2002 News Archives

OECD Publishes Draft Report on Biotechnology for Infectious Diseases Conference. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has published on line a draft report representing the rapporteurs' personal interpretation of the OECD Conference on Biotechnology for Infectious Diseases: Addressing the Global Needs, which was held October 7-9, 2002, in Lisbon, Portugal. The report's introduction states that infectious disease is a global concern, with an annual 17 million deaths from infectious diseases and 40 million people infected with HIV worldwide, and that there is international interest in addressing the issues. For example, with the globalization of trade and travel, the risks of infectious disease extend beyond disseminating infection from affected countries and pose a threat to global economic development and security. The final rapporteurs' report will be available by the end of October 2002. Read the draft report (PDF version). (posted 10/17/02)

Fire Protection Engineers To Hold Fire Risk Assessment and Management Symposium Preceding 2002 SRA Annual Meeting. The Society of Fire Protection Engineers will hold its winter symposium--Fire Risk Assessment and Management: Addressing the Spectrum from Expected to Extreme Events--on December 5-6, 2002, at the Astor Crowne Plaza Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Society for Risk Analysis is cosponsoring the symposium, which will precede the 2002 SRA Annual Meeting, beginning December 8 at the New Orleans Marriott Hotel. Advance symposium registration ends November 8, and hotel reservations should be made by November 4 to ensure group rates. More information and on-line registration are available here, or read the flyer (PDF version). (posted 10/11/02)

Hear Webcast of Two-day Institute of Medicine Annual Meeting. The Institute of Medicine will Webcast the public sessions of its 2002 annual meeting this Monday and Tuesday, October 14-15. The Monday sessions, which will open at 8:30 AM (EDT), will focus on "Genomics and the Future of Health and Society" (see agenda). The Tuesday sessions, beginning at 9:20 AM (EDT), will address "Organizational Change and Leadership" (see agenda). The Webcast link and a form for submitting questions to the panel will be available at the time of each event at http://nationalacademies.org/. (posted 10/11/02)

Peer Review Panel for World Trade Center Indoor Air Assessment Document To Meet October 21-22. The independent scientific peer review that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked Toxicology for Risk Excellence (TERA) to conduct for the document "Indoor Air Assessment: Selecting Contaminants of Potential Concern and Setting Health-Based Benchmarks" will be held October 21-22, 2002, in New York City. The World Trade Center Indoor Air Taskforce Working Group's Contaminants of Potential Concern (COPC) Committee developed the document, which includes a list of pollutants that could be of concern in the indoor environment in lower Manhattan and the health-based benchmarks or clearance levels for these contaminants. Links to the document and references, a registration form for those who would like to observe the meeting and provide technical comments about the document, the meeting logistics, and a list of the peer review panelists are available at http://www.tera.org/peer/WTC/welcome.htm. For more information, contact Joan Dollarhide of TERA at telephone 502-857-2707. (posted 10/7/02)

Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology Provides Archives of Recent Conference Webcasts. The archived audio Webcasts of a two-day workshop on the implications of  genetically engineered animals and a one-day event on animal cloning and the production of food products, which were held September 24-26, 2002, at the Adolphus Hotel, in Dallas, Texas, are available at the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology Web site. The initiative sponsored the workshop and cosponsored the one-day event with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Listen to the archived Webcasts, or see the conference Web page for more information. (posted 9/27/02)

First World Congress on Risk To Be Held in 2003. The first World Congress on Risk will be held on June 22-25, 2003, at the Sheraton Brussels Hotel and Towers, Belgium. Co-sponsored by the Society for Risk Analysis and other risk-related professional societies and organizations, this first of  a series of world risk congresses will focus on "Risk and Governance." Participants may submit proposals by November 22, 2002, for mini-symposia that will be held concurrently in afternoon sessions and for a limited number of poster sessions. Read more. (posted 9/20/02)

BioDefense Mobilization Conference Advance Registration Rates End Monday. Advance registration fee rates end Monday, September 23, for the BioDefense Mobilization Conference and Exhibition, to be held on October 22-24, 2002, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The speakers will include many of the nation's leading authorities on bioterrorism and how to prevent or counter it. Pre-conference workshops that focus on biotechnology and bioterrorism basics will be available on October 21. Registrants may submit abstracts for poster presentations until October 15. Read more in RiskWorld's Upcoming Risk Events and Calls for Risk Papers. (posted 8/30/02, updated 9/19/02)

