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The Hidden Impact of 6PPD: What Salmon Are Telling Us

Hosted by: Beatrice Bizzaro

In this bonus episode of Rethinking EHS, host Beatrice Bizzaro speaks with Ivy Liu (Terrapex Canada) to explore the impact of 6PPD-quinone on coho salmon populations in the Pacific Northwest. The conversation highlights how a common tire additive transforms into a toxic compound in the environment, causing widespread mortality in sensitive fish species and signaling broader water quality issues linked to urban runoff.

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Ivy

Ivy YuXia Liu

Terrapex, Canada

Ivy YuXia Liu is a Senior Environmental Risk Assessor with Terrapex in Canada. She has over 15 years of experience conducting human health and ecological risk assessments across Canada under provincial and federal risk assessment frameworks. Her expertise includes quantitative risk assessment, environmental site assessments, and development of risk-based benchmarks for regulatory approvals.

Ivy holds a BSc (Honours) in Environmental Science and an MSc in Earth Science (ecotoxicology and geomicrobiology) from the University of Ottawa. She is a registered Professional Geoscientist (P.Geo.) and a Qualified Person for Risk Assessment (QPRA) under Ontario, Canada provincial regulation. She is the Subject Matter Expert for 6PPD and 6PPD-quinone at Terrapex and takes a lead role in projects involving these emerging contaminants.

Beatrice-Bizzaro

Beatrice Bizzaro, Host

Inogen Alliance / HPC Italy

Beatrice is a geotechnical geologist at HPC in Italy with a bachelor degree in environmental sciences specialized in territorial, environmental and resource management. She is an accredited Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) consultant, trainer, and auditor with a strong hydrogeological background. Her passion for resource management has come from her 18-years life experience in Africa, where the management of resources such as water and forests is in need of an imminent sustainability commitment. Beatrice has been managing, coordinating, and implementing source vulnerability assessments (SVAs) and water stewardship projects throughout Europe, Asia and Africa for multi-national brands. In her career, Beatrice has specialized in the water resource management field, having addressed a variety of different projects related to the Alliance for Water Stewardship (AWS) Certification, SVAs, water risk assessments, environmental investigation and characterization plans, resilient and responsive plans for water risk mitigation as well as social projects related to WASH and stakeholder engagement. Beatrice is also on the Leadership Team for Inogen Alliance and leads the global Water Working Group. 

Time Stamps

00:00:06 – Introduction & episode overview 
00:00:43 – Why coho salmon are key indicator species 
00:03:28 – How 6PPD enters waterways 
00:05:04 – Why research is concentrated in the Pacific Northwest 
00:06:09 – Key takeaways and urgency for action 
00:07:28 – Salmon life cycle and vulnerability 
00:09:25 – “Canary in the coal mine” explained 
00:11:45 – Closing reflections 

 

Guest Quotes

Ivy Ng:
“Coho salmon are especially effective sentinels because their response is rapid, consistent and lethal, signaling broader water quality issues.”   

 

 

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