Summary of Minutes of Commission Meeting at IUPAC General Assembly,
Berlin, Germany, 810 August 1999
Eleven members of the Commission on Toxicology (VII.C.2) met for three
days during the 40th General Assembly in Berlin.
Reports were given by Chairman Dr. John H. Duffus and by members of
the commission who served on the scientific advisory committees of the
following IUPAC-sponsored scientific meetings and proceedings: 1st
International Conference on Trace Element Speciation in Biomedical,
Nutritional, and Environmental Sciences (47 May 1998, Munich,
Germany); 5th International Symposium on Metal Ions (Munich,
Germany); and 15th International Conference on Chemical Education
(914 August 1998; the first in Africa, during which a presentation
on the Curriculum on Toxicology was given as part of the Clinical Chemistry
Symposium). A short report on the Cairo Conference Symposium, "Tertiary
Vocational Training in Chemistry Related to Health Care", prepared by
Dr. Howard G. J. Worth, has been published in Chemistry International,
Vol. 20, No. 6, pp. 171172, 1998.
The ongoing projects "Biological
Monitoring for Exposure to VOCs" (IUPAC Recommendations 2000, Pure
and Applied Chemistry, Vol. 72, No. 3, pp. 385 436, 2000),
"Exposure Assessment and Decision Rules in Compliance Testing for Implementation
of Exposure Limits", "Exposure Assessment Using the Logbook Method",
"Risk Assessment Methodology", "Educational Material", and "Modeling
Outdoor Exposure and Risk Assessment of Particulate Matter" are most
likely to be completed by 2001. As a joint project agreed with the Committee
on Teaching of Chemistry (CTC) at the General Assembly in Geneva in
1997 and previously discussed in Cairo in 1998, Dr. Duffus has prepared
a draft of "Toxicology: An Introduction" for use as a resource in school
chemistry courses. The final version has been circulated within the
CTC and Commission VII.C.2 and was discussed during a joint meeting
with the CTC in Berlin.
About 120 pages of educational material will be made available to download
from the Internet, possibly from a Commission VII.C.2 web site, as a
PowerPoint presentation that can easily be adapted to other languages.
The material aims at courses on an introductory level (e.g., teaching
at high schools) and might be especially useful for developing countries.
From the discussion with the CTC, the need for a hard copy version was
expressed, with the addition of case studies, (e.g., current cases of
public concern). Material for a toxicology course is already available
via the Internet at http://www.med.ed.ac.uk/hew/tox/
default.htm.
Cooperation with the International Program on Chemical Safety (IPCS)
will continue, as outlined at the 1997 meeting in Geneva with Dr. Mercier.
An advanced toxicology textbook for schools is in the process of publication
by IPCS following a review stage. Further cooperation with Commission
VII.C.2 is appreciated by IPCS; the "IUPAC Glossary on Terms in Toxicology"
has been used in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
(OECD) and IPCS project on risk assessment harmonization. Dr. Duffus
represented IUPAC as an observer at the IPCS Program Advisory Meeting
in Berlin, 58 October 1998 (see Chemistry
International,
Vol. 22, No. 1, pp. 710, 2000). He also became a member of
a team convened by the European Regional Office of WHO to harmonize
environmental health terms used in papers prepared for the meeting of
European Ministers of Health and Environment in London in 1999. Dr.
Duffus has been contacted about an interface session during the World
Conference of IUTOX with participation by Commission VII.C.2. From the
suggested topics, exposure assessment was regarded as most appropriate.
A proposal for a half-day symposium consisting of four lectures and
a joint chair (IUTOX + IUPAC) was formulated.
The Commission discussed the new system to be implemented by IUPAC,
with regard to the effect of its future project-driven structure and
function on possible new Commission VII.C.2 projects. The need for new
input and activities and projects directed toward chemistry and human
health was emphasized. Commission VII C.2 will continue with three ongoing
projects and presented proposals for seven new projects, which have
been generated during the General Assembly in Berlin, partly through
interdivisional discussions. The seven new projects are listed below:
- Criteria for assessment and quality assurance of material to be
presented on the Internet under the auspices of IUPAC. CTC and the
Committee on Printed and Electronic Publications (CPEP) are suggested
coordinators. (Project proposal by Dr. Duffus)
- Exposure assessment. IUPAC minisymposium within the 9 th IUTOX Conference
in Brisbane, 813 July 2001 (Coordinator: Dr. Duffus).
- Educational material for teaching chemistry related to case studies
for risk assessment in toxicology. Senior high school level, in addition
to the ongoing project "Toxicology: An Introduction" (Coordinator:
Dr. Duffus; joint project with CTC).
- Modeling human exposure in the workplace (Coordinator: Dr. Erik
Olsen).
- Exposure assessment for neurochemically active metals/manganese
species (Coordinator: Dr. Jytte M. Christensen; participants: Prof.
Douglas M. Templeton, Ingvar Thomassen, Dr. Erik Olsen, Harry Roels).
- Immunochemistry in metal exposure, possibly with a focus on nickel
and beryllium (Coordinator: Prof. Douglas M. Templeton; participants:
Dr. Regine Heinrich-Ramm and Dr. Jytte Molin Christensen).
- Conference on risk assessment of particulate matter, with a focus
on fibers. The proceedings will be published as a monograph (Coordinator:
Prof. R. P. Nolan).
Dr. Duffus will continue as chairman, Prof. Douglas M. Templeton will
become secretary, and Dr. Erik Olsen and Prof. Monica Nordberg are new
Titular Members. Dr. Birger Heinzow became secretary of the Division.
Prof. Dr. Laszlo Nagymajényi and Dr. Jytte Molin Christensen
will be new Associate Members. New associate members will be contacted
by the secretary, informed about ongoing activities, and invited to
join existing projects and to generate and propose new projects.
The Commission met again 28 September1 October 2000 in Szeged,
Hungary.
Birger Heinzow
Secretary, IUPAC Commission on Toxicology VII.C.2
> Published in Chem.
Int.
22(6), 2000