NiPERA Research is Changing Minds

Dr. Christian Schlekat steers nickel ecotoxicology to a new understanding by Virginia Heffernan

Nickel Magazine, June 2007 -- Changing minds at the highest levels of environmental regulation is a challenge for industry-sponsored research groups. But Dr. Christian Schlekat (pronounced shlay-cot) and his team at the Nickel Producers Environmental Research Association (NiPERA) have overcome initial skepticism to do just that.

By managing objective and peer-reviewed scientific research, NiPERA, a division of the Nickel Institute, has convinced the Danish Rapporteur that its “safe” concentrations of nickel in natural waters and soil are unnecessarily conservative and do not reflect the latest scientific advances. The Danish Rapporteur is the regulatory body assessing the risk of nickel for European member states.

In December 2006, as a direct result of NiPERA-sponsored research, the Danes approved a range of 5-29 micrograms of nickel per litre (µg Ni/L) for nickel in water, up from a proposed Predicted No Effects Concentration (PNEC) of 1.3 µg Ni/L. Similarly, the PNEC for soil jumped to 4-97 milligrams of nickel per kilogram (mg Ni/kg) from 0.8 mg Ni/kg. These new ranges, which depend on water and soil compositions, will be incorporated in upcoming regulatory legislation for the European Union.

“Developing that relationship and level of trust between us and the Danish Rapporteur allowed us to get to where we are today,” says Schlekat, who manages NiPERA’s environmental program. He considers the development of the risk assessment process a major highlights of his career so far. “When we finished up both the aquatic and soil chapters in December 2006, that was hugely, hugely satisfying.”

Schlekat was born in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1964. Ever since he was a boy, he has been interested in wildlife and, more specifically, the effect of pollution on wildlife. He determined at an early age that he would turn his passion into a career, even though the field had yet to be established.

“I had to struggle to put my ambitions into a context because when I was growing up, environmental toxicology wasn't a defined discipline,” says Schlekat. “It was maturing as I was.”

Undeterred, Schlekat pursued an undergraduate degree in life science, obtaining a bachelor of arts degree in biology with a minor in chemistry from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1986. He went on to study marine biology and biochemistry at the master’s level and received his PhD in Environmental Health Sciences from the University of South Carolina.

“It wasn't until after my master’s degree that I became aware of who was defining the field,” Schlekat recalls. “Then things developed much more rapidly.”

Now he delights in passing on his knowledge and environmental values to his children, Katrina, 5, and Donovan, 3. His favourite pastime is to walk along the North Carolina beach with them, pointing out and explaining the various life forms.

Explaining the fate and effects of nickel in the environment to skeptical regulators, however, is a greater challenge, requiring a deep understanding of risk assessment and nickel eco-toxicology, as well as an ability to recognize gaps in data. This is where Schlekat excels.

He was able to sway the European Union regulators, for instance, by showing that bio-availability wasn’t being incorporated into the risk assessment for nickel and developing a way to correct this omission.

Bio-availability is significant because different waters and soils have different tolerances for nickel based on their chemistry. For instance, clay absorbs nickel much more readily than sandy soil, making it less accessible to plants and other organisms. The new PNEC concentration ranges reflect that reality, allowing a higher concentration of nickel in clay than in sandy soil.

“It’s similar to setting speed limits for automobiles, says Schlekat. “The underlying principle is to protect drivers regardless of the road category, yet everyone recognizes that it’s possible to drive faster on a highway more safely than on a city street.”

Using this so-called “eco-region” approach to regulation, measured water and soil chemistry data from systems typical of surface waters and soils in Europe can be used to provide a range of safe nickel concentrations for other real systems with similar chemical compositions.

“This was a breakthrough in the regulatory process in the EU,” says Schlekat. “It allows regional jurisdictions to set safe nickel concentrations that are appropriate for the chemistry of those particular regions.”

He stresses, however, that the European risk assessment should be viewed not as a fait accompli but as a temporary framework for ongoing work at the local and international level.

Although the assessment will have immediate consequences in terms of environmental regulation, it merely sets the stage for Europe’s new chemicals policy. That policy, known as REACH (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals), will be communicated globally through the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

“The tools that have been developed under the risk assessment will have global relevance,” says Schlekat. “The challenge lies in communicating the technical nature of these tools to other regulatory jurisdictions and modifying them according to regional differences in both policy and ecology.”

Virginia Heffernan is a Toronto-based freelance science writer.

Photos: Dr. Chris Schlekat

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