Present:
Syed Ali, State Water Resources Control Board
Ann Blake, League of Women Voters
Dan Chang, UC Davis
Art Fong, IBM
Rita Gaber, UCOP Office of Research (graduate student intern)
Jackie Hale, TSR&TP Program Coordinator
Tobi Jones, California Department of Pesticide Regulation
John Knezovich, TSR&TP Director
Bruce LaBelle, Department of Toxic Substances Control
Steve Macaulay, California Urban Water Agencies
Cathie Magowan, UCOP Office of Research
Linda Smith, California Air Resources Board
Lisa Stevenson, TSR&TP Program Manager
Mika Pringle Tolson, TSR&TP Technical Support Coordinator
Wynona Victery, US EPA Region 9

Not Present:
Martin Bloes, Goematrix Consultants
Steve Book, Department of Health Services
Brian Finlayson, Department of Fist & Game
Tom Gelzleichter, Genentech
Howard Levenson, California Integrated Waste Management Board
Marion Miller, UC TSR&TP Associate Director
Shankar Prasad, CAL EPA
Kip Wiley, California Senate Office of Research
Zach Wong, Chevron Texaco Energy Technology Company

The Spring Meeting of the TSR&TP Advisory Committee was called to order at 10:15 a.m. April 3, 2007 by chair Steve Macaulay.

Introductions. Macaulay welcomed the committee and called for introductions. Ann Blake gave her background and let the committee know she has replaced Leslie Stewart representing the League of Women Voters. Linda Smith is temporarily taking the place of Richard Bode for the ARB. Brian Finlayson who is an Aquatic Toxicologist with the Department of Fish & Game would not be able to make it today, but would also be joining the committee.

Review of Minutes from Fall Meeting. Macaulay moved to adopt the minutes, Magowan seconded. All were in favor.

UCOP Report on Budget. Magowan said their business manager took another job. There is a new budget reporting template will help better analyze the budget information. There was no budget news. They are not anticipating any increase in UCOP Office of Research budget. The Governor provided generous funding for buildings matched by industry but no operating funds. There was a proposed 2.5% cut for 07-08 to MRUs. Magowan doesn't see this happening right away, and it might be absorbed by UCOP's funds.

MRU Reviews: UCOP is about to appoint an advisory board to look at MRUs.

The new initiatives are climate change and hazards. UCOP would like to partner the power of existing MRUs to make hazards and climate change groups because there is so much overlap. Tobi Jones asked what ñhazardsî mean. Magowan said it's got a physical hazards flavor: earthquakes, wildfires, infectious diseases and the aftermath. UC Sacramento Center will start hosting luncheons and climate change is one of the topics. Magowan will share this information with Knezovich who will pass it on to the AC to help get the word out.

Director's Office Update. Knezovich informed the committee that we worked with UCOP to recommend to the Governor's office UC researchers to serve on the biomonitoring committee. Of the approximate 25 people recommended there will be about 9 on the committee. TSR&TP will have representation on this committee.

He has been interacting with Mike Wilson (UCB) and John Crapo (CPRC) more on the green chemistry issue. TSR&TP struggles with funding policy. We are trying to interact more with the CPRC to leverage between these different groups.

He's been talking with Jeff Wong at DTSC about having TSR&TP be a portal for connections between DTSC research needs and UC.

TSR&TP uses the majority of our funds to seed research amongst UC graduate students and faculty to ideally meet the needs of the State. He asked the AC to look at the list of proposals received. If AC sees any that are of particular interest, please let the Director's Office know because we will take that in consideration during the review and funding decision process.

Historically, TSR&TP has had 4 Lead Campus programs. These are true multi-campus efforts. We have 3 now. The newest is nanotoxicology at UCLA. molecular toxicology at UCLA is phasing out in 2008. The air pollution and health component at UCD and UCM is going well. This spring we'll be putting out a call for a new lead campus.

It's our 20^th Annual Symposium at the Chaminade in Santa Cruz. Gina Solomon will talk about biomonitoring issues on Friday night. Jerry Last will give a brief overview of the last 20 years. Saturday will be talks from previous poster winners, Jim Felton on food mutagens, and Curt Eckhert on the new nanotoxicology program.

