"Best practices in the agrochemical industry covers the impact of agrochemicals in food and water supplies, and provides an overview of agrochemical residues and their health impacts as well as mitigation strategies. It includes extensive data tables covering USA and international regulatory frameworks for exposure to pesticides, including EPA, NIOSH, OSHA, WHO and ACGIH. Health impacts are explored, such as the pollution of drinking water with atrazine, trichloropropane and DBCP and the risks associated with these substances, including miscarriages and infertility. The authors also explore the effect of pesticide residues in food, including contaminants in organic food, and they present a case study concerning worker pesticide exposure. This book is a guide and professional reference for those involved in the agrochemical industry and it details safer manufacturing processes and procedures to limit pollution"--Page 4 of cover.

Understanding the ecological status of aquatic ecosystems and the impact of anthropogenic contamination requires correlating exposure to toxicants with impact on biological communities. Several tools exist for assessing the ecotoxicity of substances, but there is still a need for new tools that are ecologically relevant and easy to use. We have developed a protocol based on the substrate-induced respiration of a river biofilm community, using the MicroRes (TM) technique, in a pollution-induced community tolerance approach. The results show that MicroRes (TM) can be used in bioassays to assess the toxicity toward biofilm communities of a wide range of metals (Cu, Zn, Cd, Ag, Ni, Fe, Co, Al and As). Moreover, a community-level physiological profile based on the mineralization of different carbon substrates was established. Finally, the utility of MicroRes (TM) was confirmed in an in-situ study showing gradient of tolerance to copper correlated to a contamination gradient of this metal in a small river. A modified MicroRes (TM) technique as a tool for measuring induced tolerance to heavy metals of a microbial biofilm community.

Session 3b: Heavy metals/N/POPs | International audience

The effect of pH ranging from 8.0 to 6.8 (total scale - pHT) on fertilization, cleavage and larval development until pluteus stage was assessed in an intertidal temperate sea urchin. Gametes were obtained from adults collected in two contrasting tide pools, one showing a significant nocturnal pH decrease (lowest pHT = 7.4) and another where pH was more stable (lowest pHT = 7.8). The highest pHT at which significant effects on fertilization and cleavage were recorded was 7.6. On the contrary, larval development was only affected below pHT 7.4, a value equal or lower than that reported for several subtidal species. This suggests that sea urchins inhabiting stressful intertidal environments produce offspring that may better resist future ocean acidification. Moreover, at pHT 7.4, the fertilization rate of gametes whose progenitors came from the tide pool with higher pH decrease was significantly higher, indicating a possible acclimatization or adaptation of gametes to pH stress.

La chlordécone, insecticide organochloré de synthèse, était utilisée dans les bananeraies antillaises avant 1993. Pourtant, elle contamine encore les ressources en eau, certaines denrées, et des organismes aquatiques. Très tôt, la recherche agronomique s'est mobilisée pour répondre aux questions posées pour la gestion de cette crise : Où sont les sols pollués? Est-ce une pollution durable ? La molécule est peu mobile. Des cartes de risques, fondées sur leur occupation rétrospective en bananeraies, aboutissent à 1/5e de la SAU polluée en Guadeloupe, 2/5e en Martinique. Les sols riches en matière organique retiennent fortement la chlordécone. Elle ne se dégrade pas dans les sols aérés, seules les eaux de percolation peuvent la dissiper. Sa persistance est donc longue, d'un à quelques siècles selon les sols. La dépollution artificielle n'est pas actuellement opérationnelle. Il faut donc gérer cette pollution. Pour réduire l'exposition de la population et la contamination des denrées, les agriculteurs doivent disposer de systèmes de culture et d'élevage compatibles avec les niveaux de chlordécone des sols, restés fertiles. Un outil est disponible, il prend en compte le niveau de pollution de la parcelle et la contamination des cultures: certaines sont très contaminées (tubercules), d'autres indemnes (fruits d'arbres, banane, ananas, tomate,...). (Résumé d'auteur)

Accumulation of total and methyl-Hg by mushrooms and earthworms was studied in thirty-four natural forest soils strongly varying in soil physico-chemical characteristics. Tissue Hg concentrations of both receptors did hardly correlate with Hg concentrations in soil. Both total and methyl-Hg concentrations in tissues were species-specific and dependent on the ecological groups of receptor. Methyl-Hg was low accounting for less than 5 and 8% of total Hg in tissues of mushrooms and earthworms, respectively, but with four times higher concentrations in earthworms than mushrooms. Total Hg concentrations in mushrooms averaged 0.96 mg Hg/kg dw whereas litter decomposing mushrooms showed highest total Hg and methyl-Hg concentrations. Earthworms contained similar Hg concentrations (1.04 mg Hg/kg dw) whereas endogeic earthworms accumulated highest amounts of Hg and methyl-Hg.