the application of a range of computational methods for data analysis and the modelling of molecular interactions between a chemical and molecular target are some of the new approaches being developed. Adverse Outcome Pathways (AOPs) provide a descriptive framework for the sequence of molecular events from the exposure of an organism to a chemical to an adverse outcome. Integrated Approach to Testing and Assessment (IATA) proposes to integrate information from a range of sources (including AOPs) to reduce reliance on animal testing for regulatory decision-making. This presentation will describe current OECD initiatives in developing AOPs and IATA, including work on establishing chemical categories and SAR/QSAR models to harmonise reporting and increase the regulatory acceptance of alternative approaches to hazard assessment. * The OECD activity on AOPs can be accessed at http://www.oecd.org/

env/ehs/testing/adverse-outcome-pathways-molecular-screening-and-toxicogenomics.htm

*The OECD AOP WIKI is at https://aopkb.org/aopwiki/index.php/Main_Page

IMAP in Review – “Fit for Purpose” Risk AssessmentKerry NugentNICNAS

The NICNAS Inventory Multi-tiered Assessment and Prioritisation (IMAP) framework was presented at an earlier ACTRA scientific meeting. This presentation will outline the findings of a review of the first three years of the assessment of existing industrial chemicals using the IMAP framework. In particular, the presentation will explore how the framework was used to tailor the assessment effort to the likely risks posed by existing chemicals and how recommendations utilised existing tools available to risk managers. The presentation will provide an overview of IMAP progress to date, and a discussion about the rationale for referring certain chemicals for more in depth (Tier III) assessments in the coming year.

The review also considers how the assessment of existing chemicals should continue in the future, including review of the scientific basis of IMAP.

HDMI – an alternative to the ADI/TDI

encompassing variability?Brian G PriestlyFACTRA, Australian Centre for Human Health Risk Assessment (ACHHRA)School of Public Health & Preventive Medicine, Monash University

The conventional way of managing variability in setting exposures in a human health risk assessment (HHRA) is to apply safety/uncertainty factors to a point-of-departure (POD) in the dose-response relationship from animal studies. The POD is commonly the NOAEL or LOAEL, although a more contemporary approach is to use a Benchmark dose estimate (e.g. BMD10). The derived


Acceptable/Tolerable Daily Intake (ADI/TDI) is conservative, but it provides no information about the variability in dose-response that underlies the estimate. A statistically derived lower confidence limit on the BMD (BMDL) provides some information about the variability and can be used as a POD for some types of extrapolation (e.g. linearized cancer risk estimation). As part of its program to harmonise risk assessment methodology, the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) recently issued a monograph1 that proposes a new measure of exposure that incorporates estimates of variability. The HDM

I is an estimate of “the human dose at which a fraction (or incidence) I of the population experiences an effect of magnitude (or severity) M or greater for the critical effect considered”. A typical TDI or RfD could then be expressed as the HD05

01 representing a human daily dose (incorporating allometric scaling from the dose in the studied species) where only 1% of the population is likely to experience more than 5% response (incremental incidence or increase over background). The analysis uses Wizard BMDS software to evaluate the dose-response and an APROBA Excel-based spreadsheet1 to provide a probabilistic analysis based on the assumption that the input parameters are independent lognormal distributions.1 World Health Organization (2014). Guidance document on evaluating and

expressing uncertainty in hazard characterization. (IPCS harmonization project document No. 11) http://www.who.int/ipcs/methods/harmonization/areas/hazard_assessment/en/

Application of the threshold of toxicological concern (TTC) to recycled water qualityRoger DrewToxConsult Pty Ltd

The TTC is a risk assessment tool for evaluating substances with few or no toxicity data and which have a low level of exposure. The TTC is based on the concept that an exposure threshold value can be established below which a very low probability of an appreciable risk to human health exists, even if the substance may later be found to be a carcinogen. In this presentation the history of the TTC, its validation, refinement from the original carcinogenicity databases to deal with other toxicological endpoints, and its adoption by various international agencies will be briefly reviewed. Practical aspects and validation of computer tools recently developed that codify the rules for allocating chemicals into TTC classes will be presented using recycled water as a detailed case study. These tools simplify the application of TTC in chemical risk assessment. Certain categories of chemicals are not supported by the databases underpinning the TTC. In Australia the TTC has not been applied to derive screening guidelines for pharmaceuticals. The philosophy for deriving guidelines for these chemicals is also based on a threshold approach but uses therapeutic doses as an initial point of departure.

