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An indispensable asset at risk: merits and needs of chemicals-related environmental sciences

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Abstract

Background

Modern societies depend on environmental sustainability and on new generations of individuals well-trained by environmental research and teaching institutions. In the past, significant contributions to the identification, assessment, and management of chemical stressors with legal consequences have been made.

Main Features

Within this article, we intend to elucidate the merits and the emerging challenges of chemicals-related environmental sciences. The manuscript is supported by more than 70 professors and university academics of leading institutions in Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and other countries in Europe, but addresses topics of global concern.

Results and Discussion

Many environmental problems of pollutants remain to be addresses, since new chemical compounds or classes of new compounds are continuously developed and brought to the market and sooner or later “emerge” in the environment. Further issues are the inclusion of transformation products and chemical mixtures in environmental risk assessment, the long-term presence of xenobiotics bound to soils and sediments, as well as an understanding of the ecological relevance of ecotoxicological end points.

Conclusion and Perspectives

We point out the need for a strong academic research and education system in chemicals-related environmental sciences to ministries, politicians, and research funding institutions and we propose to create specific units in the national funding bodies that address basic and interdisciplinary research in this field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Environmental Research (Biology V), RWTH Aachen University, 52074, Aachen, Germany

    Andreas Schaeffer, Henner Hollert, Hans Toni Ratte & Martina Roß-Nickoll

  2. UFT, Department of General and Theoretical Ecology, University of Bremen, Leobener Str., 28359, Bremen, Germany

    Juliane Filser

  3. Institute for Environmental System Research, University of Osnabrück, 49069, Osnabrück, Germany

    Michael Matthies

  4. Department Aquatic Ecotoxicology, Institute for Ecology, Evolution and Diversity, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Siesmayerstrasse 70, 60054, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

    Joerg Oehlmann

  5. Safety and Environmental Technology Group, ETH Zürich, HCI G 127, Wolfgang-Pauli-Str. 10, 8093, Zürich, Switzerland

    Martin Scheringer

  6. Institute for Environmental Science, University of Koblenz–Landau, 76829, Landau, Germany

    Ralf Schulz

  7. Department of Ecology, Zoological Institute, Johannes Gutenberg University, 55099, Mainz, Germany

    Alfred Seitz

Authors
  1. Andreas Schaeffer
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  2. Henner Hollert
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  3. Hans Toni Ratte
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  4. Martina Roß-Nickoll
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  5. Juliane Filser
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  6. Michael Matthies
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  7. Joerg Oehlmann
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  8. Martin Scheringer
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  9. Ralf Schulz
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  10. Alfred Seitz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andreas Schaeffer.

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Schaeffer, A., Hollert, H., Ratte, H.T. et al. An indispensable asset at risk: merits and needs of chemicals-related environmental sciences. Environ Sci Pollut Res 16, 410–413 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-009-0157-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-009-0157-x

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