Toxicological Risk Assessment Workshop in Nairobi

In June 2016, ECI through its regional network – the East African Network for Environmental Compliance & Enforcement (EANECE) – organized and hosted a regional workshop on Toxicological Risk Assessment. The workshop was made possible through partnership with the International Union of Toxicology (IUTOX) and CropLife Africa Middle East and was funded by a grant from the American Chemistry Council Foundation. The meeting brought together a mix of over 40 professionals from health, environment, chemical industry and agriculture.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

• Introduce East African scientists in the area of toxicology/environmental science to contemporary concepts of risk assessment with special focus on a subject that is of great relevance and concern in the region, i.e., pesticides.
• Establish the basis for an East African network in toxicology/risk assessment (East African Society of Toxicology)

The workshop brought together scientists with experience in toxicology, pharmacology and environmental science with diverse backgrounds in academia, research, business, governmental regulatory agencies, policy and media.  Participants were drawn from Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Zambia.

Over the three days of the workshop, various topics were covered less than three broad sessions on the general introduction to risk assessment, endocrine disrupting chemicals and risk assessment case studies, and regulation. The workshop was facilitated by the following experts:

• Herman Autrup, PhD., Fellow ATS, President, IUTOX, Professor Emeritus
• Mary Gulumian,, Vice President, IUTOX, Head of National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Professor, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa
• Emmanuela Testai, PhD., Toxicologist, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy
• Sabitha Papineni, PhD., Senior Toxicologist at Dow Agro Sciences, LLC, USA

One key outcome out of the workshop was the resolution to pursue the establishment of an East African Society of Toxicology. Work in this regard is currently ongoing under ECI’s leadership. In addition, participants called for the organization of more sessions in risk assessment to enhance the capacity of scientists from the region. ECI is working towards hosting more of these events in the near future.