The Black Mountain Declaration

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in the Australian Riverine Environment, a report from a collaboration between Land & Water Australia’s Innovation program and CSIRO, makes plain that streams across Australia carry EDCs at concentrations that can stimulate changes to the sexual cycles of native fauna. Dr Rai Kookana’s report was well received by over 170 Australian and international researchers and regulators, including Dr Susan Jobling, the most cited UK scientist on the topic of Environment and Ecology, who supports Australian legislation catching up to that of other countries.

To promote the plight of the Australian aquatic ecosystems affected by EDCs, Dr Kookana and Dr Jobling are joined by 22 Australian and international researchers, policy makers, regulators, water suppliers and research investors in the pursuit of future research, policy attention and public awareness on the subject. Facilitated by Land & Water Australia’s Dr Stuart Pearson, the group have drafted The Black Mountain Declaration on Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals in Australian Waters 2007.

The Black Mountain Declaration sets out a set of research priorities for EDCs in Australia, focusing on:

• Identifying current impacts of EDCs on native Australian wildlife;
• Minimising unnecessary discharge of EDCs to the environment;
• Minimising unnecessary exposure of EDCs to humans via food, water and air;
• Desk-top based modelling of EDC exposure to wildlife and humans;
• Quantitative understanding of the relationship between exposure to EDCs and their effects towards understanding what levels of exposure can be considered as ‘safe’ in wildlife and humans;
• Methods for monitoring EDCs in various exposure matrices;
• The significance of complex mixtures and interactions of EDCs and other chemicals; and
• Communication to enhance understanding of the issue by a broad audience.

The Black Mountain Declaration

What’s in Our Water: The significance of trace organic compounds

Citation

Land & Water Australia. 2008. The Black Mountain Declaration. [Online] (Updated June 12th, 2009)
Available at: http://lwa.gov.au/node/3061 [Accessed Wednesday 29th of February 2012 07:43:30 PM ].