Scientific committee: Bjarne W. Strobel (chair) Thomas Borch Ed T. Furlong Dana W. Kolpin

1. EmCon 2011 3rd International Conference on Occurrence, Fate, Effects, and Analysis of Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conclusions from the EmCon2011 conference by Bjarne W. StrobelUniversity of Copenhagen Scientific committee: Bjarne W. Strobel (chair) Thomas BorchEd T. Furlong Dana W. Kolpin Organising committee: Bjarne W. StrobelKristine A. KroghMartin Hansen www.EmCon2011.com emcon2011@life.ku.dk

2. EmCon 2011 Emerging Contaminants – the usual suspects Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care Products Veterinary drugs Plasticisers Mixture & complex mixtures of more known contaminants Known contaminants in new matrices & biological compartments in ecosystem Pathogen resistance – cross-over Cu2+ & vet. antibiotics Biowaste pollutants Perfluorinated compounds – reductive defluorination Climate change (warmer air, colder soil/water, shifted seasons, shifted surface run-off events) – impact to contaminant loading, transport, degradation and ecotoxicity Plenty of new tools/techniques to determine contaminants and transformation products Conclusions from EmCon 2011 conference in Copenhagen August 2011, Bjarne W. Strobel

3. EmCon 2011 Emerging Contaminants – new issues Hospital waste water – not the usual cocktail of pharmaceuticals Veterinary drugs: point-source vs diffuse pathways (effect of loading and co-pollution in stream water) Transformation products in waters – kinetics of conjugation and degradation Contaminomics – changed metabolomes in non-target organisms caused by contaminant stress – ‘survival-of-the-fittest’ is changed caused by contaminants in this particular waterbody Pathogens, DNA, virus spreading via biowaste application > leaching to freshwaters Humic substances – sorb, carry and/or catalyse reactions Plant uptake Micro-plastics – degradation products from solid waste in water Natural toxins – phytotoxins and mycotoxins in soil water and streams – e.g. isoflavones and mycotoxins found all over in Swiss and Iowa rivers Conclusions from EmCon 2011 conference in Copenhagen August 2011, Bjarne W. Strobel

4. EmCon 2011 Emerging Contaminants – input to the definition Contaminants emerging in Science- contaminants we going to investigate or just got aware of causes problems Contaminants emerging in Society- contaminants we are going to include or just included in regulations/monitoring Who is to be protected from contamination impacts?- humans- any non-target organism- ecosystems- non-target organisms outside Europe (what is our society of concern?) Conclusions from EmCon 2011 conference in Copenhagen August 2011, Bjarne W. Strobel

5. Plant Toxins in the Environment – new crops and invasive species Bjarne W. Strobel Environmental Chemistry University of Copenhagen

6. Plant toxins – naturally produced bioactive compounds • What’s the problem for an environmental chemist? Storm P 1935

7. Plant toxins – naturally produced bioactive compounds • What’s the problem for an environmental chemist? • High toxin formation in a small area • Is the plant toxin transferred to the soil & water environment in concentrations affecting the biota? • - Passive exudation from roots • - Decomposition of dead plant material • - Leaching by rain • - Incorporation of plant residues left over after harvest • Important parameters: • Sorption in soil • Degradation • Leaching to streams and ground water • Effects on the environment (soil and water)

8. Invasive plant Bracken  ptaquiloside Rape seed  glucosinolates New crop – biomedicine Pharmland Artemisia  artemisinin Potato glycoalkaloids

9. Biomedicine – Artemisinin • The plant Artemisia Annua L. produces artemisinin • Used in traditional Chinese medicine for treatment of fever • Sesquiterpene lactone with an endoperoxide bridge • Very efficient against multidrug-resistant strains of the malaria parasite • Possible anti-tumor properties

10. Artemisinin production • Estimated A. annua production worldwide: • Asia: 7200 ha • Africa: 3700 ha • Europe: 500 ha • Estimated production of 7.5 kg artemisinin per ha • The area is expected to • increase the following years • – especially in Africa

11. Artemisinin – physical and chemical properties

12. Degradation in soil (sandy and loamy) Continuous formation 4-8 month / year

13. Ecotoxicology tests in soil Lettuce germination test (1-100 mg/kg) EC50=2.480.56 mg/kg

14. Ecotoxicology tests in soil - earthworm

15. Measured concentrations in loamy soil (Denmark) 0-2 cm2-5 cm

16. Ecotoxicologically tests in water For comparison: EC50 values for atrazine to lemna is app.0.1 mg/L EC50 value for glyphosate to algae is 13.7 mg/L Log Kow = 2.9 L/kg indicates medium mobility in soil Water solubility = 49.7 mg/L On-going research show medium to high mobility in soil leaching to +1 meter

17. Conclusions for Artemisinin • Degradation of artemisinin was modelled with a two-phase decay expression and degradation is relatively slow in soil under tested conditions • Artemisinin affects behaviour of earthworms and growth of salad, as well as fresh water plants • The effect levels of earthworms and salad is reached in a Danish Artemisia annua crop • Leaching to at least 1 meter in loamy soil • Risk assessment: Potential risk of harming the environment

18. Invasive plant Bracken  ptaquiloside Rape seed  glucosinolates New crop – biomedicine Pharmland Artemisia  artemisinin Potato glycoalkaloids

19. Ptaquiloside - toxicity Grazing of Bracken • Many diseases in animals like acute Haemorrhagic Disease, Bright Blindness, Enzootic Haematuria (tumours in the urinary bladder) • Gastric cancer among humans • Effects on soil respiration weak • Estimated threshold concentration in drinking water about 50 pmol L-1 Tumours in urinary bladder

20. Leaching of Ptaquiloside Biotic + Abiotic Abiotic Ptaquiloside (PTA) Degradation in soil Pterosin B (PTB) Hydrolysis in solution Break-through Ea = 74.4 kJ mol-1

21. Leaching of Ptaquiloside (pmol L-1) Estimated threshold concentration in drinking water about 50 pmol L-1 NQ: not quantifiable, T: trace a Groundwater level below the bottom of the drilling b No sampling c No pond water present

22. Sorption and transport of bioactive compounds in soil- some characteristics for Priority (Conclusions) • Very few sorption data in the literature for natural compounds • Almost no leaching studies • Sorption ranges from no sorption to very strong sorption. Glucosylation strongly decreases sorption • Transfer from plant material to soil needs quantification • Timing of transfer from plant material, precipitation events and macropore flow is critical • Formation of toxic metabolites; inclusion of metabolites (which to a large extent are unknown) in fate studies. • Leaching is strongly linked to degradation; as degradation in top soils is often fast, degradation takes the major control of leaching. • So far all compounds which have been studied have been found to leach, but only to a small extent. Thus – in a human health perspective we shall spend our efforts on the most toxic compounds of plants that are widespread.

23. The work of many researchers Bjarne W. Strobel Thomas Bowers Hans Christian Bruun Hansen Rasmus Broen Anne Louise Gimsing Britt Harder Lars Holm Rasmussen Flemming Kristensen Pia Haugaard Jensen Ida Marie L.D. Storm Karina K. Jessing Gerda K. Mortensen Nanna Bjarnholt Bjørn Schmidt Jes L. Poulsen Anne Marie Jørgensen Kristina Refsgaard Jonas Gerde Rikke G. Ovesen Susanne Mensz Karina B. Ayala Luis Laura R. Heggelund Henrik Johansen Lisa Jørgensen Mette Lægdsmand Louise C. Andreasen Bjarne Styrishave Sarah Herrmann Paulo Aranha and more.....

24. Examples of studies in our group

25. the end