MID – COURSE TRAINIG REPORT Chile Chile 10 June, 2005 Betsabet Sepulveda Cortes

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) ● Reason for Concern: The decline of the Bald Eagle coincided with the introduction of the pesticide DDT in Birds of prey at the top of the food chain, such as eagles, ingested relatively high levels of the pesticide, which was concentrated in the fatty tissues of their prey. Eagles contaminated with DDT failed to lay eggs or produced thin eggshells that broke during incubation. In 1972, DDT was banned in the United States, and a slow recovery for the Bald Eagle began. Loss of nesting habitat due to development along the coast and near inland rivers and waterways also has resulted in decreasing numbers of Bald Eagles. The decline of the Bald Eagle coincided with the introduction of the pesticide DDT in Birds of prey at the top of the food chain, such as eagles, ingested relatively high levels of the pesticide, which was concentrated in the fatty tissues of their prey. Eagles contaminated with DDT failed to lay eggs or produced thin eggshells that broke during incubation. In 1972, DDT was banned in the United States, and a slow recovery for the Bald Eagle began. Loss of nesting habitat due to development along the coast and near inland rivers and waterways also has resulted in decreasing numbers of Bald Eagles.

The purpose of attending this training course and the areas interest.  Learning specify to make evaluation of risks of environmental polluting agents in soil and water (heavy metals, anions and cations, organic compound), for example, like interpreting concentrations of chemicals polluting agents, sources of contamination, alternatives of mitigacion, etc.

I. I learned so far.

Subjects contents that I found of interest.  Ecological Risk assessment of environmental contaminants. The ecological risk assessment of pesticides needs to be comprehensive, because of their purpose to control pest organisms, which may have closely related non-target counterparts in the environment. The data for pesticides registration include all aspects of the ecotoxicological effects and environmental fate of the compound. Ecotoxicological studies are performed to determine the toxicity on non-target organism groups. The ecological risk assessment is performed on the basis of the toxicity/exposure ratio.

Subjects contents that I found of interest.  The basis risk assessment and monitoring of environmental Chemicals. The contamination in the environmental is produced for diferent factors for example agricultural products with environmental chemicals including dioxins and pesticides residues, every time becomes but necessary to monitoring these polluting ones because they increase to the concentrationes of these throughout the time, remaining long time on the atmosphere and generating impacts on the wildlife and human health.  Endocrine disrupting chemicals. A great number of artificial chemical substances that have been spilled to the environmental as well as some natural ones, have potential to disturb the endocrine system of the animals, including the human beings. Among them are the persistent substances, bioacumulatives and organohalógenes that include some plaguicides (fungicides, herbicides and insecticides) and the industrial chemical substances, other synthetic products and some heavy metals.

Subjects contents that I have trouble understand.  In general the training program has been quite clear because all the exhibitors have counted with the support of visual and written material, also has allowed me to have a general concept of the environmental, application and the task in this subject about monitoring, and also alternative to avoid to continue contaminating and to reduce the contamination that has taken place causing serious damage.

Things interesting me of attending this course. I want to learn in this course with details interpretation of results of the chemicals compound and bioassay monitoring in the environment as to relate for example the influence of interaction between ions and ecotoxicity of chemicals substances, also general considerations of mathematical models for the determination of dangerous substances in special water, soil and dangerous remainders.

Thank you very much Risk assessment and monitorig for environmental chemicals

Thank you very much Principal process of risk – benefit analysis for pesticides