PROFESSOR ARISTIDIS TSATSAKIS
PRESIDENT OF EUTOTOX
52ndCongress of the European Societies of Toxicology, “Protecting Public and Environmental Health by Understanding and Communicating Toxicology, 4thSeptember 2016
FIBES, CONFERENCE CENTRE SEVILLE, SPAIN
 
Dear Mayor of Seville, Dear Distinguished Speakers, Colleagues, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear all.
A very good afternoon to everyone, and thank you, for joining us, at the 52ND Congress of EUROTOX, organized by the Turkish Society of Toxicology here, in the beautiful city of Seville.
 
On behalf of EUROTOX, I am honored to welcome our eminent speakers and participants and present my compliments to all academic colleagues and administrative authorities.  Thank you all, for your participation to our Congress.
Seville is compact and yet rich in history.  It is, amongst other attractions and places of interest, famous for its flamenco, tapas bars and orange trees and this Congress gives us the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful city of Seville.

We have about 1200 participants from 61 countries gathered here todaysharing this important moment for the development of the science of toxicology, making once again our congress a truly European initiative.

Your presence is indeed an opportunity to establish new scientific and professional bridges with all geographical realities. Especially now.

And I say especially now, because we, now live, in a time of great change. We live in a world where terrorism attacks against civilians threaten world peace, while many European countries’ economy suffer the worst setback ever in their history and Europe faces the greatest ever refugee crisis.

These factors stop development and progress. These factors retard science innovation, hinder academic and business collaboration, because the world is more connected every day, in every way.  

Yet, despite these shocks, through the pain we have felt and the constant work required to bounce back, I feel that EUROTOX is able to seize the future. And that is so because with your active support we meet, we listen to each other, we discuss, we share information and we, together, foster the science of toxicology at the European and international level, we establish personal contacts with colleagues from other parts of the world and plan for the future.

As my presidency in EUROTOX concludes, I am proud to once again point out that today, EUROTOX, as the Federation of national European societies of toxicology with more than 8.000 members, is always at the position to set the basis for the strengthening of the science of toxicology as an academic discipline, reminding governments and the public of the necessity of toxicology in protecting the health of consumers, workers, the people and the environment.  

To this effect, recently EUROTOX’s first ever statement paper on the status of Toxicology was published in Toxicology Letters, aiming to protect existing and found new institutions devoted to basic research in toxicology.

Furthermore, following its inception in 1994, the certification of European Registered Toxicologists (ERT) by EUROTOX has been recognized as ensuring professional competence as well as scientific integrity and credibility.

Criteria and procedures for registration are contained in the ERT “Guidelines for Registration 2012”. Today, the register of ERT counts over 1900 members. In order to continue the harmonization of requirements and processes between national registering bodies as a prerequisite for the official recognition of the ERT title as a standard we prepared an update of the ERT Guidelines.

We took into account the recent developments in toxicology and in a series of workshops by the EUROTOX Committees for education and registration and in consultation with representatives of national toxicology societies and registers we finalized the documents and will bring for adoption at the Business Council Meeting this Tuesday.

The update includes details of topics and learning outcomes for theoretical training, and how these can be assessed. As recognition of professionals in toxicology, including specialist qualifications, is becoming more important than ever, we believe that this can best be achieved based on the steps for harmonizationwhich EUROTOX outlined for the best interest of academics, professionals and the public interest in general.

Those are only some of the reasons why, I am certain that this annual event, this institution will once more succeed to bring together renowned experts in our field and to address the vital issue of research excellence and professional development, as it is stressed out by its theme : “Protecting Public and Environmental Health by Understanding and Communicating Toxicology”

Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher back in around 350 BC stated that ‘ανευ των αναγκαίων αδύνατον και ζην και εύζην,

which means that without the basics it is impossible to live and live well.  And I too believe that the science of toxicology and its effect to the people and the environment is truly such a basic, both for our existence, as well for our well being.

The Turkish organization committee and the scientific committee, have done a great work preparing our congress and I would like to thank them for their energy, competence and professionalism. Thanks to the Spanish Society also for joining these efforts. Besides, I would like to present a special thanks to the PCO and especially Inci for the organization, and exceptionally to Hilmi and Ali for their commitment to EUROTOX.

I hope that these four days of our congress will assist academics, researchers and professionals to share their ideas and views, discussing about the ongoing challenges and responses in research which may in turn inspire new or validated standards of practices in the professional field.

I am truly grateful that I have the honor to serve, to work for EUROTOX and you and with you to prepare our science and its field for the future.  To this effect I am also grateful to all members of the Business Council Board of the Committees and Subcommittees and the Executive Board for we have served EUROTOX, together.

With these words, I hope that EUROTOX will always provide you with a forum to exchange scientific ideas, inspire new research, and new contacts for closer co-operation, so that we can, together share the vision of a promising development of the science of toxicology in Europe and all over the world.

As for me, I'll leave the presidency of EUROTOX more idealistic, more full of hope than the day I arrived, for the future of the science of toxicology and more confident than ever, that best days lie ahead.  

Finally, on behalf of the Executive Committee of the European Societies of Toxicology, I’m very proud to declare officially opened the 2016 52nd European Congress of Toxicology, here in Seville.

Thank you very much