INTERFACE

Archive Issues: June 2007 European Conference | December 2007 | March 2007 | April 2006 (pdf) | September 2004 | November 2003 | June 2003 | November 2002 | August 2002 | December 2001 | June 2001

Dear Members,

I am pleased to bring you the second issue of INTERFACE for 2001, packed with news from all three branches of SEGH. It includes a report of a third successful Asia-Pacific SEGH symposium held in China in November 2001 as well as the abstracts of the oral and poster presentation prize-winners from this meeting. Information about SEGH conferences to be held during 2002 in San Diego (USA) and Debrecen (Hungary) as well as ISEG 2003 in Edinburgh (Scotland) has also been provided.

At a recent European Branch Committee meeting, it was agreed that representatives from mainland European countries should be approached to act as communicating members for the Society. The names and contact details of those who have already agreed to take on this role are in this issue – the Committee would be delighted to hear from members in countries not represented so far.

There is also a belated obituary for Dr. J. Julian Chisolm, who contributed significantly to his field of research and was highly valued as a member of the Society, the Executive Board and SEGH task forces.

Finally, I should like to thank those members who have provided me with the articles for this issue and, as always, encourage you to send me information (by mid-May 2002) about conferences, events, research ….. for the next issue.

Margaret Graham
(Margaret.Graham@ed.ac.uk)

University of Edinburgh
December 2001

The 3rd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry was held in Guangzhou, China from 7th to 9th November 2001. The symposium was organised by the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in association with the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH). In all, there were 95 participants from 13 countries and regions, namely Australia, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Korea, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia, and mainland China.

The technical programme included 13 keynote speeches and 54 oral presentations, as well as 31 posters. The papers were organized into four sessions: (1) Regional Geochemistry & Geochemical Mapping; (2) Urban Environmental Geochemistry; (3) Mining-related Environmental Geochemistry; and (4) Pollution Analysis and Treatment Technologies. A special workshop on the environmental geochemistry in the Pearl River Delta was also organized in order to introduce and review the progress of relevant research projects conducted by the host institute and other scientists in the region. Besides the traditional areas of environmental geochemistry research, such as mining-related heavy metal pollution and geochemical mapping, many participants also presented their up-to-date results on environmental organic contamination and urban geochemistry, which are considered to be among the current hot topics in environmental geochemistry. Professor Iain Thornton reviewed the concepts and approaches of urban geochemistry with examples from the UK. Professor Fu Jiamo introduced the recent progress in regional geochemistry of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) in the Pearl River Delta, South China. Prizes for two outstanding student oral presentations and two outstanding student posters were awarded during the symposium (see the abstracts).

As the first event in mainland China, the symposium attracted more than 60 Chinese environmental geochemists from all over the country, and also drew the attention of the local government. It is believed that the event will significantly promote environmental geochemistry research in China and foster international academic exchanges between environmental scientists in China and the Asia-Pacific region as well as elsewhere in the world. In addition, the symposium has effectively promoted the Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH) in China, where we hope to have more environmental scientists join the Society in the near future.

The symposium was financially supported by the Natural Scientific Foundation of China (NSFC), the South-South Cooperation Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Guangdong Society of Science and Technology.

Xiandong Li, President (Asia-Pacific Branch of SEGH), November 2001

5th International Conference on Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects,
San Diego, California, USA, 14-18 July, 2002


The 5th International Conference on Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects will offer the latest exposure and health-related arsenic research from around the world.

The objectives of the meeting are to:

· Summarise the present state of knowledge regarding sources, pathways, exposures, toxicokinetics and toxicodynamics of arsenic in the environment and in organisms.
· Identify arsenic problem areas around the world.
· Identify important data gaps and uncertainties in the literature regarding environmental arsenic exposure and health effects.
· Learn about the research being funded by U.S. EPA, industry and the governments of other countries.
· Discuss cost-effective control and abatement strategies.

Among the topics to be covered are:

· Exposure
· Bioavailability
· Toxicokinetics
· Dose-response relationships
· Health effects
· EPA’s arsenic risk assessment and MCL, abatement and control strategies

Interested researchers, regulators, policy makers and industrial representatives are asked to respond to this call to present talks or posters or to participate in panel discussions. Abstracts are due by 1st March, 2002 and details for preparing and submitting abstracts can be found on the conference website (www.cudenver.edu/as2002).

This meeting is being sponsored by The Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health (SEGH), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), Centers for Disease Control (CDC), AWWA Research Foundation (AWWARF), Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD).

