Special Report No. 09-03: Development of a North American Research Strategy to Assess Potential Reproductive Effects of Pulp Mill Effluents on Fish: Focus on Hormone-Mediated Effec

For a number of years, concerns about the compatibility of pulp mill effluents with sustained integrity of aquatic communities have focused on fish reproduction and possible endocrine disruption effects. Since investigations of the potential for effluents to cause effects on fish reproduction had used a variety of methods and endpoints, in 1997, NCASI and AF&PA sponsored a workshop in which invited fish reproduction experts were asked to evaluate the research reported to date, indicate information needs, and recommend program elements that should be included with industry- sponsored research on the effects of forest products manufacturing effluents on fish reproduction. Four presentations describing current research on the effects of pulp and paper mill effluents on fish reproduction during field studies, laboratory whole organism exposures, and in-vitro bioassays were followed by discussions of individual questions posed to two break-out groups.