First Annual Post-Deployment Care Conference on Risk Communication and Terrorism To Begin September 9. While the nation observes the first anniversary of September 11, 2001, nearly two hundred civilian, federal government and military healthcare providers, scholars, and patients will be discussing lessons learned about patient-provider communication during wartime and other crises and will be devising a proactive strategy that those in the healthcare community can use to deliver timely, accurate, and consistent information about terrorism and complex biological and environmental threats. The conference "Risk Communication and Terrorism: New Clinical Approaches" will be held September 9, 2002, at the Hilton Alexandria Mark Conference Center in Alexandria, Virginia. For more information, visit the conference Web site or read an interview with LTC Charles Engel Jr., M.D., M.P.H., conference co-chairman. Also read the news release. (posted 9/5/02)

Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology Hosts On-line Discussion Forum on "Barnyard Biotech: Panacea or Pandora's Box?" On Thursday, September 5, at 12 noon EST, Michael Fernandez of the Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology and John Matheson of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Center for Veterinary Medicine participated in an on-line discussion forum and  answered questions about the genetic engineering of animals and animal cloning. To read the questions and comments submitted during the discussion, click here. (posted 9/4/02; updated 9/5/02)

2003 Conference To Highlight Mathematical Geology's Role in Geological Hazards Analysis, Modeling. The International Association for Mathematical Geology will hold its next annual conference, IAMG 2003, on September 7-12, 2003, in Portsmouth, United Kingdom. The conference will highlight the role that mathematical geology plays in the analysis, modeling, and simulation of geological hazards but is also proposing symposia and workshops to attract state-of-the-art contributions from across the full range of mathematical geology, such as a geoscience risk analysis and quantitative risk assessment techniques. Read more. (posted 8/28/02)

United Nations Provides On-line Coverage of Johannesburg Summit. Internet users around the world can follow on line the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa, at http://www.un.org/events/wssd/. The Web site is providing live video Webcasts, archived Webcasts in English and in the original language, news accounts, press releases, photos, government officials' statements, official documents, and other information related to the 10-day global gathering, August 26 through September 4. Some 100 world leaders expected to attend the summit are joining thousands of nongovernmental organizations, business leaders, and community activists to negotiate global needs such as clean water, proper sanitation, modern energy services, and a healthy environment. Links to summit information are also available at http://www.johannesburgsummit.org/. (posted 8/26/02)

U.S. Government-Sponsored Web Sites Provide Information on West Nile Virus. The National Pesticide Information Center, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) provide topical Web pages on the West Nile virus (WNV). A cooperative effort of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Oregon State University that provides objective, science-based information on pesticides, NPIC has developed its "West Nile Virus Resource Guide" (http://npic.orst.edu/wnv/) as a source of available information on WNV and pesticide-related topics. The CDC's Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases WNV Web page (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dvbid/westnile/) provides basic information, with links to current case counts and to state and local government sites for reporting dead birds. NIOSH's WNV topic page (http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/westnile/) provides information that is relevant to occupational safety and health in its overview of WNV, answers frequently asked questions, and links to other WNV information Web sites. (posted 8/23/02)

EPA Extends Comment Period on Organophosphate Cumulative Risk Assessment. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced a second extension for the comment period on the revised cumulative risk assessment for the organophosphate pesticides, which EPA released in June. The comment period is now extended until September 9, 2002. The initial comment period, which was announced in the Federal Register on June 20 and was scheduled to close on July 22, was first extended until August 21. Instructions on submitting comments are available in the June 20 notice (click here). Comments must refer to docket control number OPP-2002-0230. The revised cumulative risk assessment documents are available at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/cumulative/rra-op/. The new extension will be announced in the Federal Register as soon as possible. (posted 8/21/02)

Carnegie Mellon Center Offers Security Risk Evaluation Training Workshops. Carnegie Mellon University's CERT® Coordination Center is offering training in August and November 2002 for interdisciplinary analysis teams that will lead and perform security risk evaluations for large organizations using the Operationally Critical Threat, Asset, and Vulnerability Evaluation^SM (OCTAVE) method. Read more. (posted 8/19/02)

U.S. EPA Taps TERA To Conduct Peer Review of World Trade Center Taskforce Committee Document - TERA Calls for Peer Review Panel Nominations. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has asked non-profit corporation Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) to conduct an independent, scientific peer review of a document with a list of pollutants that could be of concern in the indoor environment in lower Manhattan, the location of the World Trade Center disaster on September 11, 2001. The World Trade Center Indoor Air Taskforce Working Group's Contaminants of Potential Concern Committee developed the document, which also lists health-based benchmarks or clearance levels for the contaminants. TERA will select the eight to 10 peer review panel members, who will meet in New York City, tentatively in October, to discuss and to provide their opinions regarding the scientific basis for the conclusions and recommendations made in the document.

