United States Department of Agriculture Provides News on BSE in the U.S. Links to news releases, videos of webcasts, and transcripts of teleconferences and television interviews on the positive case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in an adult Holstein cow in Washington state are available at the United States Department of Agriculture's BSE information and resources webpage. A chronology of events concerning this BSE case is also available. In addition, the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service's Dairy, Livestock and Poultry Division provides links to information sources on the effects of BSE on trade. (posted 12/29/03)

TERA Announces Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program Peer Consultation Core Panel for 2004. Eight of nine "core" panel members who were appointed in June 2002 for the Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) peer consultations have agreed to serve for an additional year. Read more about the panel's work and members in a news brief from Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment, which convenes the VCCEP peer consultations. (posted 11/25/03)

Political and Business Risk Consultant Issues Presentations on Managing and Assessing Risk in Asia. International Risk Limited, which provides comprehensive risk solutions and business intelligence and investigation services to corporations, law firms, and other official organizations worldwide, has issued recent presentations by its president and CEO, Steve Vickers. On October 21, Vicker's presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce Japan focused on the North Korea crisis, terrorism in Asia, Middle East conflicts, the China-Taiwan issue, and the threat of SARS recurrence (see PDF file). On October 31, he made a similar presentation to the Asia MNC Expatriate Roundtable that was organized by Organization Resources Counselors, Inc. (see PDF file). (posted 11/25/03)

Peer Consultation Meeting on Acetone. An expert peer consultation panel will meet on November 18 and 19 at the University of Cincinnati to review a health risk assessment document submitted by the American Chemistry Council Acetone Panel and to discuss whether additional scientific data are needed to characterize potential health risks to children from exposure to acetone. Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, is convening this peer consultation under the Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP). This meeting is open to the public, and those who want to attend or to submit written technical comments for the panel and sponsors to consider should register or send their comments by November 7. More information about the meeting, including registration, comment submission, logistics, the assessment document, and the panel charge is available on TERA’s website at http://www.tera.org/peer/VCCEP/ACETONE/ACETONEwelcome.html. In addition, reports in Portable Document Format (PDF) for the first two VCCEP meetings are now available on line. See "Report of the Peer Consultation Meeting on Vinylidene Chloride," January 29 and 30, 2003; and "Report of the Peer Consultation Meeting on Decabromodiphenyl Ether," April 2 and 3, 2003 (posted 11/5/03)

IOM Annual Meeting Webcast on Monday To Include Risk Communication Presentation. Those who cannot attend the National Academies' Institute of Medicine Annual Meeting 2003 on Monday and Tuesday, October 27-28, may participate by listening to a live audio webcast and submitting questions using an e-mail form. Monday's meeting will begin at 8:00 AM, Eastern Standard Time, and will focus on the theme "Neurons to Neighborhoods to Nation: Science and Public Policy to Improve Mental Health." Later that day, at 2:10 PM, Paul Slovic of the University of Oregon's Department of Psychology will speak on "A Difficult Balance: Risk Communication in an Age of Terrorism." On Tuesday the meeting will open at 9:20 AM and will explore the question "Protecting the Public's Health: How Prepared Are We?" Both days' agendas and instructions on how to participate in the webcasts are available at this link. (posted 10/24/03)

International Risk Report Foresees a Chinese Government Regulatory Crackdown on Multinational Companies. "The Chinese government’s State Customs Administration is preparing to launch a nationwide campaign later this year to crack down on foreign firms and Sino-foreign joint ventures who are perceived to be taking advantage of regulatory loopholes or engaging in 'grey or illegal import-export' practices," according to a risk assessment report by International Risk, a Hong-Kong-based company that provides comprehensive risk solutions and business intelligence and investigation services to corporations, law firms, and other official organizations worldwide. Read the full report, titled Regulatory Risk in the PRC. (posted 9/26/03)

EIA Report Analyzes Clean Air Planning Act of 2003 and Clear Skies Act of 2003. In response to a request from U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works Chair James M. Inhofe on July 30, 2003, the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration (EIA) has analyzed the Clean Air Planning Act of 2003 (S. 843) and the Clear Skies Act of 2003 (S. 485) in a report released today. EIA analyzed the impacts of both bills' limits on nitrogen oxide, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions and the impact of S. 843's limits on carbon dioxide emissions from electricity generators. The report also includes EIA's analyses of S. 485 without the mercury provisions and S. 843 without the mercury and carbon dioxide provisions. Read the report on line (PDF version). For background information, browse the Committee on Environment and Public Works website at http://www.senate.gov/~epw/ or read Senator Inhofe's statement on climate change, presented July 28, 2003. (posted 9/23/03)

