Working towards a Non-Toxic World

‘We have a long history of environmental monitoring and assessment in Sweden. Therefore, we have often been first to detect environmental health problems,’ says Professor Leif Norrgren.

Two continents, same problem
Several examples of early environmental monitoring are the effects of toxic substances, such as PCB and DDT, during the 1960s and 1970s. The sea eagle and the Baltic Sea seal showed a marked drop in reproduction success. The salmon fry died of the M74 syndrome. The same reproduction problems were observed for corresponding species in the Great Lakes area, on the United States-Canada border. Environmental monitoring programmes initiated back then, are still running.

‘Our studies are comparative, and we continuously exchange experiences with American and Canadian scientists. We're also writing a series of books* together, suitable for college students and highlighted by the UN. Similar studies of the same environmental health problems from two different continents are unique,’ says Professor Leif Norrgren.

Safer animal factories
Professor Leif Norrgren participates in several projects financed by the EU, for example Baltic COMPASS, a project with 22 partners run by Staffan Lund at SLU. Baltic COMPASS was initiated in 2009 and will run for three years. The project aims at contributing to new innovative solutions and methods to reduce the burden placed on the environment by agriculture and by the food production industry in the sensitive Baltic Sea region.

Professor Leif Norrgren’s part of the project concerns biosafety. He will analyse manure at animal factories for meat production in the Baltic Sea countries.

‘Manure contains residues of drugs and of pesticides and pathogenic bacteria. When it rains, these compounds and bacteria are transported by leaching water to the surrounding environment. Therefore, it's also important to analyse leaching water and fish from nearby watercourses. Some of the bacteria spread this way may be zoonoses, meaning humans can become infected as well,’ says Professor Leif Norrgren.

*The first book out of three in the book series `Health and Sustainable Agriculture´ is titled `Ecology and Animal Health´. It is scheduled for publication in spring 2011. Editors are Leif Norrgren and Jeffrey M Levengood.