Rapid Risk Assessment to Address Public Health ConcernsJohn Frangos and Madeleine ThomasGolder Associates Pty Ltd

Community concerns arose regarding antimony exposure potentially relating to a local mine operations following reports of elevated antimony concentrations in the urine of local residents (adults and children). In the absence of a reliable reference range for antimony in urine or biological exposure indices commonly used to assess exposure to antimony the relevance of the elevated antimony results could not be directly assessed. The suspected environmental cause (local mine activities) indicated that the urine results required further assessment.

Approach/ Activities: The assessment involved a multi-levelled approach, comprising the following steps:

• Development of an objective approach to answer the question: “Does an immediate health risk to the community exist?”

• Initial screening of antimony data collected during the rapid monitoring program (soil, tank water and air results) against adopted assessment guidelines and criteria.

• Calculation of an estimated Daily Antimony Intake (DI) for identified residents (amount of antimony potentially taken up by a person from tank water, soil and air) and comparison of the estimated DI to a regulatory value for Tolerable Daily Intake (TDI).

• Further assessment of the TDI exceedances using a Margin of Exposure (MoE). The MoE method is not commonly used in the assessment of human health risks posed by contaminates in the environment.

Results/Lessons Learned: The case study offers an example of both an emerging contaminant where the primary exposure pathway was drinking water. Antimony toxicology, the use of the MoE method and the merits of estimating a daily intake from environmental sampling as a ‘source of truth’ of biological monitoring data will be discussed.

Decrease in Children’s Blood Levels Following Closure of a Lead Zinc Smelter, Boolaroo, AustraliaCraig B Dalton, Susan L. Thomas, Cindy Gliddon, Sandra Carlson, David N DurrheimHunter New England Population Health

Background: A zinc-lead smelter operating for 100 years led to elevated blood lead levels among children in the residential areas surrounding the smelter. Multiple educational and remediation interventions were attempted without effect as blood lead levels appeared to correlate with lead in air levels. Blood lead levels decreased rapidly in the two years following the closure of the smelter in 2003 without any significant soil remediation. In 2014 renewed attention was drawn to residual lead in soils and sustained media coverage suggested the soil lead levels constituted a risk to health. Blood lead screening was offered to respond to community concerns associated with the media coverage.

Methods: A blood lead screening clinic was conducted over three weeks in June/July 2015 for children under 5 years of age and pregnant women using the Lead Care II “finger prick” point of care testing device.

Results: Seventy two children participated in the screening program in June/July 2015 and all blood lead levels were below 5 µg/dL with 88% being below the Lead Care II reporting level of 3.3 µg/dL. All eight pregnant women had blood lead levels below 5 µg/dL .

Conclusions: The screening survey confirmed the downward trend observed since the closure of the smelter and that the risk of children accumulating excess lead in the area has remained low despite any significant remediation of the area. Children’s blood lead levels in the past appear to have been driven by fresh smelter emissions more so than historically contaminated lead contaminated soils.

Peace (PAX) and birdsTarah Hagen and Roger Drew

ToxConsult Pty Ltd

PAX is a xanthate flotation collection agent widely used in Australia to recover metals from sulphide ores. Consequently it is present in mining tailings dams where birds may be exposed. There is no information available regarding the toxicity of xanthates to birds. However because the toxicity of PAX is mediated by carbon disulphide (CS2), metabolism and ecotoxicity information for thiram (a fungicide) whose toxicity is also mediated by CS2 was used to assess avian risk from exposure to PAX. Species sensitivity distribution of thiram LD50s provided the lower confidence limit on dose protective of mortality for 95% of avian species. Assuming complete metabolism to CS2, the toxicological mass dose (mg/kg) of Thiram was converted to the equivalent molar dose (mmol/


ABSTRACTSkg) of CS2, and then to an equivalent mass dose (mg/kg) of PAX. To provide additional protection from the critical effects preceding death (neurotoxicity), a safety factor (the size of which may be situation specific) was applied to derive a range of “tolerable doses” for PAX. Allometric equations for daily avian water intake facilitated calculation of management goals for PAX in tailings dams.

