The 6th International Conference on Marine Pollution and Ecotoxicology was held 31 May 2010 to 3 June 2010 at the City University of Hong Kong. Prof. ZHOU Bingsheng, principal investigator of the Research Group of Environmental Toxicology at Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB), made an oral presentation entitled “The Thyroid Endocrine Disruption and Neurodevelopmental Toxicity of PBDEs in Zebrafish” at one of the parallel sessions of the conference.  

Held every three year at the City University of Hong Kong, the conference aimed to advance the participants' understanding of local, regional and global marine pollution, with the hope that such problems may be more easily solved in the future. The conference primarily focused on the following areas: innovative technology in marine pollution, chemicals of emerging concern in the marine environment, hypoxia and eutrophication, pollution monitoring and remediation, ecotoxicology and risk assessment, persistent organic pollutants and endocrine disruptors. Experts from 37 countries and regions took part in the conference. 148 oral presentations and 141 posters were submitted.  

The Asia/Pacific Chapter of Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry was held from June 4 to 7 in Guangzhou. The theme of this year’s conference is “Balance between Economic Growth and Environmental Protection: Sustainability through Better Science”. Prof. Zhou chaired the session “source, transport, fate and effects of perfluorinated organic compounds (PFCs)” and made an oral presentation entitled “Zebrafish embryos as an in vivo model for PFOS toxicity test and mechanisms of action studies”. About 600 experts attended the conference. 608 abstracts were submitted.