1993 – 2003: EXPOSURE, HAZARD, RISK
The analysis of toxic substances in the environment, which was the focus of the department's activities during this period, was soon complemented by experimental ecotoxicology and environmental and health risk analysis. The department undergone personnel changes and also three moves between the university campuses on Kotlářská, Botanická and Veslařská streets before it finally moved to the Bohunice campus of MUNI.
PEOPLE and TEAMS
During this period, the Department of Environmental Protection and Design was headed by Ivan Holoubek. Josef Čáslavský helped to build the analytical capacity in 1991-1997 and was dedicated to the analysis of organic pollutants in the environment. In 1994-2002 he was replaced by Aleš Hrdlička, who worked on separation methods, and Alena Ansorgová, who ran the laboratory responsible for long-term monitoring programmes.
The ecological and ecotoxicological focus of research was developed mainly through cooperation with other departments. Alois Kozubík and Jiřina Hofmanová (both Institute of Biophysics of the CAS) participated in the activities of the Centre in the field of in-vitro toxicology, Miroslav Machala (Veterinary Research Institute) in the field of substances disturbing hormonal balance, Petr Anděl (Evernia s.r.o) in ecology and biomonitoring, and Blahoslav Maršálek (Institute of Botany of the CAS) in the field of cyanobacteria research. Jiří Matoušek also contributed to the development of chemistry and toxicology as an external professor. At the end of the period, the chemistry team was strengthened by Jana Klánová and Zdeněk Šimek, and the toxicology team by Luděk Bláha.
RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT, INNOVATION, APPLICATION
A significant part of the research focused on the determination of concentrations of persistent toxic substances in the environment of the Czech Republic. Cooperation with industrial enterprises allowed to study their sources, behaviour in the environment and its impacts. Studies focused on free air, surface water and soils, and sampling and analytical methods were developed. The development of ecotoxicology allowed the study of the effects of pollution on living organisms. The toxic effects of these substances were also studied in-vitro in laboratories. Substances that disrupt hormonal balance are coming into the research focus.
In collaboration with the photochemistry group of Petr Klan at the Institute of Chemistry, a joint project on the fate of toxic substances in the ice and snow of the polar regions has begun, resulting in a field study at the Arctic station in Svalbard.
Engaging of Ladislav Dušek contributed to the rapid development of biostatistics and data analysis. Close cooperation with the Faculty of Medicine in the field of biological and clinical data analysis led in 2002 to the establishment of the Centre for Biostatistics and Analyses as an interfaculty department, which later transformed into the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses of the Faculty of Medicine, and in 2017 gave rise to the Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses, s.r.o. as a spin-off of MU with a focus on clinical projects.
EDUCATION
The scientific profile of the centre is also reflected in the teaching. In 1997, the original study programme Environmental Protection was divided into two separate disciplines, Ecotoxicology and Environmental Chemistry. Environmental Chemistry was also accredited for doctoral studies in 1997 (the PhD in Ecotoxicology followed in 2007). The development of biostatistical methods enabled the accreditation of a third degree programme in Computational Biology in 1999.
PROJECTS and COOPERATION
The initial development of instrumentation was provided by the FITA Belgium project in 1993, supporting the transfer of new environmental chemical and ecotoxicological techniques to the Czech Republic, and by the EU PHARE project in 1994. At the original department, the Research Centre for Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology was established, which merged with the department and gave it its name lately in 1998.
The beginning of the new millennium was in many ways a breakthrough for the new Centre, as it made its presence known on the international scene for the first time: it started to cooperate with the Environment Programme of the UN (UNEP) the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and was awarded projects for regional inventories of persistent toxic substances. In 2002 and 2003 it became the first MU department to coordinate two projects under the European Union's 5th Framework Programme. The APOPSBAL project assessed the environmental damage caused in the Western Balkans during the armed conflicts after 1990. The RECETOX Excellence project establishing a European Centre of Excellence in Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology provided valuable resources for international collaboration, scientific internships, exchanges and the organisation of scientific conferences. The Centre then benefited from new contacts and international research networks in the following years.
RESULTS and INTERESTING FACTS
The graph shows how concentrations of the pesticide DDT and its breakdown products have declined in Central European air over the last quarter century. The green colour shows DDT, the red is the degradation product DDE - which is unfortunately not only more stable but also more toxic than the original DDT. It can be seen that international conventions regulating the use of toxic substances are effective, but at the same time it takes a very long time to correct old mistakes. These substances are (and will be) around us even decades after they have been banned.