Keywords: PAX; tailings; xanthates; flotation agent; avian toxicity

Risk-Based Methods to Derive Aquatic Ecosystem GuidelinesJohn Frangos, Kirsten Broadgate, Carolyn Brumley, Naomi Cooper, Antti Mikkonen Golder Associates Pty Ltd

Introduction: The release of the Revised Methodology to derive Australian and New Zealand Water Quality Guideline Values for Toxicants (Warne et al, 2014) and Technical Rationale for changes to the Method for Deriving Australian and New Zealand Water Quality Guideline Values for Toxicants (Batley et al, 2014) represents a significant improvement to development of risk-based guidelines for protection of aquatic ecosystems in Australia. The authors will present their collective experience in developing aquatic guidelines for various toxicants, including development of new perfluorinated chemicals (PFOS and PFOA) guideline values for protection of aquatic ecosystems using the new Warne et al (2014) and Batley et al (2014) methodology. The new Warne et al (2014) and Batley et al, (2014) methodology will be compared to former methods for deriving water quality guidelines, as well as methods for development of screening criteria in other regulatory settings in Australia. The presentation will discuss the following aspects with examples of how differing approaches affect the criteria (numeric value) arrived at:

• Data gathering (literature review)

• Data quality screening (what’s in, what’s out)

• Data manipulations (Species Sensitivity Distributions versus Assessment Factor approaches)

• Assessment of bioconcentration, bioaccumulation and biomagnification.

Particular focus will be given to the current state of the science in aquatic ecotoxicology testing and the ability to adequately asses and capture adverse chronic effects (such as endocrine disruption, multi-generational effects).

Methods: The former ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000) methodology represented a significant development to previous regional or national risk-based methodology for derivation of ecological criteria in Australia and New Zealand. Notably, the advances made in the ANZECC and ARMCANZ (2000) guidance in turn influenced the methodology for derivation of soil ecological investigation and screening levels in the Amended NEPM (1999), although the development of criteria for contaminated land will not be covered except where it highlights an advantage in the revised Australian methodology.

The revised methodology (Warne et al, 2014; Batley et al, 2014) has advanced the scientific rigour and reliability of the risk-based guidelines that may be generated. Some of the key differences between the former and new guidance that will be discussed and include:

• Definition of acute versus chronic tests

• Acceptable test endpoints

• Data selection (acute versus chronic)

• Data conversion (acute converted to chronic, normalising data for the chemical species of interest)

• Testing the data modality

• Improvements to BurrliOz (release of Burrlioz v 2)

Results and Discussion: The authors’ familiarity with risk-based guidance in Australian in three different regulatory settings (national water quality guidelines, chemical hazard classification, chemical risk assessment) will be drawn out in a review of some of the differences and similarities of these respective risk-based methodologies. The authors’ experience in screening ecotoxicological data and using these data to derive screening criteria for differing purposes will be presented under the different guidance frameworks. Some of the key differences include:

• Data selection (acute versus chronic)

• Data manipulations (Species Sensitivity Distributions versus Assessment Factor approaches)

• The purpose and application of the screening criterion derived

Examples of how some of these key differences affect the final screening criteria arrived at will be presented. A critical aspect is performing checks and balances performed during appropriate steps and at sufficient frequency to avoid derivation of screening criteria that are potentially over- or under-protective.

Conclusions: Risk-based guidance frameworks in Australia have improved over the last 20 years and represent international best practice. However, the regulatory setting and applicable methodology to derive a screening criterion, and the ultimate application or purpose of the derived screening criterion can differ significantly under differing regulatory frameworks. The regulatory drivers must be well understood and carefully considered at all stages of data screening, selection, and manipulation. Decisions at each stage of a multi-step process have (sometimes significant) potential to influence the final result. Justifying professional judgements is critical to ensuring transparency and defensibility of risk-based guidelines or screening criteria.References

ANZECC/ARMCANZ (2000). Australian and New Zealand Environment and Conservation Council and Agriculture and Resource Management Council of Australia and New Zealand. An Introduction to the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality.

