One Health collaboration with and among EU Agencies - Bridging research and policy

In the coming decade, Europe will dedicate billions of euros to the necessary research and innovation (R&I) to support a transition to safe and sustainable food systems. EU Agencies, individually and even more so collectively, can make a difference in supporting the European research agenda. EU Agencies are knowledge centres, bringing together know-how to inform policy makers. EU Agencies that have traditionally dealt with aspects of human health, animal health, plant health and ecosystem health in silos, now need to take a broader perspective and move towards a One Health (OH) approach. In this paper, the authors highlight the need for more transdisciplinary cooperation in support of the One Health approach, identify challenges in strengthening interagency cooperation and provide recommendations to address them. EU Agencies are natural bridges between the scientific community and policy-makers and need to dedicate time and effort in fostering this dialogue, e.g. by engaging with relevant initiatives, research projects and European Partnerships. Research generates evidence that can be used also for regulatory science, in support of policy-making. It is urgent to define transdisciplinary research needs and formulate a One Health research agenda. This would be facilitated by establishing transdisciplinary One Health Research & Innovation governance, both at national and EU levels. Ongoing large initiatives, such as the One Health European Joint Programme, have demonstrated that active dialogue with national ministries and EU agencies is beneficial for all parties. Involvement of EU Agencies in the programming of the EU Research Framework programmes is beneficial, because of their regulatory science perspective, their expertise and current or future tasks on research topics. It is timely for EU Agencies to demonstrate leadership in moving the One Health agenda forward and it is encouraging that EU Agencies have committed to establish a cross-agency task force on One Health.

The relationship between perfluorinated chemical levels in the feathers and livers of birds from different trophic levels

Although feathers have been used successfully for monitoring heavy metals and organic pollutants, there are currently no data available on the use of feathers as indicators of perfluorinated chemical (PFC) exposure in birds. Also, no study has evaluated PFC levels in birds with different diets from different habitats. In the current study we investigated the PFC exposure of five different bird species from the same geographic region in Belgium, using both feathers and liver tissue. The highest mean liver perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) levels were found in the Grey Heron (476 ng/g ww) followed by the Herring Gull (292 ng/g ww) and Eurasian Sparrowhawk (236 ng/g ww), whereas the Eurasian Magpie (17 ng/g ww) and the Eurasian Collared Dove (12 ng/g ww) had the lowest levels. The PFOS levels in the feathers showed a different pattern. The Grey Heron had the highest feather PFOS levels (247 ng/g dw), the Eurasian Sparrowhawk (102 ng/g dw) had the second highest feather PFOS levels, followed by the Herring Gull (79 ng/g dw) and the Eurasian Collared Dove (48 ng/g dw), and the lowest levels were found in the Eurasian Magpie (31 ng/g dw). Overall, there was a significant positive correlation (Pearson, R=0.622, p<0.01) between the feather and liver PFOS levels, indicating that feathers could be an alternative bioindicator for PFOS exposure in birds. However, caution should be taken as there was no significant correlation between the PFOS levels in the feathers and livers of the individual species. In general, birds from a higher trophic level had higher PFC levels in their tissues. This indicates that diet plays a role in PFC exposure in birds and confirms the bioaccumulation potential of PFC.

Cellular energy allocation in Hediste diversicolor exposed to sediment contaminants

Environmental contaminants released into water tend to accumulate in sediment, leading to exposure for sediment-dwelling organisms. This study aimed to clarify whether chronic (56 d) exposure to a mixture of environmentally relevant concentrations of contaminants (tributyltin [TBT] and perfluorononanoic acid [PFNA]) spiked in clean sediment would affect the sediment-dwelling polychaete Hediste diversicolor. Endpoints were burial time, biomass change, and cellular energy allocation (CEA). Sediments were spiked with these two contaminants to produce different levels of contamination. Chemical analyses of the sediment following the exposure indicated that the spiking procedure was only partially successful and treatments were grouped into four categories according to contaminant concentrations: "background," "low," "moderate," and "high." No significant differences were found between treatments with respect to burial time, biomass change, or energy storage fractions (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates) in the polychaetes. A significant increase in cellular respiration was found for polychaetes in "moderate" and "high" treatment groups compared to the "background" treatment group. This resulted in significantly lower cellular energy allocation values for "moderate" and "high" treatment groups compared to "background." Although the effects were not marked, the results show that sediment-dwelling organisms may be affected following chronic exposure to environmental contaminants. There is a need to clarify whether chronic exposures exert a negative effect on sediment-dwelling organisms.

Perfluorinated chemicals infiltrate ocean waters: link between exposure levels and stable isotope ratios in marine mammals

This is the first study to report on concentrations of perfluorinated organochemicals (FOCs) in marine mammals stranded along the southern North Sea coast in relation to stable nitrogen and carbon isotope ratios (delta15N and delta13C). The presence of FOCs in top predators such as marine mammals would indicate a potential biomagnification of these compounds and their widespread occurrence. Liver and kidney tissues of nine marine mammal species have been sampled. Among all the measured FOCs compounds, PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) was predominant in terms of concentration. The highest PFOS concentrations were found in the liver of harbor seal compared to white-beaked dolphin, harbor porpoise, gray seal, sperm whale, white-sided dolphin, striped dolphin, fin whale, and hooded seal. PFOS concentrations differed significantly between sexes and age classes in harbor porpoises. Stable isotope measurements (delta13C and delta15N) were used in this study to describe the behavior of contaminants in food webs. We found a significant (p < 0.05) linear relationship between PFOS concentrations in livers of harbor porpoises and both muscle delta13C and delta15N measurements. Harbor and gray seals and white-beaked dolphin, which displayed the highest trophic position, contained the highest PFOS levels, while offshore feeders such as sperm whales, fin whales, striped dolphin, and white-sided dolphin showed lower PFOS concentrations than inshore species.