Organochlorine and heavy metals in newborns: Results from the Flemish Environment and Health Survey (FLEHS 2002–2006)

To collect regional information on internal levels of pollutants in humans in Flanders, 1196 mother–child pairs were systematically recruited in 2002–2003 via 25 maternities across Flanders. Cd, Pb, PCB congeners 118, 170, 138, 153 and 180, p,p′-DDE — a key metabolite of DDT- and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) were measured in cord blood or plasma. Cd was detected in 64% of the samples (geometric mean 0.21 µg/L cord blood). p,p′-DDE (110 ng/g plasma lipids) and Pb (14.7 µg/L blood), were measurable in nearly all samples. The individual PCB congeners could be detected in 40 to 81% of the newborns (138 + 153 + 180 = 64.4 ng/g plasma lipids). HCB (18.9 ng/g plasma lipids) and dioxin-like compounds measured by DR-CALUX® (23 pg CALUX-TEQ/g lipids) were above detection limit in more than 75% of the samples. Age and smoking habits of the mothers, did not influence the cord blood Pb and Cd levels. The organochlorines increased 4 to 9% per year of the mother's age (partial R² = 0.05 to 0.22). Mothers had 2.6% less PCBs in cord blood (partial R² = 0.02) for each unit increase in pre-pregnancy BMI. Season of delivery, breastfeeding previous children or consumption of local dairy products, were minor determinants. Up to 20% of the variability in organochlorine concentrations was explained by residence area. It was concluded that the place of birth in Flanders is an important determinant of the load of pollutants measured at the start of life. This underlines the validity of human biomonitoring on (relatively) small geographical scale.     

Element Removal in Harvested Tree Biomass: Scenarios for Critical Loads in Wallonia,South Belgium

The critical load concept is nowwidely used as a tool for developing emissioncontrol policies in Europe. As a signatorycountry of the Convention of Long-RangeTransboundary Air Pollution, critical loads foracidity, nutrient nitrogen, nitrogen and sulphurhave been calculated for the Flemish and Walloonregions in Belgium. This paper describes themethodology used for estimating critical loadsfor forest soils in the Walloon region accordingto the Steady-State Mass Balance equations. As anexample the methodology was applied to thecatchment `Waroneu', situated in a sensitive areaof the Haute Ardenne. Main input parameters tothe equations were derived from precipitation andrunoff data of the catchment study. Improvedestimates of nitrogen uptake (Nu) and base cationuptake (BCu) were obtained by intensive samplingof Picea abies and Quercus roburtrees. Nutrient contents (Ca, Mg, K, N) andnutrient to nitrogen ratios of Picea abiesreflected the poor soil quality at a site withhigh N deposition. Quercus robur nutrientcontents increased from stem to higher orderbranches with a high proportion of nutrientslocated in the bark. However the simulation ofstem only harvesting had a minor effect oncritical loads. Measured wood densities werelower than reported literature values with a maineffect on Nu and BCu estimates. The use ofrecommended default values and/or data derivedfrom the experimental site resulted in a widerange of critical loads, some of which werelargely overestimated. Results demonstrated theimportance of site specific data for criticalload calculations.     

Cost-efficiency in packaging waste management: The case of Belgium

In order to exploit economies of scale Belgian municipalities regularly cooperate in the provision of waste related services. In particular for the collection and separation of household packaging waste, municipalities appear to seek technical and cost efficiency gains by cooperating via municipal waste joint ventures. Although most Belgian municipal waste joint ventures can present excellent recycling and recovery rates for household packaging waste, their performance in terms of cost-efficiency has never been assessed. Using a unique dataset comprising of the costs for all 35 Belgian municipal waste joint ventures in 2010, this paper present the first assessment of the cost efficiency of household packaging waste collection in Belgium. As we are not sure on the relative importance of the separate cost efficiency scores for the three selectively collected household packaging waste fractions when determining the overall cost efficiency, this paper draws on the Benefit-of-the-Doubt approach. Our results indicate that, despite the substantial cooperation between municipalities, still considerable differences in cost efficiency for household packaging waste collection exist.     

Regional economic disparities in Belgium and regional,national and supra‐national policies: an analysis of collective failure

Two kinds of regional disparities can be distinguished in Belgium. First there is the internationally well‐known dispute between Flanders and Wallonia. Secondly, there are large disparities within the regions. Three policy levels deal with these disparities: the (Flemish) regional level, the national government level and the EEC level. The purpose of this paper is to sketch the regional problems in Belgium, to analyse the policies that deal with them, to consider the co‐ordination problems between them and to shed some light on the public choice aspects of government interventions. It is concluded that regional policy in Belgium is a highly politicised affair. Furthermore public attention paid to regional policies has outgrown the importance of our regional disparities. Even other forms of micro‐economic policy are jeopardised by regional disparities and the resulting pressure.     

Ethical Challenges for Livestock Production:Meeting Consumer Concerns about Meat Safety and AnimalWelfare

Livestock production today faces thedifficult task of effectively meeting emergingconsumer concerns while remaining competitive on majortarget markets. Meeting consumer concerns aboutproduct safety and animal welfare are identified askey attention points for future livestock production.The relevance of these issues pertains to productionefficiency and economic benefits and tore-establishing meat sector image and consumer trust.The current paper analyses consumer concerns about theethical issues of meat safety and animal welfare fromcurrent livestock production. The research methodologyis based on literature review, secondary data sources,and primary research through focus group discussionsand a survey of 320 meat consumers in Belgium.Objectives were to assess importance attached byconsumers to product safety and animal welfare asethical issues in commercial livestock production, andto evaluate consumer perception of these issues forbeef, pork, and poultry. Significant differences inissue importance and perception are identified amongconsumer groups based on socio-demographic andbehavioral characteristics. From the analysis, meatsafety emerges as an absolute but minimum requirementfor future success of livestock and meat production.Additionally, animal welfare can be expected to becomea critical theme especially for pork and poultryacceptance.     