Batley G.E., R.A. van Dam, M.St.J. Warne, J.C. Chapman, D.R. Fox, C.W. Hickey and J.L. Stauber, Technical Rationale for changes to the Method for Deriving Australian and New Zealand Water Quality Guideline Values for Toxicants, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, June 2014

Warne MStJ, Batley GE, van Dam RA, Chapman JC, Fox DR, Hickey CW and Stauber JL. 2014. Revised Method for Deriving Australian and New Zealand Water Quality Guideline Values for Toxicants. Department of Science, Information Technology, Innovation and the Arts, Brisbane, Queensland. 36 pp. Batley

Decrease in children’s blood lead levels following closure of a lead zinc smelter, Boolaroo, Australia.

Health Risk Assessment for Exposure to Benzene in Petroleum Refinery EnvironmentsBenjamin Edokpolo, Qiming Jimmy Yu and Des ConnellGriffith School of Environment, Griffith University

The health risk resulting from benzene exposure in petroleum refineries was carried out using data from the scientific literature from various countries throughout the world. The exposure data was collated into four scenarios and plotted as cumulative probability distributions plots. Health risk was evaluated for each Scenario using the Hazard Quotient (HQ) at 50% (CEXP50) and 95% (CEXP95) exposure levels. Benzene levels were estimated to pose a significant risk with HQ50 >1 and HQ95 >1 for workers exposed to benzene as base estimates for petroleum refinery workers (Scenario 1; HQ50/RfD 3 and HQ95/RfD 44), petroleum refinery workers in Bulgarian refineries (Scenario 2B; HQ50/RfD 43 and HQ95/RfD 240), and benzene levels inside petroleum refineries in Bulgarian refineries (Scenario 3B; HQ50/RfD 39 and HQ95/RfD 120). HQ50/RfD <1 were calculated for Scenario 2A, 3A and 4. However potential risk was evaluated for Scenarios 2A and 3A with HQ95/RfD >1. The excess cancer risk for lifetime exposure to benzene estimated from benzene slope factor and the novel ORP method suggested higher cancer risk for petroleum refinery workers (Scenario 2B) with a CR of 5 per 100 and exposure to benzene in air inside petroleum refineries (Scenario 3B) with a CR of 3 per 100.


ABSTRACTS ASM Day 2Friday, 16 October 2015

What level of feed aflatoxin does not inhibit production in sheep and cattle?R. B. Cope1, R. Dalefield2, T. Oldfield1, C. Löhr3, M. Craig3

1 Commonwealth Department of Health, Australia2 Food Standards Australia New Zealand3 College of Veterinary Medicine, Oregon State University

Aflatoxins remain a substantial cost of production in the sheep and cattle. Accurate derivation of acceptable feed levels will reduce production cost. Retrospective literature searches were used to identify aflatoxin dose response data. Klimisch score 1-2 non-nested data sets (graded continuous and monotonic with ≥ 2 responses > NOAEL) were selected for BMD analysis using US EPA BMDS 2.6.0.1. (constraining power ≥ 1). Model fit/accuracy was determined by global goodness-of-fit p (α=0.1), scaled residuals and visual examination. AICs were used for inter-model comparison. The BMDLow 95% for a BMR10% for growth, (most sensitive endpoint with the lowest AIC), was derived. Generic UFs were applied because CSAFs could not be calculated due to a lack of suitable TK and TD data for the ultimate toxic metabolites. The calculated feed intake thresholds should minimise aflatoxin-associated production losses in sheep and cattle. However they are not designed to be protective of human health effects due to milk and carcass residues. Disclaimer: these analyses do not reflect any position of the Commonwealth Department of Health, Australia or Food Standards Australia New Zealand and are not endorsed by these organisations. All data analyses reflect the professional opinions of the authors.

Comparative Toxicity of Echimidine and LasiocarpineRosalind DalefieldFood Standards Australia New Zealand

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) are plant toxins that can contaminate food. The objective of this study was to compare the toxicity of echimidine, a PA common in Australasian honeys, to that of another PA, lasiocarpine, which has previously been studied by the NTP. A 28-day GLP dietary study was conducted in Wistar rats, 10/sex/group. Pyrrolizidine alkaloid doses were 0.6, 1.2 or 2.5 mg/kg BW/day. Endpoints were survival, clinical signs, food consumption, bodyweight gain, clinical pathology, gross pathology, organ weights and ratios, and histopathology. All rats survived to scheduled termination and no treatment-related clinical signs were observed. PAs had no effect on food consumption. Lasiocarpine caused significant decrease in group mean bodyweight gain in males at ≥1.2 mg/kg bodyweight and in females at 2.5 mg/kg bodyweight. Echimidine had no effect on bodyweight gain. One high-dose echimidine rat of each sex had proteinuria with minimally elevated serum creatinine. These rats were among eight that had chronic nephropathy. The relevance of these findings is equivocal. The NOAEL for lasiocarpine is 0.6 mg/kg BW/day. The NOAEL for echimidine is 2.5 mg/kg BW/day or 1.2 mg/kg BW day, depending on interpretation of the clinical pathology in the two rats.

