The EU Green Deal's ambition for a toxic-free environment: Filling the gap for science-based policymaking.

Around the world, many ambitious environmental conventions and regulations have been implemented over recent decades. Despite this, the environment is still deteriorating. An increase in the volume and diversity of chemicals is one of the main drivers of this deterioration, of which biodiversity loss is a telling indicator. In response to this situation, in October 2020, a chemicals strategy for sustainability (CSS) was published in the EU. The CSS is the first regional framework aiming to address chemical pollution in a holistic manner. The CSS covers the complete lifecycle of a chemical, including the design of better substances and remediation options, to remove chemicals from the environment. The strategy contains terms, such as a "toxic-free environment," for which no clear definition exists, potentially hampering the implementation of the CSS. In this paper, a definition for a "toxic-free environment" is proposed on the basis of a survey and a discussion held at the 2020 SETAC Europe Annual Meeting. In addition, key issues that are absent from the CSS but are considered to be key for the realization of a toxic-free environment are identified. To achieve the policy goals, it is recommended to align the definition of risk across the different chemical legislations, to establish a platform for open data and data sharing, and to increase the utility and use of novel scientific findings in policymaking, through the development of a strong science to regulation feedback mechanism and vice versa. The paper concludes that environmental scientists have the tools to address the key challenges presented in the CSS. However, an extra step is needed by both policymakers and scientists to develop methods, processes and tools, to increase the robustness and transparency of deliberation processes, and the utility of science. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2021;17:1105-1113. © 2021 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).

Feeding Behavioural Studies with Freshwater Gammarus spp.: The Importance of a Standardised Methodology.

Freshwater Gammarids are common leaf-shredding detritivores, and they usually feed on naturally conditioned organic material, in other words leaf litter that is characterised by an increased palatability, due to the action and presence of microorganisms (Chaumot et al. 2015; Cummins 1974: Maltby et al. 2002). Gammarus spp. are biologically omnivorous organisms, so they are involved in shredding leaf litter and are also prone to cannibalism, predation behaviour (Kelly et al. 2002) and coprophagy when juveniles (McCahon and Pascoe 1988). Gammarus spp. is a keystone species (Woodward et al. 2008), and it plays an important role in the decomposition of organic matter (Alonso et al. 2009; Bundschuh et al. 2013) and is also a noteworthy prey for fish and birds (Andrén and Eriksson Wiklund 2013; Blarer and Burkhardt-Holm 2016). Gammarids are considered to be fairly sensitive to different contaminants (Ashauer et al. 2010; Bloor et al. 2005; Felten et al. 2008a; Lahive et al. 2015; Kunz et al. 2010); in fact Amphipods have been reported to be one of the most sensitive orders to metals and organic compounds (Wogram and Liess 2001), which makes them representative test organisms for ecotoxicological studies and valid sentinel species for assessing water quality status (Garcia-Galan et al. 2017).

Inpatient healthcare-associated bloodstream infections in older people.

This retrospective study describes inpatient healthcare-associated bloodstream infections (HABSI) in older adults and explores whether urinary catheters (presence/insertion/removal) were related to HABSI events. One hundred and sixty-seven HABSI events were identified, predominantly (124, 74%) with Gram-negative bacteria. HABSI was attributed to a urinary source in 110 patients (66%), with over half (63, 57%) of these associated with urinary catheters. Catheter-associated HABSI may be avoidable and potential preventative strategies are discussed.