Bill Berti, DuPont Central Research and Development (Action Team Co-Chair)
James Ryan, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) (Action Team Co-Chair)
Mark Doolan, EPA
Sally Brown, University of Washington
Andrew Green, International Lead Zinc Research Organization
Judith Hallfrisch, United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
Gary Pierzynski, Kansas State University

Christine Hartnett of Eastern Research Group, Inc., was also present.

THE ACTION TEAM’S SYMPOSIUM

The IINERT Action Team plans to hold a symposium at the 2001 American Society of Agronomy (ASA) conference. Bill Berti and James Ryan drafted an agenda for the symposium and distributed it to conference call participants before the call. Ryan listed the topics that are currently part of the outline: (1) introduction to the IINERT technology, (2) regulatory issues with metals in soil, (3) soil lead and human health issues, and (4) the Joplin field site. Expanding on the latter, call participants agreed that the following information should be provided about the Joplin site:

• A field description of the Joplin site. Sally Brown said that she would be willing to give a presentation on this topic. She will contact David Mosby and John Yang to obtain their input on the presentation.

• Animal dosing studies. Soil samples from the Joplin site have been dosed to pigs and rats to determine the impact that treatments have on mineralogy and lead bioavailability. Ryan expressed his hope that data from both animal models could be presented at the symposium. Bill Berti agreed to contact Stan Casteel, John Yang, and Dave Mosby to determine whether one of them is willing to give a presentation on the pig model. Judith Hallfrisch agreed to present data on the rat model. Call participants agreed that it was important to include data on samples that have been fed to both types of animals. This prompted dialogue about which samples have been fed to which animals. Ryan thought all of the field samples which had been fed to the pigs were also fed to the rats, but Brown was not sure. She and Hallfrisch agreed to follow up on this issue. (Hallfrisch will send Brown a list of the samples that have been fed to the rats.)

• In vitro tests. Berti agreed to contact Mike Ruby to determine whether he is available to present information on in vitro studies. Brown noted that USDA and the University of Missouri have both established test plots at the Joplin site and that in vitro tests have been performed on both sets of plots. She asked whether Ruby would present data for all the plots. Ryan said that this has not been decided yet, but said that it would make sense to provide in vitro data for all samples that have also been dosed to the animals. Brown said that she received in vitro data from John Drexler. She was not sure whether Ruby had also received these data.

Call participants noted that other analyses (e.g., plant studies) have also been performed at the Joplin site. They agreed that these analyses are important, but thought that including them in the symposium would dilute the session’s focus. Thus, as an alternative, Ryan suggested presenting the plant data, along with other related topics, during a separate ASA platform or poster session. Gary Pierzynski, who is involved with organizing the ASA meeting, said that miscellaneous topics could be grouped together in an organized fashion if call participants tell him which papers to lump together. He also mentioned that Dr. Nick Basta is arranging a session that will cover ecosystem topics. He advised contacting Basta for additional details. Pierzynski said that he will make sure the ecosystem session and the Action Team symposium are not scheduled at the same time. When submitting abstracts for papers, Pierzynski said, call participants should let him know if their talks should be grouped in a particular session.

Call participants picked a new day for their conference calls. From now on, they decided, calls will be scheduled on Wednesdays, between 4:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

ACTION ITEMS

Call participants agreed to followup on several issues before the next conference call. They agreed to:

• Contact Casteel, Yang, and Mosby to determine whether one of them is willing to present information about swine data. (Berti will do this.)

• Contact Peter Grevatt to determine whether he is willing to give a presentation on regulatory issues.

• Contact Mark Maddaloni to determine whether he will give a presentation on human health issues.
  
  
• Contact Ruby to determine which in vitro data he plans to present.

• Contact Nick Basta and Roman Lanno to find out more about the session they are organizing for the ASA meeting.

• Determine exactly which treatments have been fed to the swine and rats. (Brown and Hallfrisch will work on this action item.)

• Think about whether it makes sense to consolidate any of the talks that are listed on the agenda. (For example, call participants agreed to think about combining regulatory issues and human health issues. Also, call participants said they would think about how many papers should be written for this symposium on the Joplin field data. Ryan thought it might be useful to fold information about the animal dosing studies and the in vitro data into one paper. The tricky question would be: who would write the paper?)

• Provide suggestions for the symposium’s title. (Berti said that he is using the following as a working title: In Place Inactivation and Natural Ecological Restoration Technologies (IINERT)—Symposium on Soil Lead Inactivation at Joplin, Missouri, USA, Field Research Site. Berti admitted that this title might be too long. He asked call participants to identify other possibilities.)