24. October 2018, Topic: Aquatic Ecotoxicology Soil Ecotoxicology Sediment Ecotoxicology Risk Assessment
10 Years Ecotox Centre
Yesterday, the Ecotox Centre Eawag-EPFL celebrated its tenth anniversary in the City Hall of Berne. Around 80 guests from politics, administration, science, and practice toasted the successful establishment of the Centre and the milestones achieved over the past 10 years.
National Councillor Tiana Moser emphasised in her speech that the awareness of ecotoxicological concerns has grown steadily over the last 10 years. However, we are still a long way from reaching our goal. Against the current political background, independent ecotoxicological research is more indispensable than ever before and it takes courage to present results to the public. FOEN Vice Director Franziska Schwarz emphasised the important achievements of the Ecotox Centre in assessing the performance of WWTPs, assessing sediment quality, and integrating soil ecotoxicology into the action plan for plant protection products. The Centre has become an invaluable partner for the federal government, not least in thanks to the Centre's good international network. Kurt Seiler from the Canton of Schaffhausen pointed out the helpful role that the Centre plays for the Cantons and asked it to continue its work as scientifically independent and application-oriented as before. BLW representative Olivier Félix, Eawag Director Janet Hering, and Kristin Becker from EPFL and the ETH Board were also pleased with the success of the Ecotox Centre and wished it all the best for the future.
Director Inge Werner and her team summarised the work of the Ecotox Centre in an entertaining and often light-hearted presentation. The guests learned about the coffee-consuming work of the risk assessment group and the difficulties in making all stakeholders happy. Thanks to the Ghostbusters from the Ecotox Centre, sediment sampling was also successfully tackled. After concluding words of directorate members Rik Eggen and Christof Holliger, an apéro offered time for exchange and discussion. Contributions by soap bubble artist Nicky Viva simultaneously proved the artistic beauty of physical-chemical phenomena as well as the transience of (too) big dreams.
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