CHRONICLE 16-17 ISSUE 05

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8 The Chronicle November 8 - 14, 20<strong>16</strong> chronicle.durhamcollege.ca Campus Doug Holdway and his grad students study the effects of man-made chemicals on aquatic organisms and their ecosystems. Photograph by Tyler Searle Why we need to watch what goes down the drain This is one in a series of conversations with faculty experts at UOIT and Durham College UOIT professor sits down to talk about the importance of his work Tyler Searle The Chronicle Dr. Doug Holdway is a professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) who specializes in aquatic ecotoxicology. A graduate from the university of Guelph with a PHD in marine biology and aquatic toxicology, his work to keep our water sources healthy has taken him all over the world, from New Brunswick to Australia. Dr. Holdway agreed to sit down and explain why he chose this profession as well as some of the different ways he conducts his research. In his own words, “Somebody has to speak for the fish.” How exactly do you study the effects of toxicity on aquatic organisms? Generally we use model organisms, like small species of fish or rainbow trout, invertebrates like Daphnia, water fleas, or hydra. We expose them to select concentrations of various contaminants and observe their survival, growth, and reproduction. Why is this relevant? Why do we need to know the effects of toxicity on aquatic organisms? Basically, every chemical that we manufacture and use ends up in aquatic ecosystems. The vast majority are designed for purposes other than use other than use in aquatic ecosystems, and they can have dramatic effects. Particularly the substances we have been recently studying; pharmaceuticals and personal care products. These are very active compounds designed to have biological effects, but not designed to have effects on the non target organisms found in aquatic ecosystems. What go you interested in studying aquatic organisms? It is an interest I’ve had since I was five years old. We went to visit the Federal Fisheries Research Station in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. I was fortunate enough to get a tour of the laboratory and from that point on that was what I wanted to do. Ironically, many years later, I ended up doing my PHD in the very laboratory I visited as a five year-old. Did anyone ever inspire you along the way? By biggest inspiration would have been John Sprig, who is sort of the grandfather of aquatic toxicity in Canada, and one of the world experts. In his day this was a very new science and he developed some of the earliest protocols for studying these compounds. I did my masters with him at the university of Guelph. What are your current projects? I teach both introductory physiology and I teach advanced topics in environmental toxicology. I also have a group of very talented graduate students that assist me in undertaking research on various contaminants on aquatic organisms. Mostly for the moment we’ve been focused on pharmaceuticals and personal care products. Things like birth control pills in females or ibuprofen, which is an Advil. So chemicals we use on a day to day basis go through us—via the toilet—into sewage treatment plants, but they were never designed to remove these kinds of chemicals. So only some of them are removed, and the rest go out in the broader environment, where, in the case of hormones, they can have potent effects in very low concentration. The earliest form of endocrine disruptors—which is the broad term for chemicals that affect the endocrine system, like hormones. The earliest types of chemicals we had that caused these effects were DDT, which affected the egg shells of various species of birds, by impacting on the calcium production in the egg. The birds would sit on the eggs and they’d collapse, and as a result the populations collapsed catastrophically. In lake Ontario, we have a variety of organo chemical—especially organ chlorines— that are still present as a consequence from usages in the 1960’s and 70’s, which are still around because they are so persistent... It doesn’t look like we’ve learned much over time. We keep making the same mistakes. What do you think is the most important thing in aquatic toxicology that people should know about? That’s an interesting question. I would think that people should be aware that everything we use and produce eventually ends up in the water. This is everything from micro-plastics, where plastics break down, to chemicals that are day to day use, to agricultural chemicals. All of the products that we are associated with will end up in the water—fresh water and eventually the ocean. Unfortunately, most of these chemicals will stay in the aquatic environment and only the really volatile ones will cycle through. The world is the blue planet, and we need to look after that blue. This story has been edited for style, length and clarity.
Campus chronicle.durhamcollege.ca November 8 - 14, 20<strong>16</strong> The Chronicle 9 Put your money where your mouth is Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story Kayano Waite The Chronicle Imagine not buying groceries for months at a time. Or only being able to eat food found in dumpsters. That’s what filmmakers Grant Baldwin and Jenny Rustemeyer did for six months. Their film was recently shown at the Regent Theatre in Oshawa where several dozen locals saw the movie for free. The documentary Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story is an award-winning documentary about a married couple who choose not to not buy shelved food for six months. The film also shows how much food the food industry and consumers waste on food products. According to the film, In the U.S., nearly 40 per cent of food goes uneaten. y. This is worth more than $30 billion worth of food wasted yearly, according to the Toronto Food Policy Council. Large amounts of organic material going to landfills makes methane gas, which become hazardous to the environment. The event was hosted by the Oshawa Environmental Advisory Committee, together with the Region of Durham and UOIT. The chair of the Oshawa Environmental Advisory Committee, Susan Hall, said the film could teach viewers about actions to not waste food. “We picked this movie in part because it ties food waste to climate change,” she said. Also in part because we haven’t done a movie that focused on food and waste like this before.” The overall focus of the night was on waste reduction, food production and climate change. There were several displays set up before the movie started. One of them belonged to the Whitby Ajax Garden Project. The Whitby Ajax Garden project is a not-for-profit community and communal garden. Volunteer Victoria Templer says food made in the garden goes to several agencies, including local churches, food banks, shelters and the Boys and Girls Club. We have a greater respect for our food when we’re physically growing it. Templer says DC students have helped with pest control at the garden over the past two years. “They and their teacher came out. They would go through all the garden, find out what was infecting our vegetables and then come back and give us a small report,” she said. Shane Jones, a horticulture professor from Durham College, was the guest speaker of the night. Jones agreed with the view of the film. He says people may not think much about how much food they’re wasting. “What I found is that we have a greater respect for our food when we’re physically growing it,” he said. “When we’re the ones physically putting our hands in soil, when we’re the ones watering day after day, when we’re the ones pulling off weeds, when we do all of that we have a greater connection to our food and a greater respect for it”. Photograph by Kayano Waite Whitby Ajax Garden Project volunteers Darlene Dzura (left) and Victoria Templer at the Regent Theatre.
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