The UC Office of the President introduced a new speaker series in summer 2007 to showcase UC research supported by Multicampus Research Units. Several students were nominated, and two TSR&TP graduate students were chosen to speak in August. The talks were attended by UCOP Vice Provost for Research Larry Coleman, research directors Cathie Magowan and Dante Noto, leaders of the Natural Reserve System, and administrative staff.

Your Coast on Drugs

Nature McGinn, a PhD candidate in Molecular, Cellular, and Integrative Physiology at UC Davis spoke about the impacts of pharmaceutical pollutants in coastal marine environments. Her research has shown that prozac, ibuprofen and synthetic fragrances from wastewater modify toxicant resistance in developing marine mussels. Mussels are routinely used as a bioindicator species in coastal ecosystems. Continued release of these chemicals could negatively impact ecosystem and human health.

Proper drug disposal and switching to natural personal care products can help prevent chemicals from entering marine environments.

McGinn noted what can be done about the problem. Proper drug disposal can be assisted by community take-back programs at pharmacies and municipal waste and landfill collection programs. Sewage treatment alternatives could help keep chemicals from entering marine environments. Increased product awareness is also key. "People should be educated about what kinds of personal care products they have in their homes and whether they can switch to natural products to help reduce chemicals in the environment," McGinn said.

McGinn described her experience speaking at UCOP as "a good opportunity because it forced me to think about science and research in a whole different way - the way my mom or grandmother could understand."

She added, "I enjoyed discussing my research. People were welcoming, helpful and interested." At the end of her talk, McGinn received an invitation to speak at the San Francisco Bay Area Kayakers meeting in early 2008. She is looking forward to the experience. "That will be great because outreach is really important and not something I get to do every day."

Measuring Pollution in People

Rachel Washburn, a doctoral candidate in Sociology at UC San Francisco, spoke about the social and political dimensions of human biomonitoring. The subject brings toxics to a very personal level by measuring actual exposures and accumulation of chemicals in the body. "With biomonitoring, everyone always asks what it means for them," explained Washburn.

Washburn's research has revealed that our understanding of the relationship between humans and the environment is changing: boundaries between the two are porous. Analyses of amniotic fluid and cord blood show that the placenta is not a barrier to fetal exposures. Biomonitoring has created a "chemical trespass movement," as Washburn terms it, public outrage about bodily contamination from chemical exposures. A broader range of health sciences fields are also focusing more on the relationship between exposure and health as a result of biomonitoring.

Recent laws passed by states, such as the 2006 biomonitoring initiative in California, have made public education imperative. Although biomonitoring technologies have come a long way in the last 20 years, big challenges remain, especially with risk communication. "How do we talk to people about risks of chemical exposures," said Washburn, "when we really don't know what the risks are?"

Washburn speculates that the wide range of human exposures to environmental chemicals revealed through biomonitoring "will likely lead toward more precautionary environmental chemical policies." She hopes policymakers will adopt chemical policies similar to those recently implemented in Europe, which ban many chemicals used in consumer products in the U.S. "I don't think we should have to do our own risk assessments about which products to buy."

Washburn was very thankful for the chance to speak at UCOP. "I was really pleased to have been selected for these talks and I was honored to be recommended. I have had a great experience with TSR&TP."

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