TERA is asking interested parties to suggest recognized scientific experts with technical knowledge in areas such as asbestos/fibrous glass, risk assessment, exposure evaluation, indoor chemical sampling techniques, and industrial hygiene/occupational exposure limits, whom TERA will consider in selecting the scientists to sit on the peer review panel. For more information on submitting nominations for the peer review panel, on TERA's peer review process and conflict of interest policy, and on the document to be reviewed, see http://www.tera.org/peer/WTC/nominations.htm. (posted 8/16/02)

OECD Releases Final Update File for Health Data 2002. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development released today its second, and final, Internet update file for OECD Health Data 2002, an essential tool for health researchers and policy advisors that offers the most comprehensive source of comparable statistics on health and health systems across OECD countries. This second Internet update includes all of the data of the first Internet update, which was released on June 18. The database is also for sale on CD-ROM in single-user and network versions for profit and non-profit organizations. For links to download or to order the database and for more information, go to its homepage. (posted 8/9/02)

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs Administrator John Graham To Speak at Risk Assessment Symposium.  The Honorable John D. Graham, administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, in Washington, D.C., will speak on "Quality Regulation: The Pivotal Role of Science" at a risk assessment symposium on September 26-28, 2002, preceding the 17th Annual Professional Conference on Industrial Hygiene, September 28-October 1, 2002. The symposium, which will address evolving risk assessment issues important to practicing, multi-functional industrial hygienists, and the conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Cincinnati, Ohio. Reduced registration fees are available through August 19. For more information, visit the symposium Web site. (posted 8/8/02)

NAS Report Answers Questions Regarding Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. The National Academy of Sciences will release a report in a press conference on Wednesday, July 31, 2002, that responds to three major technical concerns that emerged when the U.S. Senate withheld ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty in 1999. The report answers the following questions: how could the United States maintain confidence in the safety and reliability of its nuclear stockpile without nuclear testing, how could treaty compliance be effectively monitored, and could U.S. adversaries advance their nuclear weapons capabilities under the treaty? The link to a live audio Webcast of the press conference, which will begin at 11:00 AM, EDT, will be available at http://national-academies.org/. (posted 7/30/02)

The South Pacific Applied Geoscience Commission is hosting  the Pacific Public Safety and Risk Management Conference in Fiji on May 5-7, 2003. The primary aim of this conference is to expand multidisciplinary and inter-sectoral partnerships to strengthen existing community safety and sustainability in Pacific Island nations. See link. (posted 7/26/02)

Two Workshops on Thermal Processing will be held in Dublin, California, in October 2002. The workshops, entitled "Thermal Process Development" and "Thermal Processing Deviations," are presented by The National Food Processors Association. (posted 7/26/02)

BioDefense Conference Issues Call for Presentations. BioDefense Mobilization Conference & Exhibition, which will be held October 22-24, 2002, at the Loews Hotel, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, is expected to be one of the most comprehensive events ever presented on bioterrorism. The conference has called for the submission of abstracts by August 15, 2002. Read more about the conference and the call for abstracts. (posted 7/25/02)

Contaminated Soils, Sediments, and Water Conference To Offer Risk Assessment Workshop. A workshop on recent improvements in the practice of risk assessment is among ten workshops that the 18th Annual International Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments, and Water, will offer October 21-24, 2002, at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Dennis Paustenbach of Exponent, who is organizing the workshop, will refer to chapters of a book he has edited, Human and Ecological Risk Assessment: Theory and Practice, and those attending his workshop will receive a copy. Read more about the conference at http://www.umasssoils.com/. (posted 7/25/02)

Society for Risk Analysis-Europe Annual Meeting Program Available On Line. The Society for Risk Analysis-Europe has published on line its 2002 annual meeting final program, which includes the meeting agenda, the abstracts, and author and key-word indices (see the PDF file). An outline for a training workshop about "On-line Tools for Risk-based Decision Making," which Risk Assessment Information System (RAIS) Coordinator Fred Dolislager will present to a limited number of participants on the meeting's opening day, is also available on line (see the PDF file). The meeting will be held July 21-24, 2002, at Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany. (posted 7/19/02)

University of Michigan Business School Faculty Members Offer Advice on Corporate Governance. A University of Michigan News and Information Services tip sheet offers comments on corporate governance issues from six members of the university's business school faculty. Their advice ranges from mandating a rotation of auditors every three years for all major publicly traded companies to providing economic incentives to firms to improve their corporate governance. Read the full advisory. (posted 7/18/02)

