Jerry Haigh | November 15, 2015

Rhinos are under severe threat due to poaching. A toxic situation for the rhino. Solutions are being sought, often involving toxins. But the bad guys are one step ahead of the good.

Not just rhinos. All the planet’s wildlife is under threat, much of it due to human greed and exploding human population numbers that in many countries leads to desperate hunger. People need to eat.

Nick Ralston | September 15, 2015

Mothers are often concerned that mercury exposures from eating ocean fish might harm their children, but since the biggest and best studies consistently find significant benefits, an important element has clearly been missed. Named after Selene, the moon goddess, selenium is a nutritionally essential trace element that is required for synthesis of selenocysteine, the 21st genetically encoded amino acid. Mercury is a highly specific irreversible inhibitor of the selenium-dependent enzymes that are required to prevent and reverse oxidative damage in certain brain tissues. Ironically, instead of causing harm, eating ocean fish that provide far more selenium than mercury is the best way to protect against harmful effects of mercury and thus improve the health of the mother and her child.

Kelly Munkittrick | June 4, 2015

Ecotoxicology has advanced significantly over the last several decades, with many new tools having become available for use in environmental risk assessment and regulation, however the regulatory field has been slow to embrace these new technologies.  In the early 1990s, as the Canadian environmental effect monitoring requirements were developing, ecotoxicologists were met with a series of legal and regulatory hurdles that limited the monitoring requirements. Moving further has been limited by a small set of questions, easy to identify, difficult to answer, and impossible to get consensus on.  It is only by moving forward against these hurdles that scientists will be able to integrate the improvements in technology into monitoring and regulatory approaches.

Neil Alexander | April 28, 2015

Any talk about radiation immediately brings to mind images of disasters such as Fukushima, people in protective suits, and fear. But are the fear and concerns over the risks of radiation really warranted or are they the result of hype and misunderstanding science – and is that misunderstanding leading to real harm? Dr. Neil Alexander, Executive Director of the Fedoruk Centre will offer his perspective and question some of society’s enduring nuclear beliefs (but don’t just take his word for it).

Jean-Michel DeVink | March 31, 2015

The human and ecological effects of lead have been studied ad nauseum.  Regulators have enacted laws and policies to reduce human exposure to lead and environmental contamination through the ban of use in gasoline, paint, and other products. Spend hunting ammunition is a well-known anthropogenic source of lead in the environment.  Widespread mortality of waterfowl associated with ingestion of lead pellets from spent ammunition was the impetus for the 1990s ban of lead and other toxic shot type us in waterfowl hunting. However, in most North American States and Provinces, the use of lead shot and ammunition is still permitted for other forms of hunting (e.g., upland game birds, big game, and varmints). Recent studies on the fate of spent shot have identified potential issues not only for wildlife exposed to the spent ammunition from these other hunting activities, but also the potential implications of human consumption of wild animals harvested using lead ammunition. In this seminar, I’ll discuss the history and current state of lead ammunition use, alternatives, what led to a 2012 law suit against the US EPA and some of the broader implications of this issue.

Derek Muir | February 23, 2015

The impact of climate change is one of the major scientific issues of our time. Some would argue that it is the most pressing issue. Research on this issue is very multidisciplinary, with contributions from the physical, biological, medical, and social sciences.  But within the biological sciences the topic is largely dominated by ecologists and the related sciences that they use to interpret data. Toxicological sciences, even those dealing with ecosystems, seem to have been largely left out of the discussion. So how can toxicologists contribute? This presentation will make some suggestions based on results of a recent SETAC workshop on the influence of global climate change and the applications of environmental toxicology,  as well as Dr. Muir’s own research experience. 

Ken Coates | November 18, 2014

The empowerment of Aboriginal people through court decisions has changed the dynamics of resource development and holds the potential for positive and constructive partnerships with Indigenous Canadians. For Western Canadians, where the resource economy is the primary engine of economic growth and prosperity, concern is often expressed that Aboriginal engagement will interfere with development. In contrast, there is substantial evidence that Indigenous peoples are excellent partners in development, providing the first opportunity in more than a century for a real sharing of prosperity with Aboriginal communities in Canada.

Dennis Lemly | September 9, 2014

The coal and electric utility industry spends millions on advertising campaigns each year in an attempt to persuade the public that coal has somehow become clean and that a wave of new technology has made it that way.  Despite this “green and clean” message, the truth is that coal mining, combustion, and waste disposal are some of the most pollution-intensive human activities.   Not a single clean coal power plant or mine exists in the USA today!

Paul Hoekstra, Connie Moase & Christy Morrissey | June 5, 2014

An informal and educational discussion on pesticide use, development, and regulation facts and fictions from three experts in the field. This talk features speakers from academia (Dr. Christy Morrissey, U of S), government (Dr. Connie Moase, PMRA), and industry (Dr. Paul Hoekstra, Syngenta).

Graham George | April 29, 2014

Mercury is acknowledged to be the most toxic non-radioactive metal, yet we are exposed to it on a daily basis from a number of sources. I plan to discuss how a detailed understanding obtained using synchrotron light has allowed us to understand the risks of our daily exposure to mercury.

While inland waters are undergoing unprecedented changes due to a variety of factors (e.g., population growth, climate change, natural resource extraction), harmful algal blooms (HABs) appear to be increasing in magnitude, frequency and duration at the global scale. Anthropogenic contaminants often receive headlines because of risks to human health and the environment, but HABs may present relatively higher risks to surface water quality, particularly in some freshwater ecosystems. This presentation will explore the question, “Are Harmful Algal Blooms Becoming the Greatest Threat to Inland Water Quality?”

Malcolm McKee | February 18, 2014

A simple web search on the environmental and health risks of nuclear energy and/or uranium mining will net a wealth of often conflicting information. Radiation is the most common concern. Is this emphasis on radiation warranted and how do we properly assess the complete range of contaminants and risk factors associated with the nuclear fuel cycle? This talk will reveal how the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission (CNSC) uses human health and environmental risk assessment to prioritize and manage uranium mining risks, along with the important role played in recent CNSC decisions by the research completed at the University of Saskatchewan Toxicology Centre.

Dr. David Janz | November 26, 2013

Are you concerned about bisphenol-A in your water bottle or drugs in your drinking water? Perhaps the most controversial topic in modern toxicology is endocrine-disrupting compounds, a vast array of human-made chemicals that have the potential to interfere with normal hormonal processes and thus be linked to diseases such as cancer, developmental disorders, reproductive impairment, and the obesity epidemic. This talk will provide a balanced view of the evidence for and against this hypothesis.

Dr. Tom Wolf | October 22, 2013

There has been much attention paid to the declining number of bee colonies in Canada, and worldwide. The agricultural use of neonicotinoid is one of the speculated causes of this phenomenon. The unanticipated movement of pesticides on dust was quantified recently in studies in Saskatoon, with surprising results that may be relevant to this discussion. This talk will focus on serendipity in science, and the role of scientific data in public policy at the federal and municipal level.