Spectators or participants: How can SETAC become more engaged in international climate change research programs?

Environmental toxicologists and chemists have been crucial to evaluating the chemical fate and toxicological effects of environmental contaminants, including chlorinated pesticides, before and after Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1962. Like chlorinated pesticides previously, gl...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inEnvironmental toxicology and chemistry Vol. 36; no. 8; pp. 1971 - 1977
Main Authors Stahl, Ralph G., Stauber, Jennifer L., Clements, William H.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2017
Subjects
Agrochemicals
Air pollution
Carbon dioxide
Chemical contaminants
Chemical pollution
Chemists
Chlorination
Climate
Climate Change
Climate change research
Climate science
Contaminant
Contaminants
Ecological effects
Ecotoxicology - methods
Environmental effects
Environmental Pollution - analysis
Environmental toxicology
Global climate
Global temperatures
Greenhouse effect
Greenhouse gases
Humans
Models, Theoretical
Pesticides
Pesticides - toxicity
Program Development
Radiative forcing
Research programs
Societies, Scientific
Spectators
Spring (season)
Toxicology
United Nations
Wildlife
Environmental toxicology
Climate change
Contaminant
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Environmental toxicologists and chemists have been crucial to evaluating the chemical fate and toxicological effects of environmental contaminants, including chlorinated pesticides, before and after Rachel Carson's publication of Silent Spring in 1962. Like chlorinated pesticides previously, global climate change is widely considered to be one of the most important environmental challenges of our time. Over the past 30 yr, climate scientists and modelers have shown that greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4 cause radiative forcing (climate forcing) and lead to increased global temperatures. Despite significant climate change research efforts worldwide, the climate science community has overlooked potential problems associated with chemical contaminants, in particular how climate change could magnify the ecological consequences of their use and disposal. It is conceivable that the impacts of legacy or new chemical contaminants on wildlife and humans may be exacerbated when climate changes, especially if global temperatures rise as predicted. This lack of attention to chemical contaminants represents an opportunity for environmental toxicologists and chemists to become part of the global research program, and our objective is to highlight the importance of and ways for that to occur. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:1971–1977. © 2017 SETAC
ISSN:0730-7268
1552-8618
DOI:10.1002/etc.3868