BioSecurity 2002, the first global biosecurity conference, will be held November 18-22, 2002, at the MGM Grand Conference Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Presented by Harvard Medical International and Harvard School of Public Health, this international scientific and educational conference will provide a forum for senior government officials, scientists, researchers, physicians, public health and hospital officials, nurses, and first responders to prepare for and to learn how to control bioterrorism threats. For more information and to register, visit the conference Web site or call 888-882-8971. (posted 7/18/02)

U.S. Comptroller General Testifies Before Congressional Select Committee for Homeland Security That Proposed Department of Homeland Security Must Improve Government's Risk Management Performance. Today the U.S. House of Representatives Select Committee on Homeland Security heard views regarding the president's proposed Homeland Security Department from nine panels, consisting of the chairmen and ranking members from the standing committees of jurisdiction, and one panel with U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. Walker cited two major issues for Congress to consider in  creating a new cabinet department on homeland security that would provide benefits of risk reduction and improve the country's risk management systems. His full testimony (PDF file) is available at the United States General Accounting Office Web site. (posted 7/17/02)

New European Union Chemicals Policy: Key Elements of the New Legislation - The View of Environmental NGOs, a position paper released jointly by European Environmental Bureau and World Wildlife Federation and supported by Friends of the Earth Europe, presents eight key elements for the protection of human health and the environment that environmental NGOs consider must be part of the new European Union chemical legislation. The draft legislation will be released in autumn 2002 (see background at the European Commission Enterprise Chemicals Unit Web site). Read the full paper (PDF file). (posted 7/12/02)

Africa Environment Outlook, a ground-breaking United Nations Environment Programme report, presents Africa's hard facts--sharp increases in air and water pollution, land degradation, droughts, and wildlife losses--and urgent tough choices to deliver environmentally-friendly development for its citizens. Read the full report on line. (posted 7/12/02)

Irradiation: A Significant Food Safety Tool. Irradiation specialists from the Food Processors Association will facilitate this workshop in the Chicago, Illinois, area on September 24-26, 2002. See link. (posted 7/10/02)

The World Summit on Sustainable Development will bring together today's leaders to adopt concrete steps and to identify quantifiable targets for better implementing Agenda 21, a global plan of action for sustainable development that was adopted at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. The summit will be held in the Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 26-September 4, 2002. See link. (posted 7/9/02)

XIV International Aids Conference, a major biennial event on HIV/AIDS on July 7-12, 2002, in Barcelona, Spain, is bringing together some 15,000 scientists, activists, medical practitioners, politicians, non-governmental organizations, and international agencies to share best practices and review latest developments in the fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic. See the conference Web site for more information and for daily news reports of the conference. (posted 7/9/02)

Nation Plans First Conference on Communicating Risks from Terrorism and War.  Communicating health risks from terrorist attacks and war is the focus of a two-day conference planned by the U.S. Department of Defense on September 9-11, 2002, in Alexandria, Virginia. Described as the “first-ever” such conference for the nation, the event is expected to feature U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as the keynote speaker. See news brief.. (posted 7/5/02)

Paper Abstracts on Risks in an Interconnected World Now Online.  Approximately 370 abstracts from papers presented at the Society for Risk Analysis’ 2001 Annual Meeting are now available online in RiskWorld. With the theme of "Risk Analysis in an Interconnected World," the meeting’s papers covered topics such as the emergence of computer viruses, food and microbial risks, climate variability, contagious diseases, and children’s risks. See menu page. (posted 7/5/02)

Experts Selected for Pilot Study of Chemical Risks to Children.  Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA), a non-profit scientific organization, has announced its selection of a core panel of scientific experts who will review 20 chemical risk assessments developed by industry sponsors under the Voluntary Children's Chemical Evaluation Program pilot study, which is part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Chemical Right-To-Know Initiative. See news brief. (posted 7/5/02)

Europe Tightens Corporate Environmental Accounting Rules.  The European Commission hopes to help investors better assess the impact of environmental issues on a company's performance through its new guidelines for corporate financial reporting on environmental costs and liabilities. See article. (posted 7/5/02)

Shipping Risks from Piracy Increasing in the Malacca Strait.  The report “Piracy Attacks in the Malacca Strait” by Alex Dali of ATLAS Service Partners' Risk Management Division in Asia discusses the risks that some 200 ships per day face as they pass through the Malacca Strait, the second busiest commercial shipping lane in the world. Read the full report (PDF file) published in RiskWorld. (posted 7/5/02)

