11th Symposium on the Chemistry and Fate of Modern Pesticides
Marseille, France , October 22–25,2008
and
5th European Conference on Pesticides and Related Organic Micropollutants in the Environment

The 5th European Conference on Pesticides and Related Organic Micropollutants in the Environment and the 11th Symposium on Chemistry and Fate of Modern Pesticides

The 5th European Conference on Pesticides and Related Organic Micropollutants in the Environment and the 11th Symposium on Chemistry and Fate of Modern Pesticides took place at the Hôtel Mercure Euro-Centre in Marseille from October 22-25, 2008. The meeting was attended by over 180 people from more than 20 countries. The overall goal of this meeting was to provide a communication forum for the exchange of knowledge and technologies among scientists interested in pesticides as an environmental threat as well as to foster collaboration among European scientists.

The conference was again a joint venture of the International Association of Environmental Analytical Chemistry (IAEAC) and the European-Mediterranean Association for Environmental Education, Assessment and Protection (ENEAP) and organized by the “Laboratoire Chimie Provence” of the Provence University and the “Institut des Sciences Moléculaires de Marseille” of the Paul Cezanne University in Marseille.

Thematically, the meeting was focussed on different topics covering various aspects of environmental interest such as the development of analytical techniques applied to environmental and food analysis, the occurrence and fate of pesticides in the environment, remediation techniques, and the environmental risk asessment of pesticides. The meeting was highlighted by invited lectures (12), oral presentations (40), posters (80), scientific exhibitions and receptions.

The meeting opened with the topic of analytical techniques for pesticide residue analysis in food and in environmental matrices by invited talks given by Prof. Amadeo Fernandez-Alba (Almeria University, Spain) and Dr. Enrico Davoli (Mario Negri Institute, Italy) in which recent advances in environmental mass spectrometry were discussed. Further speakers of the first day contributed innovative talks on passive sampling devices, recent developments in sample preparation, and the use of hybrid analysers in mass spectrometry for quantification and identification purposes. The day finished with a reception at the City Hall of Marseille. The second day focussed on the state of knowledge on the occurrence and fate of pesticides in the environment. These topics were nicely covered by 4 invited talks from Prof. T. Albanis (Ioannina University, Greece), Dr. Chris Sinclair (CSL, York, UK), Dr. Davide Vione (Torino University, Italy) and Prof. Ralf Schulz (Koblenz-Landau University, Germany) emphasizing the need to include transformation products in ecological risk assessment of pesticides. The evening finished with an old harbour front reception and dinner. The final day of the the meeting focussed on remediation techniques, in the morning with an invited talk given by Prof. D. Mantzavinov (Crete University, Greece), and in the afternoon with a talk from Dr. T Caquet (INRA Rennes, France) on ecotoxicological issues. In this latter lecture, the need for a better collaboration between environmental chemists and toxicologists was stressed.

The poster session was also of great interest with more than 80 posters presented in one session, lasting the 3 days and giving a unique opportunity to the participants to share their achievements in the area of pesticides in the environment. Before closing the meeting, the “Roland W. Frei Award” sponsored by the IAEAC was given to Maria José Gomez Ramos from the University of Almeria for her poster entitled: “A new gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) method for the analysis of target and non target contaminants in waters” and for her contribution in developing analytical methodologies not only aimed at quantifying targeted compounds but also at screening pesticides and others organic pollutants in environmental waters.

The meeting was closed on Saturday afternoon by the organizers by thanking especially the members of the local committee for their excellent work, all the participants for their contributions, and the vendors for their generous sponsorship and exhibitions at the meeting. Overall, the meeting was a success bringing together people from around the word to share their opinion and ideas in a pleasant atmosphere. Finally, I would like to thank everyone involved in the meeting in making it a success and look forward to the 12th Symposium on Chemistry and Fate of Modern Pesticides and the 6th European Conference on Pesticides and Related Organic Micropollutants in the Environment to be held in Bari, Italy, in 2010.

Serge Chiron, Chairman