Environmental Determinants of Recent Endemism of Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis Infections in Amphibian Assemblages in the Absence of Disease Outbreaks

The inconsistent distribution of large‐scale infection mediated die‐offs and the subsequent population declines of several animal species, urges us to understand how, when, and why species are affected by disease. It is often unclear when or under what conditions a pathogen constitutes a threat to a host. Often, variation of environmental conditions plays a role. Globally Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd) causes amphibian declines; however, host responses are inconsistent and this fungus appears equally capable of reaching a state of endemism and subsequent co‐existence with native amphibian assemblages. We sought to identify environmental and temporal factors that facilitate host–pathogen coexistence in northern Europe. To do this, we used molecular diagnostics to examine archived and wild amphibians for infection and general linear mixed models to explore relationships between environmental variables and prevalence of infection in 5 well‐sampled amphibian species. We first detected infection in archived animals collected in 1999, and infection was ubiquitous, but rare, throughout the study period (2008–2010). Prevalence of infection exhibited significant annual fluctuations. Despite extremely rare cases of lethal chytridiomycosis in A. obstetricans, Bd prevalence was uncorrelated with this species’ population growth. Our results suggest context dependent and species‐specific host susceptibility. Thus, we believe recent endemism of Bd coincides with environmentally driven Bd prevalence fluctuations that preclude the build‐up of Bd infection beyond the critical threshold for large‐scale mortality and host population crashes. Determinantes Ambientales del Endemismo Reciente de Infecciones de Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis en Conjuntos de Anfibios en Ausencia de Brotes de Enfermedades Spitzen et al.     

Introducing and Measuring Sustainable Development Initiatives by Local Authorities in Canada and Flanders (Belgium) A Comparative Study

In this paper we examine how Canadian and Flemish municipalities manage and measure sustainable development initiatives. First, we present information on how Canada, Belgium and its Flemish region introduce sustainable development initiatives at the federal and regional levels of government. The introduction at municipal level of impact assessment systems, indicator and monitoring systems, and sustainability reporting systems is discussed in general, followed by a comparison of specific case studies. In Canada, we selected the municipalities of Ottawa, Hamilton-Wentworth and Vancouver and in Flanders, the municipalities of Hasselt, Gent and Leuven. For each case study, we considered the following evaluation criteria: introduction of a long-term vision for a sustainable future; development of goals, targets and indicators; measurement of indicators; involvement and information of the local population; introduction of impact assessment and reporting systems. The discussion section deals with differences in the approach to managing and measuring sustainable development initiatives in Canada and Flanders. This study shows that sustainable development is not yet widely practised at the local level in Canada and Flanders, but Canadian municipalities have more experience with planning processes and vision development, measurement systems and public involvement. The Flemish municipalities were more inclined to go along with international campaigns dealing with local sustainability and take strong sustainable development actions which were not integrated in broader sustainable development policies.     

Flanders’ urbanity — an outline

This article deals with Flanders’ urbanity. At the moment Flanders, a part of Belgium, is responsible for its own town and country planning. Nevertheless, today's picture of urbanity is, for the greatest part, the result of Belgian policy. The results are nothing to be proud of. In fact Flanders has no urbanity anymore, nor a real rurality. Everywhere in the countryside there are houses and other constructions; on the other hand and consequently the centres of cities and villages are in decay. The following text tries to draw, very briefly, the problems and the development of the problems in urban and rural Flanders. The roots have to be searched in the 19th century, especially in the constitution of Belgium, which is one of the most liberal on earth. The first part of the article is dealing with the history of urbanisation, whilst the second part deals with some recent evolutions in housing and housing policy, in employment and employment policy, in transport and transport policy. Finally, the third part is concerned with the town and country planning which has to structure the developments in spatial use for housing, industrial building and so on, but which has failed.     

Dietary intake of hexabromocyclododecane diastereoisomers (α-, β-, and γ-HBCD) in the Belgian adult population

A study was performed to assess exposure of the Belgian population to HBCD diastereoisomers. Measurements of HBCD were performed by UPLC-MS/MS, on 45 composite samples from 5 major food groups: dairy (products), meat (products), eggs, fish (products) and a group of “other” products. The medium bound estimated average daily intake (EDI) of ΣHBCD in the Belgian population was 0.99 ng kg⁻¹ bw d⁻¹. The diastereoisomer contribution to the mean EDI showed a predominance of γ-HBCD at 67%, followed by α-HBCD at 25% and 8% for β-HBCD. These results are consistent with the pattern found in the two food groups contributing the most to the EDI: meat (products) and the group of “other” products. Anyway, it has to be noted that diastereomeric distribution of HBCD can change due to bioisomerisation in biological material. Levels of HBCD diastereoisomers found in Belgian food samples of animal origin were low in comparison with those found in other EU countries and the resulting EDI was substantially below the proposed thresholds.