RiskWorld Named as a Top Risk Management Resource.  The American Institute of Certified Public Accountants highlighted RiskWorld as a resource on risk management in its July 2002 issue of the Journal of Accountancy, noting RiskWorld's archive of abstracts, reports, and news articles.  The organization's web site is located at www.aicpa.org. (posted 7/5/02)

U.S. Army Research Program Seeking Applicants. The Research Participation Program for the U.S. Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine, located near Baltimore, Maryland, provides opportunities to participate in its ongoing applied research and development projects. The program is seeking candidates for a toxicology/neurotoxicity research project and a health risk assessment research project. Read more. (posted 7/3/02)

Encyclopedia of Financial Engineering and Risk Management, a two-volume reference work edited by Peter Moles of the University of Edinburgh Management School, will be published in August 2003 by Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, who are seeking authors for several of the proposed 800 entries that remain unassigned. The deadline for submissions is October 1 (or later by special arrangement). Read more. (posted 6/21/02.)

Risk Analysis Summer School will provide graduate students (or recent graduates) and professionals an opportunity to study the basic principles of risk analysis and advanced topics in more detail at Roger Williams University in Bristol, Rhode Island, on August 3-15, 2003. Read more. (posted 6/19/02)

The A.R.T. of Risk Management, a new book by Christopher L. Culp of CP Risk Management LLC and University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, examines the alternative risk transfer (ART) products that are increasing as capital and insurance markets converge and how an understanding of risk management in a corporate finance context and the ability to use ART to control risk and raise new capital are becoming necessities in today’s business world. Read more. (posted 6/13/02)

Evaluating the Risk to Workers and the Public from Styrene Exposure, the May 2002 issue of Harvard Center for Risk Analysis (HCRA) newsletter Risk in Perspective, presents the findings of an independent panel's investigations of styrene's potential health effects. The panel could not rule out styrene's carcinogenicity in humans but found that styrene exposure levels among the general population and most workers are very low. Read the full newsletter (PDF file). (posted 8/19/02, released May 2002)

Abstracts for the 13th Annual West Coast Conference on Contaminated Soils, Sediments, and Water, which will be held March 17-20, 2003, in San Diego, California, must be submitted by July 15, 2002. Read more. (posted 5/24/02)

The Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 23rd Annual Meeting in North America, which will convene in Salt Lake City, Utah, on November 16-20, 2002, will focus on the role of science in establishing management objectives and environmental program strategies. Read more. (posted 5/13/02)

EPA Reveals U.S. Publicly Traded Corporations Hide Billions in Environmental Debt. While the Enron Corporation accounting scandal involves hundreds of millions of dollars of debt hidden illegally from shareholders, freelance writer Donald Sutherland points out that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has disclosed that hiding billions of dollars in environmental financial debt is a common practice of many publicly traded corporations. Read his news report published in RiskWorld. (April 9, 2002.)

UK Project Management Consultant Addresses Poor Indoor Air Quality. Allan Britton, a project management consultant in Darlington, United Kingdom, sees indoor air quality as everyone's right under the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948. He is concerned, however, that more can and must be done to resolve the problems associated with poor indoor air quality and addresses those issues in his article "Human Rights and Indoor Air Quality," which is published in RiskWorld. (February 11, 2002.)

Harvard Center for Risk Analysis Searches for New Director. The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis is searching for a director to succeed its founding director, John D. Graham, who left in 2001 to serve in President George W. Bush's administration as the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs administrator in the Office of Management and Budget (for background, see "John Graham Nomination" and RiskWorld news articles starting in May 2001). The January 2002 issue of Risk in Perspective, the center's newsletter, (Adobe PDF file) includes a job description of the new director and an overview of the center's history, accomplishments, and plans for the future. (January 14, 2002.)

National Research Council Provides On-line Access to Public Workshop on Emerging Animal Diseases. A webcast of the National Research Council one-day workshop "Emerging Animal Diseases: Global Markets, Global Safety" on Tuesday, January 15, 2002, from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM (Eastern Standard Time), will provide the public an opportunity to hear federal and state officials, veterinarians, food industry representatives, visiting diplomats, and farmers address the concern about the vulnerability of American livestock that recent outbreaks of animal diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease have raised. The webcast link will be available the day of the workshop at http://national-academies.org/. See the webcast program guide for more information. (Updated January 14, 2002.)

Back to RiskWorld's homepage

Copyright © 1999-2003 by Tec-Com Inc.
Last modified January 3, 2003.

This web site was designed and is maintained by Tec-Com Inc.

Go to Amazon.com and search for books on risk.