Panel 5: The quality of and access to data on chemicals

1. A brief academic’s view on ecotoxicity data
quality and accessibility
Karel De Schamphelaere
Helsinki Chemicals Forum, 24 May 2019
LABORATORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND AQUATIC ECOLOGY
Research Unit: GhEnToxLab
www.ecotox.ugent.be

2. Who am I ?
2
Some research topics:
• Bioavailability, ecotoxicology, modelling and risk
assessment
• Extrapolation of standard toxicity tests (single species) to
populations and ecosystems using mechanistic models
• Mixture toxicity modeling
www.setac.org
President of SETAC Europe
(May 2018- May 2019)
Member of SETAC World
Council (since 2017)
Head of Environmental Toxicology research unit
(since 2015)
www.ecotox.ugent.be

3. ALLEA: European code of conduct for research integrity
(endorsed by SETAC Europe council)
3
www.allea.org
“Researchers, research institutions and
organisations ensure access to data is as
open as possible, as closed as necessary,
and where appropriate in line with the
FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible,
Interoperable and Re-usable) for data
management.”

4. Two “SETAC”-papers:
accessibility to all data =
crucial element of
evidence-based
toxicology and scientific
integrity
4

5. 5
Martin et al. (2019)

6. Ecotoxicity datasets and the information loss issue
6
Concentration
Response
24 hours
48 hours
24h-EC50 48h-EC50

7. Ecotoxicity datasets and the information loss issue
7
Concentration
Response
48 hours
48h-EC50
Information almost always reported in
paper/report/database:
• Species & endpoint
• Exposure duration
• ECx

8. Ecotoxicity datasets and the information loss issue
8
Information commonly lost from lab to
paper/report/database :
• Response and variation in each
concentration; slope of DR-curve,
dynamics of response: essential for
model predictions of true population
and ecosystem effects
• Control performance and variation
(~validity criteria); goodness-of-fit of
DR curve
Concentration
Response
24 hours
48 hours
24h-EC50 48h-EC50
ECx ≠ Data
Limited reusability
Impeded quality assessment
 reusability
 quality assessment

9. Personal proposal on ecotox data accessibility
9
Further develop systems and legislation to move to a situation where:
• All raw ecotoxicity data are fully accessible and fully re-usable…
• …in ecotox data repositories…
• …regardless of their origin (academia, industry, government)…
This will:
• Increase transparency and credibility (also to general public)
• Allow evidence-based risk assessment, including data-quality-assessment
• Allow maximum re-usability, with opportunities for innovation in risk
assessment
Training, as well as collaboration among all stakeholders will be needed

10. Prof. Dr. Ir. Karel A. C. De Schamphelaere
Laboratory of Environmental Toxicology and Aquatic Ecology
Environmental Toxicology Unit – GhEnToxLab
E Karel.DeSchamphelaere@UGent.be
T +32 9 264 37 64
www.ecotox.ugent.be
www.ugent.be
Ghent University
@GhEnToxLab & @UGent
Ghent University
LABORATORY OF ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY AND AQUATIC ECOLOGY
Research Unit: GhEnToxLab
www.ecotox.ugent.be