Emerging State Issues. Macaulay asked committee members to discuss emerging issues of interest to their particular agency or constituency.

LaBelle said DTSC is interested in soil gas and indoor air (toxic chemicals, volatile chemicals, TCE, vinyl chloride). There's a new enforcement chief for DTSC, Gale Filter. Maureen Gorsen is the director and is interested in looking at cradle-to-cradle as opposed to failed grave (landfills).

There is a legislative proposal to ban deca-BBE (other states Maine and Washington are on this track) and pthalates and pFOA are other chemicals. E-waste: expanding the universe of what constitutes e-waste and what needs to be regulated. Pharmaceutical waste: there is a proposal to require pharmacies to take back medications that they sell (for disposal). Another big issue is plastics. The Ocean Protection Council is concerned about marine debris - what are the sources, pathways, environmental fate and toxicity of plastics in the marine environment. Magowan said UC's Marine Council and OPC are working together. OPC agreed to fund 2 additional UC fellowships for the Marine Council in areas of interest (marine protected areas and climate change). She recommended this type of partnership for TSR&TP.

Smith said the ARB is focusing on nanoparticles (ultrafine) and monitoring human health effects. For example, airborne manufactured particles, outdoor and indoor. ARB is looking at alternative fuels and their toxicity, especially biodiesels. Smith said her section is the lead on global climate change and health. Most of the growth in the ARB is because of climate change. There are 20 new positions. She's interested in the database of UC research in this area.

Fong said the high tech industry is tracking the development of testing strategies for assessing the potential toxicity of nanomaterials and nanopoarticles. Much of the recently published toxicity data are based on in vitro studies. UC programs can help with how do we extrapolate in vitro data into risk assessment. The high tech industry is having a tough time recruiting qualified scientists and engineers; there is a lot of competition for talent. IBM recently lost two nanotechnology scientists to academia because these researchers realized they can get a lot of funding for the research.

A lot of the innovative research in greenhouse gases and energy conservation is coming from industry. How do we translate this information to the public and government? There's a lot of mistrust in the public on data generated from industry, for example, the EU REACH initiative. Knezovich said risk communication for all aspects of toxics is important. Macaulay asked if this issue of broader risk communication can be raised with Jeff Wong at DTSC and give the AC some feedback.

Jones said DPR is working in two areas: air and water related to pesticides. They'll be putting out regulations this spring on fumigants. Targeting fumigants is a consequence of a court ruling. They launched a research program at UC to reduce VOC content of agricultural pesticides. They are launching an urban pest management initiative and because of water issues, they've formed an advisory committee to address risk management issues.

Macaulay said DWR just finished a CalFED study showing water quality of a watershed that shows a great increase in pesticides in urban runoff (pyrethrins). This has spawned some additional studies. Macaulay gave a handout on the project meeting for AWAR emerging contaminants project with DHS. They wanted to get DHS input and wanted them to know how they are conducting the research. DHS has their own list of chemicals they want to regulate. These were selected on toxilogical impacts and what citizens are interested in. They have acetaminaphen on their list and caffeine. Macaulay decided to bring it up here because the report has a public outreach component that was talked about a great deal in November. They are also trying to launch a pharmaceutical disposal program.

Ann Blake talked about sustainability, and chemicals policy legislation and how all these come together. What data is useful to us in the ultimate protection of the environmental and public health? What drivers push business toward sustainable practices? Blake has been working on setting stringent purchasing criteria for chemical products in industry. Another concern is dry cleaning - setting up methods to evaluate emerging technologies. UC can help with this. There is a growing link between worker and consumer exposure to products. Making linkages in NGO efforts: from manufacturing to use to disposal. She'd also like to see dialog on risk communication and what NGOs, industry and government want. Research translation: what additional data do we need to take action legislatively?

The group broke for lunch at 12:34pm. John Knezovich presented current work at Lawrence Livermore National Lab.

New Business. The committee was asked for ideas for presentations, speakers or topic areas. Charles Moore from the Algalita Foundation (Ocean Protection), Biomimickry in Design author Jeannine Benyus. Terry Tamminen, Shane Schneider on water issues, and Dan Cayan at Scripps.

Meeting adjourned at 1:50pm.