Should you require further information, please:
e-mail (as2002@carbon.cudenver.edu),
fax (303)556-4292, or
phone (303)556-4520

or contact
Dr. Willard R. Chappell
(wchappel@carbon.cudenver.edu),
University of Colo-Denver,
Denver CO, USA.

20th European SEGH Conference, Debrecen, Hungary, 4-6 September, 2002

The Society for Environmental Geochemistry and Health extends a cordial invitation to attend its 20th European Conference, SEGH 2002, on the theme Heavy Metal Contamination and the Quality of Life. The conference will take place in Debrecen, Hungary on 4-6 September 2002.
The SEGH 2002 Conference will address important issues relating to environmental geochemistry, soil and air pollution and environmental health, and should attract experts, researchers and all who are interested in heavy metal contamination and the quality of life. The active involvement of young researchers and students is also encouraged.

The main topics of the conference include:

? Analytical methodologies – laboratory & field
? Bio-availability
? Environmental microbiology
? Human risk and health analysis
? Modelling effects on ecosystems
? Pollution control and management
? Soil and sedimentary chemistry
? Techniques and equipment used in environmental protection
? The importance of metal speciation in environmental assessment
? Transformation through the food chain

Lectures will be held on 4-5 September and participants are invited to a field trip to a contaminated site on 6 September.
Authors who would like to present a paper/poster are asked to complete the provisional registration form and return it to Dr. Béla Kovács by 20 January 2002. The deadline for receipt of abstracts (300 word maximum) will be 1 March 2002. Abstracts should include the title of the paper, names and addresses (fax, telephone and e-mail) of the authors (corresponding author underlined), the objectives and main results of the research. Faxed abstracts will not be accepted. E-mail submissions are encouraged and should be sent to the contact person.
Papers presented at the Conference can be considered for publication in the SEGH journal, Environmental Geochemistry and Health. Full instructions to authors will be provided on notification of acceptance of abstracts.
The second circular with application and abstract forms will be distributed to those who complete and submit the provisional registration form. Further information can be found on the following website: www.date.hu/rendez/segh2002

Comments on the proposed content of the meeting are also welcome.
Please contact the Conference Coordinator, Dr. Béla Kovács, if your organization is interested in sponsoring the Conference. Assistance will be acknowledged in conference literature.

Scientific Committee:

Dr. Zoltán Gyori (Chair)
Mr. Malcolm Brown
Dr. John Farmer
Dr. Imre Kádár
Dr. Béla Kovács
Dr. Imre Lánszki
Dr. Tamás Németh
Dr. József Prokisch
Dr. Manfred Sager
Dr. János Tamás
Dr. Nicolae Josan

Local Organising Committee:

Dr. Béla Kovács (Chair)
Dr. László Simon
Dr. Szilárd Szilágyi
Ms. Mária Borbély
Ms. Elza Kovács
Ms. Ildikó Szegvári
Dr. László Várallyai
Contact Person:

Dr. Béla Kovács
Debrecen University, Centre of Agricultural Sciences, Department of Food Processing and Quality Testing
E-mail: kovacsb@helios.date.hu
Phone: +36-52-508498
Phone/fax: +36-52-417572; Fax: +36-52-413385
H-4015 Debrecen P.O.B. 36. HUNGARY

 

 

J. J. Chisolm, a Lead-Poison Crusader who died aged 79 on June 26, 2001

J. Julian Chisolm Jr., whose crusade against lead poisoning led to innovative ways to treat the condition, died on Wednesday in a retirement community in Baltimore. He was 79. He had congestive heart failure, his family said.
Dr. Chisolm is credited with saving the lives of hundreds of children with his introduction in 1968 of a treatment called chelation, which continues to be the primary way to remove lead from the blood in severe poisoning. In the treatment, chemical agents injected into the bloodstream bond with lead ions, forming a compound that can be excreted in urine.

Before Dr. Chisolm's work, said Dr. John F. Rosen, director of the lead program at the Children's Hospital at Montefiore in New York City, essentially no treatments existed for children with lead poisoning.
Dr. George Dover, director and pediatrician in charge of the Johns Hopkins Children's Center, said of Dr. Chisolm, "He had a tremendous influence in public health, in getting people to recognize the problem." Lead, once commonly used in house paint and gasoline and as solder in food cans, has particularly damaging effects on the nervous system and blood. Severe lead poisoning causes brain swelling that can lead to coma and death and can leave survivors retarded, blind or unable to walk. In part because of Dr. Chisolm's work, severe cases are rare today, but that was not the case in the first half of the 20th century.