In-Vitro Toxicity Evaluation of Water Samples from a Gold Mine and Nearby Rivers in Honiara, Solomon IslandsJack C. Ng1, Sasikumar Muthusamy1, Paul Jagals2

1 The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology

2The University of Queensland, School of Population Health

This study was commissioned by WHO in December 2014. It was proposed that controlled dewatering from the tailings dam of a

gold mine in Honiara could prevent disaster event of overspill and resulting in large amount of sediment (tailings) running into the nearby river system during the wet season. The study was focused on how best to minimize potential human health impact, if any, from such dewatering program. Since mine wastewater is a complex mixture we will focus on potential mixture effect by treating the water as an entity. Human liver cell-based (HepG2) assays were used for the evaluation of relative toxicity of mine water collected from the tailings storage facility (TSF) compared to that from the influent river water into the TSF and the downstream near the discharge point. The biological end-points included cytotoxicity (inhibition of cell growth) and genotoxicity. Oxidative stress test was also done in a recombinant cell with the oxidative probe Nrf2. The results have provided an acceptable dilution strategy for controlled release of the mine water with minimum environmental and health risks until the on-site vandalised treatment plant can be re-installed and a more sustainable solution is established.

Improved Sanitation as a Means of Reducing the Risks Posed by Nitrate in Village Wells. A Study in Central JavaRoss Sadler1, Brooke Maetam1, Ben Edokpolo1, Des Connell1, Jimmy Yu1, Don Stewart1, Mj Park1 and Budi Laksono2

1 Griffith University, Queensland, Australia 2 Klinik Umum, Semarang, Indonesia

A number of factors may be responsible for elevated nitrate levels periodically encountered in groundwater with improper sanitation an important source of nitrate, particularly in developing countries. Excessive nitrate in drinking water has been linked to infant methaemoglobinaemia and the current World Health Organization Guideline (50 mg L-1) is based upon this endpoint. However, the recent implication of significantly lower nitrate levels in drinking water as a causal agent for birth defects, has prompted a re-assessment of existing criteria. A program of sanitation improvement is being undertaken in villages of a mountainous area near Semarang, Central Java. Water was sampled from village wells and analysed for nitrate content. All but two samples were within the current World Health Organization Guidelines as regards nitrate, indicating that a risk of infant methaemoglobinaemia is limited in these locations. However the nitrate levels in many wells were within the range implicated in causing birth defects. Specific guidelines, appropriate for pregnant Indonesian women were developed and the data subjected to a probabilistic risk assessment. The results demonstrate that the sanitation improvement program had a significant effect as regards reducing the hazard quotient in relation to nitrate-induced birth defects.

Risk Communication and CSGJackie Wright and Therese ManningEnvironmental Risk Sciences Pty Ltd

Coal seam gas (CSG) operations are highly controversial in Australia. This makes it very challenging to effectively evaluate and communicate risks to regulators and the community. One example relates to the assessment and communication of risks associated with flowback water derived from pilot well activities in New South Wales. Initial water quality data identified the presence of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX) in flowback water from the wells. As the use of BTEX in CSG operations is banned in Australia the detection of these compounds raised significant concern with regulators and the community. Investigations undertaken by the company and regulator identified that the source of the BTEX reported was natural BTEX from within the coal seam. Sufficient comfort need to be provided to the community that the presence of low level BTEX in flowback water would not be harmful to their health, or the health of the local environment. This was undertaken by characterising exposures and risks for scenarios that would normally be considered insignificant or incomplete. The results of such evaluations were


ABSTRACTSthen put into context with similar, more familiar, BTEX exposures within the community. This was an important part of the process of communicating risks to the community in an environment where all risks from CSG activities (regardless of whether they are real or not) are perceived as high. This paper will provide an overview of the issues and the risk-based approach adopted to specifically address community concerns.