Hear Public Briefing Webcast of Dioxins Report Release on July 1. Although changes in industrial practices have greatly reduced the level of dioxins in the environment and in foods, the risks posed by low-level exposures to these long-lasting, toxic compounds that accumulate in the body fat of animals and people have yet to be determined. The Food and Nutrition Board of the National Academies' Institute of Medicine has been studying ways to minimize dioxin exposure through the food supply without compromising nutrition. Their report, Dioxins and Dioxin-Like Compounds in the Food Supply: Strategies to Decrease Exposure, will be released in a public briefing at 11:00 AM, EDT, Tuesday, July 1, 2003. A link to the briefing webcast will be available on July 1 at http://national-academies.org/. Read more information about the study. (posted 6/27/03)

Abstracts for International HIV and Emerging Infectious Diseases Symposium Due April 10, 2004. The Scientific Committee of the 13th International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious Diseases invites abstracts for oral and/or poster presentations to be submitted by April 15, 2004. This independent scientific meeting will be held June 3-5, 2004, at the "Palais Neptune" International Congress Centre in Toulon, France. Read more. (posted 6/23/03)

SRA Closes Late Abstract Submissions for Annual Meeting in December. The abstract submission period for the 2003 Society for Risk Analysis Annual Meeting has ended. (posted 6/23/03)

SRA Allowing Late Abstract Submissions for Annual Meeting in December. The Society for Risk Analysis is allowing late submission of top-quality symposia, poster, and individual presentation abstracts for its 2003 annual meeting, although inclusion of late submissions in the program will be limited. Read more. (posted 6/20/03)

Organizations Call for Abstracts for SARS e-Conference on the Internet. The Union of Risk Management for Preventive Medicine, several of their associate regional organizations, and World Health Risk Management Center have issued a call to submit abstracts by September 10 for their SARS e-Conference, which will be held October 10-14, 2003, on the Internet. Read more. (posted 6/20/03)

EPA To Hold Peer Review of Draft Report Evaluating Potential Exposure to Air Pollutants from World Trade Center Disaster. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will hold a peer review meeting on the draft report Exposure and Human Health Evaluation of Airborne Pollution from the World Trade Center Disaster, on July 14 and 15, 2003, in New York City. The draft report evaluates the environmental levels of air pollutants to which the public could potentially have been exposed as a result of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. The public is invited to observe the meeting and may also register in advance to make brief comments to the independent peer review panel. For more information, see the Federal Register notice, published June 18, 2003, that announced the upcoming meeting and a website that includes links to a fact sheet about the meeting and to the draft report. (posted 6/19/03)

Corporate Risk Consultant CEO Presents Asia Threat Assessment. Steve Vickers, president and chief executive officer of Hong Kong-based International Risk Limited, recently presented an assessment of regional threats in Asia to the Hong Kong General Chamber of Commerce. His presentation, which focuses on the crisis in North Korea, terrorism in Asia, and SARS, is available in slide format on line. (posted 6/19/03)

Webcast: Release of Report on Societal Costs of Uninsurance. Listen to an archived webcast of the public briefing on June 17, 2003, for the release of the report Hidden Costs, Value Lost: Uninsurance in America. A free RealPlayer is required to listen to the webcast, which is available at http://video.nationalacademies.org/ramgen/news/061703.rm. Also see the Web Extra, which provides links to the report and related resources. (posted 6/17/03)

Basel II: New Wine in an Old Bottle. In June 1999, the Basel Committee on Bank Supervision issued a proposal for a New Capital Adequacy Framework, or Basel II, to replace the capital measurement system it had adopted in 1988, which was popularly known as the Basel Capital Accord. The committee intends to finalize Basel II, which is still under development, in the fourth quarter of 2003. In his article giving an overview of Basel II, Sabyasachi Bardoloi, manager of Pinnacle Research Group, Pinnacle Systems, Inc., makes a comparative analysis of the two accords, pointing out the wide-angle scope that Basel II provides and spelling out its key drivers. Read more. (posted 6/12/03)

"Do we live in riskier times than humans have ever faced?" This question is addressed in the essay "Risk Communication: A Neglected Tool in Protecting Public Health," which is the June 2003 issue of Risk in Perspective, a Harvard Center for Risk Analysis publication. David Ropeik, the center's director of risk communication, and Paul Slovik, president of Decision Research, in Eugene, Oregon, collaborated in writing the essay, which is available on line in PDF. (posted 6/5/03)