As a pediatric intern at Johns Hopkins Hospital in the late 1940's, Dr. Chisolm was particularly horrified by the death of a girl shortly after her family moved into a house near the hospital. Within days of exposure to the house's peeling lead-based paint, she developed a brain fever. "From the day she first presented symptoms in the clinic to the day she expired, it was only a matter of weeks," he recalled in an interview in The Baltimore Sun last year.

In 1952, while at Baltimore City Hospitals, he started going door to door collecting stool samples of children living in the slums of East Baltimore to evaluate their exposure to lead. Four years later he published a study showing that the children had much higher levels of lead in their blood than had been suspected, because they had inhaled dust from crumbling paint or eaten paint chips. That study and others helped persuade cities, including New York in 1960, to ban the use of lead-based paint.

Chelation treatment did not reverse the damage caused by lead poisoning, so Dr. Chisolm also focused on prevention. He testified before Congress and other agencies against lead paint, influencing the passage of federal legislation in 1978 virtually banning the use of lead in paint and gasoline. A federal survey in 1994 found that the amount of lead in the blood of Americans dropped 78 percent from 1976 to 1991, a decline attributed to banning lead in paint and gasoline and phasing out the use of lead solder in food cans.

Dr. Chisolm's work in helping devise a finger-stick test made it possible to diagnose the early stages of lead poisoning in children quickly and cheaply, said Dr. Rosen and Dr. Herbert L. Needleman, director of the lead exposure project at the University of Pittsburgh. That test and more sensitive methods developed more recently have helped make severe lead poisoning unusual.

"His work was highly innovative in three ways," Dr. Rosen said. "His use of chelating agents in treating children; his development with others of a single finger-stick test in screening for lead poisoning in the 1980's; and third was his persistent view that it was lead-based paint that was the overwhelming cause of lead poisoning in children, which continues to be true today."
James Julian Chisolm Jr. was born July 24, 1921, in Baltimore, the son of a doctor. He graduated from Princeton in 1944 and earned his medical degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1946. He served in the Army Medical Corps from 1948 to 1950 and was discharged as a captain. He joined the faculty at Johns Hopkins in the 1950's. In 1975, he became the director of the lead program at the Kennedy Krieger Institute, which is affiliated with Johns Hopkins, where he saw successive generations of Baltimore families treated for lead poisoning. He retired from the institute last year. He is survived by his wife of 53 years, the former Sylvia Larsen; a son, Edward L., of Baltimore, and a sister, Mary Mountcastle of Roanoke, Va.
While severe lead poisoning virtually disappeared during Dr. Chisolm's career, low-level poisoning remains a problem, especially in poorly maintained inner-city housing built before 1960. A 1999 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 890,000 American preschoolers had lead levels that could hurt their health or ability to learn.
"The sadness is that we still have a very significant problem," Dr. Dover said.
By Carmel McCoubrey

Dr. Julian Chisolm Jr, MD was a much respected and beloved member of the SEGH who served on the executive board and SEGH task forces over the years. The Julian Chisolm award presented to Iain Thornton last year was named in honor of Dr. Chisolm.

 

Update on 6th International Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry, Edinburgh, Scotland, 7-11 September, 2003

The composition of the Local Organising Committee and of the Scientific Programme Committee for the 6th ISEG 2003, which will be held in Edinburgh, Scotland, from Sunday 7th September to Thursday 11th September, 2003, are listed here.

Also being formed, at the time of writing (December 2001), is an International Advisory Panel, on which Peter Bobrowsky (Canada), Joy Carter (UK), Ron Fuge (UK), Brian Gulson (Australia), Li Jiaxi (China), Alina Kabata-Pendias (Poland), Jörg Matschullat (Germany), Jane Plant (UK), Reijo Salminen (Finland), Christian Schaffalitzky (Ireland), Catherine Skinner (USA), Eiliv Steinnes (Norway), Iain Thornton (UK) and Bobby Wixson (USA) have already agreed to serve.

Emerging details of scientific programme structure, themes, pre- and post-symposium field trips, workshops, social programme, registration procedures etc will be posted on the Symposium website, iseg2003.com, during the first half of 2002 and the First Circular will be distributed in the early summer of 2002.

