PRESENTER: Dr Melanie Kah
Department of Environmental Geosciences, University of Vienna, Austria
Currently, Distinguished Visitor, CSIRO Land and Water, Adelaide SA
ABSTRACT: Nano-enabled agrochemicals are starting to make their way into the market. Evaluating the new risks and benefits associated with the technology is thus essential. The environmental fate of nano-enabled agrochemicals is likely to differ from that of conventional products, and this raises a number of issues for regulators. The aim of the presentation will be to (i) review the current state of knowledge on the application of nanotechnology for developing new agrochemicals, (ii) analyse the suitability of current exposure assessment procedures to account for the new risks and benefits (iii) discuss options for refinement.
BIOGRAPHY: Melanie graduated with a MSc in Agronomy and Soil Sciences (University of Nancy, France), before completing her PhD on the fate of pesticides in soils (University of York, UK). She was then recruited by the UK Food and Environmental Research Agency (FERA), where she assessed the exposure and hazard of a wide range of contaminants, within projects commissioned by government and industry. In 2009, Melanie moved to the University of Vienna (Austria), where she develops projects looking at the interactions between organic contaminants and natural/engineered nanoparticles. Her current research on the ecological risk assessment of nanopesticides is a good illustration of the multidisciplinary approach applied in her group over the last years. Melanie is currently Distinguished Visitor at CSIRO in Adelaide (Australia).