A business meeting of the EAN Specialty Panel of Neurotoxicology was held during the 3rd EAN Congress in Amsterdam. Nine participants attended the meeting, of which panel members: Maurizio Leone – Italy, Albert Ludolph – Germany, Geir Bråthen – Norway, Jacques Reis – France, Edvard Ehler – Czech Republic, Yasar Zorlu – Turkey, Drini Dobi – Albania, Radu Tanasescu – Romania; and Tore Wergeland Meisingset (invited).
A number of issues relevant to the panel’s activity were discussed.
Firstly, the lack of participation over time to the panel’s activities of some members nominated by the national societies was highlighted. To tackle this, the idea that the EAN sets criteria of participation of national societies members based on their former activity in the panel was advanced.
Secondly, the recruitment of potential new members of the panel was discussed. The participation of the young neurologists with interest in neurotoxicology is highly appreciated and encouraged, and the national societies could eventually put forward proposals of young nominees with interest in the activities of the panel.
Guideline activities of the panel were next to be discussed. The panel has produced over time two guidelines; a revision and update of the guideline on “Alcohol-related seizures” according to the GRADE principles is ongoing.
A very important point concerned the actions needed to put neurotoxicology on the EAN agenda. A number of participants have highlighted that over the past few years, the panel’s proposals for activities at EAN Congresses (including Lisbon 2018) have all systematically been rejected, and no explanation was given for these rejections. This calls into question the scope of the panel within the EAN and different ways of surpassing this impasse were suggested; a Plan of Action is to be drafted in the vein of these discussions.
The ongoing collaboration with other societies was then discussed. A co-operation with the Environmental Research Group of the World Federation of Neurology has been initiated in 2015, including joint proposals to EAN congresses. The interface between clinical neurotoxicology and environmental medicine was debated, and the issue of the panel focusing more on environmental medicine was raised. Jacques Reis invited the panel participants to the Second International Meeting on Environmental Health in Strasbourg (RISE 2017) to be held in Strasbourg between the 29.11-01.12.2017. The RISE meeting is endorsed by the EAN and has the topic ‘Air pollution, an unknown threat to brain and child’.
Other matters of discussion included the participation to the EAN Neurological rare diseases and the activities to improve the visibility of the panel, including the contribution to the section ‘Neurological updates’ on the EAN website. The discussions during the panel meeting were constructive and aimed at reaching consensus on the different topics discussed.
Radu Tanasescu
Maurizio Leone
Panel co-chairs