John Farmer
University of Edinburgh

Local Organising Committee

John Farmer, University of Edinburgh, UK
(Chairman)
Fiona Fordyce, British Geological Survey, UK
Margaret Graham, University of Edinburgh, UK
Angus MacKenzie, SURRC, UK
Keith Nicholson, MacRoberts, UK
Margaret Sherry, In Conference Ltd, UK

Scientific Programme Committee

John Farmer, University of Edinburgh, UK
(Chairman)
Matthew Collins, University of Newcastle, UK
Brian Davies, Clemson University, USA
Theo Davies, Moi University, Kenya
Robert Finkelman, USGS, USA
Phillippe Freysinnet, BRGM, France
Margaret Graham, University of Edinburgh, UK
Gwendy Hall, GSC, Canada
Angus MacKenzie, SURRC, UK
Keith Nicholson, MacRoberts, UK
Olle Selinus, SGU, Sweden
William Shotyk, University of Heidelberg, Germany
Peter Simpson, Imperial College, UK
Barry Smith, British Geological Survey, UK
Ron Watkins, Curtin University, Australia

 

Prize-winners from 3rd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry, Guangzhou, China, 7-9 November, 2001

There were two prizes awarded for the best oral presentations and two prizes for the best poster presentations given by Ph.D. students at the 3rd Asia-Pacific Symposium on Environmental Geochemistry. The abstract for each of the prize-winning presentations has been printed in full below.

Oral Presentation Winners:

Transformation of g-hexachlorocyclohexane in the presence of amorphous iron sulfide under anoxic condition, Xiangmei Liu1, Ping’an Peng1, Jiamo Fu1, Weilin Huang2, 1State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510640, 2Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104 USA.

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Members of the SEGH Executive Board, June 2001

President Jim Fricke
Resource Management
Consultants, Midvale, Utah,
USA (jfricke@xmission.com)

Vice-President John G. Farmer
University of Edinburgh,
Scotland (J.G.Farmer@ed.ac.uk)

Secretary Bobby G. Wixson
(Past-Pres.)
Springfield MO, USA
(DRBGWIXSON@aol.com)

Treasurer Nord L. Gale (Past-Pres.)
University of MO-Rolla, Rolla
MO, USA
(nlgale@umr.edu)

Councillors Charles Abernathy
HRAB 4304 EPA,
Washington DC, USA
(abernathy.charles@epa.gov)

Joy Carter (Pres. Europe)
SEAS University of Derby,
England (j.carter@derby.ac.uk)

Willard Chappell
University of Colo-Denver,
Denver CO, USA
(wchappel@carbon.cudenver
.edu)

Andrew Hunt
SUNY Upstate Medical
University, Syracuse, NY,
USA (hunta@upstate.edu)

Xiangdong Li
(Pres. Asia/Pacific)
Hong Kong Polytechnic,
Hong Kong, China
(cexdli@polyu.edu.hk)

Theodora A. Tsongas
Environmental Health
Department, Portland OR, USA
(theodora.a.tsongas@state.or.us)

Past Presidents Richard Cothern
Chevy Chase, MD, USA
(rcothern@nova.umuc.edu)

Ron Fuge
University of Wales,
Wales (rrf@aber.ac.uk)

Betsy T. Kagey
Cumberland, MD, USA
(bkagey@mail.frostburg.edu)

Iain Thornton
Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, England (i.thornton@ic.ac.uk)

European Malcolm J. Brown (Sec.)
Branch British Geological Survey,
England (mjbro@bgs.ac.uk)

Asia/Pacific Ron T. Watkins (Sec.)
Branch Curtin University of
Technology, Perth, Australia
(iwatkins@info.curtin.edu.au)

Journal Editor Brian E. Davies (Past Pres.)
Clemson University, Clemson, SC, USA
(bdavies@clemson.edu)

Interface Editor Margaret C. Graham
University of Edinburgh,
Scotland (Margaret.Graham@ed.ac.uk)

Members of the SEGH European Committee 2001-02

Below is the updated Committee membership for 2001-02.

Chairman Joy Carter (University of Derby)
Secretary Malcolm Brown (BGS, Keyworth)
Treasurer Keith Nicholson (MacRoberts, Glasgow)
Membership Secretary Susan Casper (University of Derby)
Committee Members Aradhana Mehra (University of Derby)
Michael Ramsey (University of Sussex)
Alex Stewart (Liverpool)
Gary Gray (University of Derby)
Kevin Taylor (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Ex-officio (past Chairmen) John Farmer (University of Edinburgh)
Ron Fuge (University of Wales)
Iain Thornton (Imperial College)

Following a suggestion at a recent AGM for SEGH Europe, the European Committee have invited a number of members to act as SEGH Communicating Members in their respective countries (see below). Any volunteers from countries not listed would be most welcome. Please send your details to Anthea Peters, Secretary to Professor Joy Carter, e-mail address: a.l.peters@derby.ac.uk.