Exposure Assumptions for Contaminated Land HHRA: How Far is Too Far?Ruth Jarman, Jackie Wright, Therese ManningEnvironmental Risk Sciences Pty Ltd

The Contaminated Site NEPM covers 4 distinct land uses setting: low density residential (including child cares and schools), high density residential (where minimal contact with soil is assumed), recreation and open space and commercial/industrial. However as property sizes decrease and the urban fringe expands, proposed developments are becoming less likely to fit into standard land use settings and site owners or tenants may become more creative with respect to the use of their property. Among other things, site-specific Human Health Risk Assessment (HHRA) allows for the modification of exposure assumptions to suit a specific development scheme which may include a mix of the land use settings combined in the NEPM. In the context of the NEPM, a HHRA is a “population” risk assessment, meaning that overall communities rather than specific individuals, are assessed. Given this, the assessment of some human activities is almost never included because it is often argued that HHRAs are not meant to be protective of everyone in the population. However, human activities may be difficult to predict and the management of site-specific development plans that include privately owned apartments of lots may be difficult to control. Additionally, even when control measures are put in place these may be not implemented correctly, or implemented at all. Drawing on case study examples where the selection of exposure assumptions had the potential to result in significant financial implications and community concern, this presentation seeks to answer the question – how far is too far when assessing a contaminated site. The following topics are explored in a Victorian policy context:

• The placement of habitable spaces in basements and the use of studies as bedrooms;

• Pica behaviour and contact with soil in a high density residential setting (e.g. placement of vegetable gardens in high density residential courtyards);

• Extraction of groundwater for use; and

• Consumption of home-grown poultry.

Depending on the risk assessor’s, and to a certain extent the reviewer’s, experience, the modification of exposure assumptions for a site-specific HHRA may be either a straightforward or protracted experience.

Determining Polybrominated Diphenyl Ether (PBDE) Levels in Urban Soils of Melbourne, AustraliaThomas McGrath1, Andrew Ball1, Paul Morrison1, Geoff LeCornu2, Peter Rodgers3, Helena Woolums3, Christopher Sandiford3, Bradley Clarke1

1 RMIT University2 ALS Environmental Division3 Australian Contaminated Land Consultants Association

Polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) are a class of flame retardant that have been incorporated into plastics, electronic equipment, foams and textiles (NICNAS, 2001). Due to their long-range atmospheric transport potential (de Wit et al., 2010), persistence in the environment (Litz, 2002; Law et al., 2014) and toxicity (ATSDR, 2004), PBDE products Penta- and Octa-BDE were banned in Australia in 2007 (NICNAS, 2007). In 2013 the National Environment Protection Measure 1999 was augmented to include a health investigation level (HIL) for all PBDEs, except BDE-209, in soil (NEPC, 2013). The objective of this study was to determine the current PBDE contamination status in Melbourne’s surface soils and identify key emission sources. PBDEs were detected in 28/29 samples with Σ8PBDE soil concentrations ranging <LOQ-765 ng/g dw. The mean Σ8PBDE concentration in soils from waste disposal sites was six times higher than that of manufacturing industries and 42 times urban background levels. Electronics recycling facilities represented the greatest source of Σ8PBDE soil contamination. The levels of NEPM restricted congeners measured were substantially lower than the prescribed HIL, however, the inclusion of BDE-209 within the NEPM framework could be significant as BDE-209 levels were considerably higher than the sum of all other congeners.

Table 1 Summary data of PBDE soil concentrations (ng/g dw)

Site Classification n Σ7PBDEs BDE-209 Σ8PBDEs

mean min max mean min max mean min max

Manufacture 18 6.0 <0.14 21 25 <10 114 31 <11 135

Disposal 6 15 0.55 50 187 <10 749 192 2.9 765

Non-Source 5 2.2 0.39 4.7 2.0 <10 12 4.6 0.39 17

REFERENCES

ATSDR (2004) Toxicological profile for polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, Atlanta, USA

de Wit, C. A., Herzke, D. & Vorkamp, K. (2010) Brominated flame retardants in the Arctic environment – trends and new candidates. Science of the Total Environment, 408, 2885-2918.

Law, R. J., Covaci, A., Harrad, S., Herzke, D., Abdallah, M. A. E., Fernie, K., Toms, L. M. L. & Takigami, H. (2014) Levels and trends of PBDEs and HBCDs in the global environment: Status at the end of 2012. Environment International, 65, 147-158.


