Italian Experts:
Mario Carere, Ines Lacchetti, Italian Institute of Health, Department Environment and Health, Unit Ecosystems and Health
The Working Group of OECD “Validation Management Group for ecotoxicity testing” has the main aim to propose ecotoxicological innovative methods, projects and guidelines and to validate them through a consultation phase that takes into account different steps of the procedure (elaboration of the terms of reference, annex elaboration, final draft).
The experts of the Unit Ecosystems and Health, with the supervision of Dr. Laura Mancini (Head of Ecohealth Unit), in this context participate to the activities of the group through discussions, revisions and comments of the documents. These methods concern useful arguments for the activities of the Unit and the Institute. In particular an in-depth analysis is carried out for the methods that detect effects that could appear also in humans ( e.g. embriotoxicity); the methods that use Zebrafish embryos or some specific in vitro assays are relevant examples. These methods play a key role as early warning system and screening in order to detect effects in the ecosystems caused by emerging contaminants and mixtures.
