M1 PM State of the Science: Visions for the Future
Monday, 14 November 2005: 1:50 PM - 5:30 PM in Ballroom 1

(GIE-1118-079818) Monitoring of Exposure to and Potential Effects of Contaminants in The Environment.

Giesy, J.^{1, 2}, Depledge, M.³, Lam, P. K. ², Wu, R. S. ², ¹ Dept. Zoology, National Food Safety & Toxicol. Center, Center for Integrative Toxicol., Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA² Dept. Biology & Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, SAR, China³ United Kingdom Environment Agency, Bristol, United Kingdom, United Kingdom

ABSTRACT- Science fiction 1940: Space ships, Reality 2005: GPS and monitoring of the environment from space. Science fiction 1950: Dick Tracey wrist phone: Reality 2005: cell and satellite phones and remote monitoring of the environment. These are changes we have seen in our lifetimes. Also during that time, world population has doubled several times, our use of natural resources has increased exponentially and we continue to release natural and synthetic compounds to the global environment at an ever increasing rate and alter the face of the planet in a multitude of ways. Technology,the double edged sword,threatens to destroy us while possibly providing the means of our salvation; our means of achieving sustainable development. While much has changed in our lifetimes, much more will change in the near and distant future. How can we harness the rapidly developing technological means at our disposal to monitor and predict environmental changes? There are exciting changes in technology that may provide the ability to monitor the environment and provide the information to allow us to make wise environmental policy decisions. We will explore aerospace technology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, micro-electronics and molecular biology to present some concepts of environmental monitoring and surveillance that are available now and speculate on the science fiction of environmental monitoring.

Key words: Future, biotechnology, nanotechnology, micro-electronics