Litz, N. (2002) Some investigations into the behavior of pentabromodiphenyl ether (PeBDE) in soils. Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science, 165, 692-696.

NICNAS (2001) Polybrominated flame retardants (PBFs): Priority existing chemical assessment report No. 20. National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme, Sydney, Australia

NICNAS (2007) Interim public health risk assessment of certain PBDE congeners contained In commercial preparations of pentabromodiphenyl ether and octabromodiphenyl ether. National Industrial Chemicals Notification and Assessment Scheme, Sydney, Australia

THMs and Public Health Janet CummingQueensland Health

Over the summer of 2013-2014, there were several reported incidents in Queensland of significant exceedances of the Australian Drinking Water Guideline value for THMs of 250 µg/L. The exceedances were extensive in both concentration (300 – >600 µg/L) and duration (3 weeks to several months). Public health advice issued at the time was based largely on the 2006 ATSDR Health Consultation Total Trihalomethanes Pahokee and South Bay Municipal Water Systems Palm Beach County, Florida. That report stated there was epidemiological evidence of an association between multi-route chlorinated drinking water exposures containing disinfection by-products, including THMs, and adverse birth outcomes sufficient to generate public health concern. Since 2006 there have been many published papers on THMs. To determine the most appropriate interventions to protect public health during exceedance events, we have undertaken a literature review to identify 1) endpoints that may result from relatively short-term exposures and 2) vulnerable sub-groups in the population. In addition, Monte Carlo modelling has been undertaken to determine the relative importance of exposure routes in a local context.

Health risk assessment on a global basis of volatile aromatic hydrocarbons (VAHs) in the air of residential houses Nasrul Hamidin1, Qiming Yu1, Des Connell2, Dung Tri Phung3

1 Griffith School of Engineering, Griffith University 2 Griffith School of Environment, Griffith University 3 Centre for Environment and Population Health, Griffith

School of Environment, Griffith University

Published data on the volatile aromatic hydrocarbon (VAHs) in the air of residential houses was collected from 14 countries which indicated that maximum concentrations for benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, mp-xylene, o-xylene, styrene and naphthalene were 204, 509, 386, 138, 255, 171 and 144 mg/m3 and the median concentrations were 6.9, 41.0, 5.1, 14.1, 5.0, 2.6 and 3.8 mg/m3 respectively. The objective of this research was to evaluate the health risk due to these VAHs using probabilistic techniques. Comparison with national guidelines indicated that benzene, toluene & naphthalene may exceed the guidelines and may pose a human health risk in some situations. The human health risk characterization of the VAHs, was made by comparison of the human exposure (EXPH) with human adverse response data and animal data from the literature. The maximum EXPH exceeded the minimum threshold RES-LADDH for adverse health effects derived from human health data for benzene and toluene. This suggests that there are possible adverse health risks such as leukemia, developmental effects, aplastic anemia and chromosome aberration in the blood. The Hazard Quotient (HQ95/5) for benzene, toluene and styrene was 22.2, 1.2 and 0.3 respectively suggesting possible adverse effects particularly with benzene in the 5% of the global population subject to relatively high exposure.

Trichloroethylene: Toxicological Reference Values for Site-specific Risk Assessments and SAEPA Action LevelsGiorgio De NolaSenior Environmental Risk Assessor, Cardno

There is limited guidance from Australian authorities related to the assessment of risk from Trichloroethylene (TCE). However, action levels for TCE were recently released by SAEPA which provide a set of recommended actions for residential properties where modelled or measured indoor air exceeds a set level. However, these action levels are different to those set by the USEPA. The objective of this presentation is to explore the basis of these action levels including toxicological assumptions on which they are based. Ultimately, the differences in action levels derived by SA EPA and US EPA is related to the toxicology of TCE rather than the approach used in their derivation. The assumptions made in relation to the toxicology of TCE will therefore be explained and include a summary of the critical studies which underpin the adopted TRV. Shortcomings of these critical studies will also be briefly discussed. This will hopefully provide some insight in to the appropriate toxicological reference values (TRV) that could be used for site-specific risk assessments which include TCE.

