Monitoring Environmental Materials and Specimen Banking: Proceedings of the International Workshop, Berlin (West), 23–28 October 1978

Ever since the industrial revolution, large numbers of environmentally hazardous materials are in- troduced into the global environment annually; a list of all substances which are at present re- garded as environmentally hazardous might contain thousands of compounds, and new substan- ces are still being added. Several major activities are necessary of adequately ensure the protec- tion of human health and the environment from the often subtle effects of these materials. These activities include toxicological and ecological research, control technology development, the pro- mulgation of regulatory guidelines and standards, and the monitoring of environmental materials and specimen banking. In the absence of effective monitoring environmental materials and spe- cimen banking, the detection of serious environmental contamination from pollutants may occur only after critical damage has been done. Environmental problems are independent of national boundaries and international collaborative programmes should be encouraged. Sponsoring organisations and other international and national bodies should encourage monitoring and specimen bank programmes and develop harmonised sy- stems for data acquisition and evaluation. An international pilot programme of monitoring and specimen banking is needed and is technically feasible. The conclusions and recommendations, for both implementation and research, should be of inte- rest to other international and national bodies in addition to the three organisation sponsoring this International Workshop. Nevertheless this joint sponsorship should help to assure that the re- sulting conclusions and recommendations will have a worldwide audience and that effective coor- dination of existing programmes will be possible.

Table of Contents:
Conclusions and Recommendations.- I. Introduction.- 1. Terminology and definitions.- 2. Objectives of the workshop and the final document.- 3. Monitoring environmental materials.- 4. Specimen banking.- II. Selection of Pollutants and Pollutant Categories of Interest for Monitoring Environmental Materials.- III. Selection of Environmental Materials Related to Ecosystems and Pollutants or Pollutant Categories.- 1. General aspects.- 2. Review of past and current programmes.- 3. Criteria for the selection of ecosystem compartments and processes.- IV. Technical Considerations.- 1. General remarks.- 2. Collection, collection equipment, sample preparation and transportation.- 3. Container materials.- 4. Storage methods.- 5. Conclusions and recommendations.- V. Analytical Aspects.- 1. Analytical methods.- 2. Profile and fingerprint methods.- 3. Partly of fully automatized analysis.- 4. Standardisation and quality control.- VI. Programme Design and Organizational Aspects.- 1. Goal and objectives.- 2. Statistical and biomathematical requirements.- 3. General guidelines.- 4. Recommendations for further research.- VII. Cost Estimation.- 1. Monitoring environmental materials.- 2. Specimen banking.- 3. Conclusions.- VIII. Ethical and Legal Considerations.- Annex I.- Abstracts of working papers.- Annex II.- Working papers submitted for the Workshop.- Monitoring inorganic pollutants in domestic and farm animals.- Monitoring environmental materials and specimen banking using terrestrial insects with particular reference to inorganic substances and pesticides.- Use of oysters and related molluscs as biological monitors of synthetic organic pollutants.- Specimen banking marine organisms.- Advantage and problems of usung wild-living animals as indicators for environmental pollution.- Naturally occuring steroids and synthetic hormones as sensitive monitoring compounds for the suitability of pretreatment procedures in specimen banking and for the long-term stability of stored biological samples.- Container materials for the preservation of trace substances in environmental specimens.- Monitoring of plants and soil for analysis of possible hazardous contaminants and banking of these environmental specimens.- Non-halogenated organic compounds in aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.- Organic and inorganic compounds — analytical aspects.- Use of macroalgae as a reference material for pollutant monitoring and specimen banking.- A comparative analysis among responses to acute toxicity in standard laboratory bioassays and in natural streams.- Specimen bank research at the National Bureau of Standards to insure proper scientific protocols for the sampling, storage and analysis of environmental materials.- Monitoring environmental materials and specimen banking — state-of-the-art of Japanese experience and knowledge.- Organo-halogenated compounds in aquatic ecosystems.- Statement of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.- Organo-halogenated compounds in farm and domestic animals.- Monitoring environmental materials and specimen banking for organohalogenated compounds in aquatic ecosystems.- Experiences in monitoring and banking human biological specimen.- Organohalogenated compounds in plants and soil.- Terrestrial vertebrate animals as biological monitors of pollution.- The mussel watch biological monitoring research program.- Collection, storage and analysis of freshwater fish for monitoring environmental contaminants.- State-of-the-art of biological specimen banking in the Federal Republic of Germany.- Ecological action of mercury by-products on different animaltissues.- Organo-halogenated compounds in terrestrial wildlife.- Basic ecological concepts and urban ecological systems.- Considerations applicable to the monitoring of organohalogenated compounds in terrestrial wildlife, especially birds.- The role of deep-sea organisms in monitoring environmental xenobiotics.- The grey mullet (Mugil cephalus L.) as a marine bioindicator.- Archiving wildlife specimens for future analysis.- Trace metals in living marine resources taken from north atlantic waters.- Some U.S. legal concerns in obtaining, archiving, and using non-human tissue samples.- Pollution effects in freshwater communities.- The use of fishes in the monitoring environmental materials and specimen banking.- Monitoring serial inorganic pollutants by plant indicator specimens.- Choice of species, sampling and sample pretreatment for subsequent analysis and banking of marine organisms useful for Hg, Pb and Cd monitoring.- Specimen banking of food samples for long term monitoring of nutrient trace elements.- Annex III.- List of contributors and participants.