Balance between economic growth and environmental protection: sustainability through better science

Eddy Y. Zeng

Eddy Zeng got his B.S. degree from the University of Science and Technology of China, M.S. from Sun Yat-sen University, and Ph.D. from the University of Southern California. He is currently a professor with the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and also serves as an editor of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, an associate editor of Journal of Hydrology, an editorial board member of Environmental Science & Technology and Chemosphere. He has been conducting research in the field of environmental geochemistry, focusing mainly on the environmental occurrence and fate of persistent organic pollutants. He has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles and several book chapters.

Jing You

Jing You is currently a Professor with the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry at Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). She received her B.S. from Changchun University of Science and Technology in 1996 and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Lanzhou Institute of Chemical Physics, CAS in 2000. She became fascinated by ecological risk assessment studies when conducting her postdoctoral research with Dr Michael Lydy at Southern Illinois University. Her areas of research interest are to assess exposure, toxicity, and risks of environmental contaminants, with a particular focus on bioavailability of organic contaminants in sediment.

Hefa Cheng

Hefa Cheng is a Professor at the State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He holds a Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a Ph.D. minor in Geological and Environmental Sciences from Stanford University, and M.S. (University of Oklahoma) and B.S. (Summa Cum Laude, East China Normal University) degrees in Environmental Science. Prior to joining the Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow and a consulting assistant professor at Stanford University. His research is focused on understanding the dynamics and sustainability of natural and engineered systems and the development of strategies, technologies and policies to address critical environmental issues related to the quality of groundwater. He currently serves as an Associate Editor of Journal of Contaminant Hydrology.

It is indeed a great honor for us to present this special issue, a set of 14 quality papers dealing with a variety of anthropogenic chemicals in soil, sediment, water and other matrices, to the readers of Journal of Environmental Monitoring (JEM). We would like to take this opportunity to express gratitude to the staff of the journal's Editorial Office and handling editors for their hard work to make this special issue a reality. We also gracefully acknowledge the anonymous reviewers, whose valuable review comments have greatly improved the quality and readability of these papers. It has demonstrated again that quality scientific publication can not be accomplished without the collective effort of scientists and administrators.

The papers contained in this special issue have evolved from the outcome of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Asia/Pacific (SETAC A/P) 2010 meeting held in Guangzhou, China on June 4–7, 2010. The theme of this meeting, “Balance between economic growth and environmental protection: sustainability through better science”, emphasized the importance of sustaining healthy economic growth in the Asia/Pacific region, particularly in China, while directing substantial efforts toward environmental protection. This conference was well attended, with 574 delegates from 22 countries/regions, covering a variety of topics in more than 600 presentations with three plenary speeches, 36 technical sessions, and poster exhibitions. It became obvious that publication of a selected set of the presentations at the SETAC A/P 2010 meeting would help to convey the meeting's message that the environmental impacts of rapid economic growth and prosperity should be managed and mitigated with better science.

The subject matters addressed in this set of papers range from the occurrence of contamination on a regional scale to micro-level toxicity assessment and from legacy contaminants to emerging chemicals and nanoparticles. Environmental matrices under consideration comprise water, soil, sediment, and biota. More importantly, these papers examined the effects of the chemical contaminants on the ecological environment and transport within and through various environmental compartments. These efforts are apparently cohesive with the missions and objectives of JEM, as it is primarily concerned with understanding the impacts of anthropogenic processes on the environment and ultimately on human beings themselves, their health and welfare and that of the whole planet.

Finally, it is our sincere hope that the readers of JEM will find the data and information conveyed in this special issue helpful, whether they are engaged in scientific research and technological development, charged with the tasks of environmental management and mitigation, or simply concerned about environmental quality in general.

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