Risk-based Screening of Emerging Contaminants in the Great Lakes Basin

Villeneuve, Daniel

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/109939 Copy

Description

Title

Risk-based Screening of Emerging Contaminants in the Great Lakes Basin

Author(s)

Villeneuve, Daniel

Issue Date

2021-04-27

Keyword(s)

• emerging contaminants
• toxicity

Abstract

Presented on April 27, 2021, by Daniel L. Villeneuve - Toxicologist, United States Environmental Protection Agency - keynote speaker at the 2021 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference Abstract: With steady advances in analytical chemistry methods and instrumentation, increasing numbers of chemicals associated with human activities are being detected in the environment. The ability to discriminate safe from hazardous concentrations of those chemicals relies on the availability of regulatory benchmark concentrations and/or toxicity data for individual chemicals. However, conventional animal toxicity testing has not kept pace with the manufacture of new chemicals and their subsequent release and detection in the environment. Dr. Villeneuve will provide an overview of a 10-year, multi-agency research effort focused on surveillance and monitoring of emerging contaminants in the Great Lakes. As part of the research, contaminant concentrations detected in surface water and other media were compared with both traditional toxicity benchmarks and data from new approach methodologies (NAMs) to provide triage with respect to potential for adverse effects on Great Lakes ecosystems. Additionally, strategies for considering the cumulative impacts of mixtures of contaminants for site prioritization and/or site-based assessments will also be discussed. While no “smoking guns” associating adverse ecological impacts with contaminant occurrence were revealed, the research illustrates how multiple lines of evidence helped to identify contaminants, sites, or hazards of greatest concern and inform efficient use of available monitoring and management resources. The data and approaches developed inform ongoing research and monitoring in the Great Lakes basin and can be applied to other systems as well. Biography: Daniel L. Villeneuve is a research toxicologist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development (ORD). He received a BS in Water Resources and Zoology from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and a Ph.D. in Zoology and Environmental Toxicology from Michigan State University. He has over 20 years of experience conducting freshwater ecotoxicology research. His present research is focused on the use of new approach methods to characterize and evaluate hazards organic contaminants pose to fish and wildlife. This has included the use of biological effects-based tools to monitor contaminants of emerging concern in the Great Lakes and other freshwater systems. Dr. Villeneuve has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers in the field of ecotoxicology and his work has been recognized with over 20 US EPA Scientific and Technical Achievement awards.

Series/Report Name or Number

2021 Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference (ECEC21)

Type of Resource

• text
• still image

Language

en

Permalink

• https://youtu.be/q8fRqh5I-vo
• http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109939

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