Will EPA Permit Florida to Pollute Drinking Water Supplies? U.S. Environmental Protection Agency water administrators have drawn up a rule-making decision declaring Florida exempt from certain provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act that would result in Florida being able to legally pollute drinking water aquifers with inadequately treated waste through municipal underground injection control (UIC) wells, writes Donald Sutherland, freelance environmental journalist. Read more. (posted 6/4/03)

New Links to Software Companies. RiskWorld's software listings now include:

• GeoKnowledge, the developer of a system for stochastic assessment of resources, risks, and economic value;
• Higher Level Systems, a supplier of knowledge-based technology that is applied to risk management;
• Mastek Limited, an information technology applications outsourcing company; and
• Quantalytics, Inc., a remote automatic data backup service for computers.

(posted 6/2/03)

The Environmental Communication Yearbook, published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc., has announced a submission deadline of October 1, 2003, for work to be considered for Volume 2 of EYC, which will go to press in the fall of 2004. Read more. (posted 5/26/03)

International Risk Limited, a comprehensive risk solutions, business intelligence, and investigation service based in Hong Kong, has made available to the public two of its risk assessment reports dealing with current global issues. A report titled "North Korea Update" (PDF file) assesses what is likely to happen both regionally and around the world in a confrontation with North Korea's capital Pyongyang. The second report presents an assessment of the economic impact of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) and suggests how companies should mitigate their business risks associated with the infection (PDF file). (posted 5/20/03)

Webcast of Symposium on Electronic Publishing's Effects on Scientific Research To Continue Tuesday. The National Academies' Steering Committee on Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Journal Publishing and Its Implications is holding a symposium on May 19-20, 2003, to examine the effects of electronic publishing of scientific, technical, and medical journals on the health of scientific, technical, and medical research. The public may listen to a live webcast of the symposium, which will continue on Tuesday, May 20, beginning at 8:30 AM (EDT). The webcast link will be available the morning of the webcast at http://nationalacademies.org/. To access the final program and background information, visit the symposium web site at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cosepup/E-Publishing.html. (posted 5/16/03, updated 5/19/03)

Webcast of Symposium on Electronic Publishing's Effects on Scientific Research Will Begin Monday. The National Academies' Steering Committee on Electronic Scientific, Technical, and Medical Journal Publishing and Its Implications will hold a symposium on May 19-20, 2003, to examine the effects of electronic publishing of scientific, technical, and medical journals on the health of scientific, technical, and medical research. The public may listen to a live webcast of the symposium starting at 8:30 AM (EDT). The webcast link will be available Monday morning at http://nationalacademies.org/. To access the final program and background information, visit the symposium web site at http://www7.nationalacademies.org/cosepup/E-Publishing.html. (posted 5/16/03)

More than 300 New Risk Abstracts Online. The best of the world’s recent research on a wide gamut of risk topics is available in RiskWorld’s library of risk abstracts, with more than 300 new abstracts published online today. These latest additions are from the 22^nd Annual Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis held in December 2002 in New Orleans. Featured topics include the emergence of bio-terrorism, computer viruses, risk harmonization, climate variability, contagious diseases, and systemic risks in air transportations, as well dozens of other topics covering the latest research in risk assessment, management, and communication. Some specific topics include: risk perceptions in the new era following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; the impact of the genomic revolution on risk assessment; food safety issues such as E. coli, food irradiation, and preventing bioterrorism in the food supply; rare and extreme events; risk perceptions around the world; quantitative microbial risk assessment; the precautionary principle; putting risks into context; risk analysis for invasive species; evaluating children’s exposure to hazards; risk law and policy; and economics and risk. The Society for Risk Analysis annual meeting from which the abstracts were drawn was themed "The World of Risk Analysis" and featured speakers such as Deoraj Caussy of the World Health Organization; Santos Burgoa, Mexico’s senior official responsible for risk assessment; Ragnar Löfstedt, the director of the King’s Centre for Risk Management at King’s College in London, England; and John Graham, the leading risk expert at the White House Office of Management and Budget in Washington, D.C. (posted 5/14/03)

SARS Database of Daily Outbreaks by Country Available Online. Health organizations around the world have joined together in the battle against the global epidemic of SARS, the severe acute respiratory syndrome that is believed to be caused by the novel coronavirus SARS Co-V. With over 7,548 cases worldwide, the outbreak has been largely confined to Asia although countries from Brazil to Sweden have been affected. For the official daily report of SARS outbreaks on a country-by-country basis, see the database of the World Health Organization (WHO), and also see WHO’s latest global weekly bulletin on all infectious diseases. Note that the latest calculations of cumulative SARS cases for any one country can decline compared to previous reports as some cases are occasionally removed due to misdiagnosis (as when a potential SARS case turns out to be just the flu). The WHO’s information on SARS is available online in several languages, including Chinese:

(posted 5/14/03)

SARS Vaccine Development Being Studied. Though there is no known treatment for SARS, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is working with other agencies to pursue multiple potential medical treatment and vaccine development strategies. The vaccine program is "in its infancy," the Food and Drug Administration emphasizes, noting that "it would be imprudent and unfair to over-promise at this time on any possible timeline for a SARS vaccine." (posted 5/14/03)

First World Congress on Risk Convenes in June. The Society for Risk Analysis and other risk-related scientific and professional groups will launch the first World Congress on Risk on June 22-25, 2003, in Brussels, Belgium. The first in a series of world congresses aimed at developing the field of risk analysis, the 2003 international conference will focus on the theme "Risk and Governance," which the organizers say "reflects the worldwide trend toward making better use of risk-oriented concepts, tools, and processes in public decision making and risk management." Registration is available online; to register by fax or mail, print out registration forms from the PDF file provided. (Note: Special congress rates are available for hotel registrations made by May 22.) Congress registration is not required to attend six pre-congress workshops that will be held on Sunday, June 22, prior to the congress’ opening reception that evening. Four workshops will offer tutorials on health risk assessment of chemical mixtures, imprecise probabilities, risk communication in an age of risk, and science-based risk communication in military settings. Another workshop will present on-line tools for risk-based decision making, and the sixth workshop will discuss risk and emergency management. The secretariat of the Society for Risk Analysis is handling workshop registrations. Links to information about the workshops, the congress, and registration are available at http://www.sra.org/events.htm#world. (posted 5/14/03)

Peer Consultation Meetings on Octabromodiphenyl Ether and Pentabromodiphenyl Ether. An expert peer consultation panel will meet on June 3-5, 2003, at the University of Cincinnati, Ohio, to discuss potential children’s health risks from exposure to the Brominated flame retardants pentabromodiphenyl ether and octabromodiphenyl ether. The panel will review health risk assessment documents submitted by Great Lakes Chemical Company that discuss whether additional scientific data are needed to characterize potential health risks to children. Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization, is convening this peer consultation under the Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP). This meeting is open to the public, and those who want to attend or to submit technical comments must register their intent by May 21. More information about the meeting, including registering on line, logistics, the assessment documents, and the panel charge, is be available on TERA's website at www.tera.org/peer/VCCEP/OctaPenta/OctaPentaWelcome.htm. (posted 5/5/03)

Mary Kay O'Connor Process Safety Center of Texas A&M University pursues a mission to improve safety in the chemical process industry. The center will host an international symposium in October that will focus on its present and future research areas and activities. Read more. (posted 4/28/03)

Hear May 1 Webcast of Committee on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation Meeting. The National Academies Institute of Medicine's Committee on Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation will meet May 1-2, 2003, in Washington, D.C., to hear about the experiences of the state and local officials and health care workers who are carrying out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's smallpox immunization campaign. The public may listen to a live webcast of the meeting's open sessions from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Eastern Daylight Time, on Thursday, May 1. The webcast link will be available on May 1 at http://national-academies.org/. Read the meeting agenda for additional information. (posted 4/23/03)

Submissions for 2003 SRA Annual Meeting Due May 15. The Society for Risk Analysis is now accepting submissions of abstracts, symposium and workshop proposals, best paper competition entries, and travel award applications for the 2003 SRA Annual Meeting, which will be held December 7-10 in Baltimore, Maryland. All submissions must be sent by May 15 via on-line forms provided at SRA's website. Read more. (posted 4/11/03)

Early Registration Deadline Approaching for First World Congress on Risk. The registration fee to attend the first World Congress on Risk will increase by $75 (US) after May 1, 2003. On-line registration is available for the congress, which will be held June 22-25, 2003, at the Sheraton Brussels Hotel and Towers, Belgium. Although the call for mini-symposium proposals and travel stipend applications is closed, a call for proposals to organize a poster collection or to present an individual poster continues indefinitely. Co-sponsored by the Society for Risk Analysis and other risk-related professional societies and organizations, this first congress in a world risk congress series will focus on "Risk and Governance." Click here for more information. (posted 9/20/02; updated 4/10/03)