These members are responsible for promoting SEGH in their countries, feeding suggestions/ideas to the European Committee and sending very brief reports annually to the European Committee on request. In return, the Communicating Members receive free SEGH membership.

Communicating Members

Dr. V. Bencko
Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology
1st Medical Faculty Charles University
CS 128 00
Prague 2
Studnickova 7
CZECH REPUBLIC

Dr. M Birke
Bundesanstalt fur Geowissenschaften
Und Rohstoffe,
Wilhemstr 25-30 B-1393
Berlin
GERMANY

Professor B Bolviken
Rute 512
2857 Skreia
NORWAY

Mr. A. Demetriades
PO Box 640 47
Zografou, Gr-157 10 Athens
GREECE
Dr. Dee Flight
Geological Survey of
Northern Ireland,
20 College Gardens
Belfast
BT9 6BS

Prof. A. Kabata-Pendias
IUNG
24-100 Pulawy
ul Czartoryskich 8
POLAND

Dr. Bela Kovacs
Debrecen University
Centre for Agricultural Science
Department of Food Processing
& Quality Testing
H-4013 Debrecen POB 36
HUNGARY

Dr. J Loredo
Escuela de Minas
Independencia 13 3004
Oviedo
SPAIN

Dr. N. Moles
Department of Geology
Queen’s University, Belfast
Northern Ireland
BT7 1NN

Dr. M.S. Pinto
Department Geociencias
Universidade de Aveiro
3810 Aveiro
PORTUGAL

Dr. L.P. Popovich
De Schans 2/10
2140 Antwepern
BELGIUM

Dr. Olle Selinus
Bruksgardama 7
Vatthoma
SWEDEN
S-74033

Forthcoming Meetings

SEGH Meetings

5th International Conference on Arsenic Exposure and Health Effects
Location: San Diego, California
Dates: 14-18 July 2002
Contact: Willard Chappell
(wchappel@carbon.cudenver.edu)
University of Colo-Denver, Denver CO, USA

20th European SEGH Conference
Location: Debrecen, Hungary
Dates: 4-6 September, 2002
Contact: Prof. Zoltán Györi
(gyori@helios.date.hu)
Dr. Bela Kovacs
(kovacsb@helios.date.hu)
Center of Agricultural Sciences,
Faculty of Agronomy,
University of Debrecen.

Other Meetings of Interest

International Symposium on Metal Ions in Biology and Medicine (7th ISMIBM)
Location: St. Petersburg, Russia
Dates: 5-9 May, 2002
Website: http://195.101.104.15/metal-ions2002
One session on Medical Geology (Chaired by Olle Selinus and Bob Finkelman)

EnviroAnalysis 2002 (4th Biennial Conference on Monitoring and Measurement of the Environment, featuring the 48th ICASS)
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dates: 27-31 May, 2002
Website: www.enviroanalysis.ca
Contact: Bob Burk
(bob.burk@enviroanalysis.ca)
Chemistry Department, Carleton University
1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario K1S 5B6 Canada (Fax 613 520 3679; URL)

Healthy Ecosystems - Healthy people
Location: Washington DC, USA
Dates: 6-11 June, 2002
Website: www.ecosystemhealth.com/hehp
Contact: e-mail hehp@ecosystemhealth.com
(Medical Geology Working group involved)

BIOGEOMON (4th International Symposium on Ecosystem Behaviour)
Location: Reading, UK
Dates: 17-21 August, 2002
Website: www.reading.ac.uk/biogeomon
Contact: Dr. Hannah Prior,
(biogeomon@reading.ac.uk)
Department of Geography, University of Reading,
Whiteknights, Reading, RG6 6AB, UK.
Tel: +44 118 931 6288; Fax: +44 118 975 5865
Heavy Metals in the Environment
Location: Grenoble, France
Dates: 26-30 May 2003
Contact: Christophe Ferrari
Maître de conférences à l'Université Joseph Fourier Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Géophysique de l'Environnement du CNRS

7th ICOBTE (The International Society of Trace Element Biogeochemistry)
Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Dates: 15-19 June 2003
Contact: SLU Conference,
(7thICOBTE@slu.se)
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
PO Bo 7059, Uppsala, Sweden
Fax +46 18 673530
(The meeting will include a session on Medical Geology)

6th International Symposium
on Environmental Geochemistry (ISEG)
Location: Edinburgh, UK
Dates: 7-11 September, 2003
Website: www.iseg2003.com
Contact: Dr. John G. Farmer
(J.G.Farmer@ed.ac.uk)
Department of Chemistry,
University of Edinburgh, West Mains Road,
Edinburgh, EH9 3JJ, UK.