Towards understanding the uptake of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in human liver cells Vincent Lal1, Cheng Peng1, Mary T. Fletcher2, Stephen T. Were3 and Jack C. Ng1 1 The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox) and CRC for Contamination Assessment and Remediation of the Environment (CRC-CARE)

2 The University of Queensland, Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation

3 Department of Agriculture and Fisheries, Biosecurity Queensland

Human cell-based models can provide important information on exposure and potential risk from chemical contaminants. Measurement of the amount of a chemical contaminant entering the cells can be useful towards our understanding of chemical health risk assessment. The aim for our study is to quantify intracellular uptake (bioavailability) of select polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a human liver carcinoma cell line (HepG2 cells) exposed to environmentally relevant concentrations of the pure model compounds. In addition to a single PAH exposure monitored over a 24 h period, exposure with a mixture of contaminants (including PAHs and metals/loids) over 24 h contact times has been employed to determine cell viability (or cytotoxicity) and their ability to recover. Chemical characterisation of PAHs is done using gas chromatography coupled to a mass spectrometer (GCMS). The ability to quantify chemical uptake using human cell line based models will contribute to a more refined chemical risk assessment.

Key words: Human liver cells; HepG2 cells, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; risk assessment; bioavailability; gas chromatography mass spectrometer


Flow cytometry based in vitro micronucleus test for genotoxicity assessment of environmental chemicalsSasikumar Muthusamy1, 2, Cheng Peng1, 2, Jack C. Ng1, 2

1 The University of Queensland, National Research Centre for Environmental Toxicology (Entox)

2 CRC CARE, The University of Newcastle

One of the concerns for environmental chemical exposure is its genotoxic/carcinogenic potential. The battery of tests prescribed by USEPA and OECD includes 1. Bacterial reverse mutation (Ames) test 2. In vitro gene mutation test in mammalian cells. 2. In vitro or In vivo chromosome or micronucleus (MN) test. Substantial progress has been made in genetic testing requirements as well as the protocols used for genotoxicity testing. One of the techniques is to use humanized in vitro systems for genotoxicity testing. Human cells offer more relevant metabolism and genetic background for assessing mutation. MN test is routinely used for evaluation of environmental mutagenesis by using rodent cells and primary human lymphocytes. The simplicity of MN endpoint allows automation of testing. In our laboratory, we have established a flow cytometry based micronucleus test in HepG2 cells by using a commercially available in vitro MicroFlow kit. By using this method, we have characterized the genotoxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heavy metals. This method is extended to genotoxicity assessment of water samples and chemical mixtures which also provides data of chemical interaction effects.

Key Words: High through-put assay, human cell lines, mixture toxicity, chemical interaction, risk assessment

Personal Protective Clothing (PPC) treated with Proban® – Exposure to Formaldehyde Through Skin and Inhalation Barbora Drover, Brian Murphy and Jean MeaklimGreencap

There are growing concerns about the potential health effects of formaldehyde exposure for workers wearing protective clothing treated with flame-retardants, such as Proban® treated clothing worn by several emergency services providers in Australia and New Zealand. Proban® is a chemical additive and process that is applied to fabrics to provide flame retardancy.

The objective of the assessment was to determine whether workers are potentially exposed to formaldehyde through skin and inhalation while wearing Proban® treated clothing. Twelve new and one previously worn and washed PPC garments were tested for this research. Personal monitoring was undertaken to determine the formaldehyde level that workers may be exposed to via inhalation when opening packaging and wearing Proban® treated clothing. Additionally, laboratory analyses of Proban® treated clothing were undertaken in accordance with DIN ISO 14184-1 (2011-12) to determine whether formaldehyde content complies with the recommended consumer guidelines for formaldehyde in clothing. The results indicated that even though formaldehyde was detected in air inside the packaging materials, personal monitoring results were all below the relevant exposure limits. These results indicate that opening and donning the Proban® treated clothing does not pose a risk of inhalation exposure to formaldehyde at concentrations that are likely to lead to an adverse risk to health. The laboratory results indicated that elevated concentrations of formaldehyde were detected in some brand new Proban® treated clothing. In contrast, a previously-washed Proban® treated PPC item showed formaldehyde results below detection limits. Based on these results, wearing brand new Proban® treated clothing directly next to bare skin prior to being washed may pose a risk of skin contact with residual formaldehyde and potentially cause contact dermatitis or other skin irritation. Further work is currently being undertaken on this subject.


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