Recent Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Publication Examines Methods of Valuing Health. The public health community uses two metrics in calculating the value of improvements in health: Quality-Adjusted Life Years, or QALYs, and Willingness to Pay, or WTP. Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Associate Professor of Economics and Decision Sciences James K. Hammitt explains how QALYs and WTP differ and how to choose between them in the March 2003 issue of the center's Risk in Perspective. Read the full text of "Valuing Health: Quality-Adjusted Life Years or Willingness to Pay?" (PDF file). (posted 4/9/03)

Weekly Commentator Questions Legitimacy of Human Space Exploration Risk. In this month's weekly on-line commentary, "Healing Our World," published by Environment News Service, author Jackie Alan Giuliano examines the on-going investigation of the Space Shuttle Columbia tragedy from his perspective of some 20 years working in the U.S. space program, mostly on robotic space explorers. His questions include "Is the human space exploration program worth the risk to lives, especially considering that the risk is often caused by political schemes, poorly funded programs, managers who have been promoted in spite of mediocre performance in their careers, and scientists who are trained to remove human experience from the analysis?" Read "The Blindness of Science," Part One and Part Two. (posted 3/17/03)

U.S. "Do Not Call" Registry To Be Functioning by September 2003. President George Bush has signed an appropriations bill into law that will provide funding for the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to develop a "Do Not Call" registry, which will protect American consumers from receiving unwanted telephone calls from many telemarketers. For more information, read the FTC chairman's statement regarding this news and visit the "Do Not Call" Registry website. (posted 2/24/03)

U.S. EPA Announces 2003 IRIS Agenda and Request for Information. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) prepared and maintains the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS), an electronic data base containing information on human health effects that may result from exposure to various chemicals in the environment. Annually EPA announces its IRIS agenda in the Federal Register and calls for scientific information from the public on the selected chemical substances. The announcement for 2003, published on February 5 [see 68 FR 5870], includes a list of the IRIS assessments completed in FY 2002 and early FY 2003, a list of IRIS assessments in progress that the agency expects to complete in FY 2003-2005, an update on EPA's IRIS "needs assessment" report, an announcement of a stakeholder workshop to be held March 4 (see RiskWorld's calendar) on EPA's criteria for selecting chemical substances for the annual agenda, a list of the new assessments beginning in FY 2003, and instructions to the public for submitting scientific information to EPA that is pertinent to the development of IRIS assessments. For more information on the IRIS program, contact Amy Mills, Program Director, National Center for Environmental Assessment, (mail code 8601D), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC 20460, or call (202) 564-3204, or send electronic mail inquiries to mills.amy@epa.gov. For general questions about access to IRIS or the content of IRIS, please call the IRIS Hotline at (301) 345- 2870, or send electronic mail inquiries to hotline.iris@epa.gov. (posted 2/11/03)

Public May Hear Webcast of Smallpox Vaccination Program Implementation Committee Meeting on February 13. The National Academies' Institute of Medicine committee that is providing guidance to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on the national smallpox vaccination program implementation will hold its second meeting on February 13-14, 2003, in Washington, D.C. Officials from CDC, state health departments, and the U.S. Department of Defense will report on the initial implementation of the program's phase one, in which some states began giving smallpox vaccinations last January, and will discuss preparations for phase two. The link to a webcast of the session on February 13, from 9:00 AM to 5:45 PM, EST, will be available at http://www.nationalacademies.org/ before the session begins. (posted 2/10/03)

Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment Announces Vinylidene Chloride Peer Consultation Meeting. Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) has announced that the first Voluntary Children’s Chemical Evaluation Program (VCCEP) peer consultation meeting will be held January 29-30, 2003, at the University of Cincinnati. VCCEP is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Chemical Right-to-Know Initiative. Observers may submit comments in writing by January 17, 2003. Late registrations will be considered. Read more. (posted 1/15/03)

National Academies To Webcast Public Forum on Use of Third Party Human Toxicity Data. In a public forum on Wednesday, January 8, 2003, the National Academies will examine the complex scientific and ethical issues that might arise if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decided to use "third-party" studies--conducted in other countries or by private companies without federal money or support--that intentionally dose human subjects with toxic substances to measure the effects. Currently EPA's rules for the protection of human research participants prohibit the agency from considering these studies in its regulatory decision making. Those who cannot attend the forum, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, in the National Academies auditorium, Washington, D.C., may participate by listening to the forum's webcast and submitting questions via e-mail (see webcast program guide). The webcast link will be available at http://national-academies.org/ before the forum begins. (posted 1/3/03)

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