1999 News Archives

Below is a listing of RiskWorld's 1999 news articles. For RiskWorld's most recent news coverage, see the homepage.  Contact: Amy Charlene Reed,  senior editor,  reed@tec-com.com.

1999

Risk Policy Fellowship Program Open to Risk Professionals.  Postdoctoral to midcareer scientists and engineers are invited to apply for the Risk Policy Fellowship Program, which offers risk professionals the opportunity to spend one year in Washington, D.C., working in areas related to risk policy at the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  Although specific assignments will vary, participants will advise on hazard identification and probability of occurrence of unwanted events, engage in development of methods for assessing risk, provide scientific expertise in monitoring and evaluation, and support critical analysis for policy review. The American Association for the Advancement of Science, which sponsors the program, is accepting applications through January 15, 2000.  For more information, visit the fellowship’s web site at http://fellowships.aaas.org or by sending an e-mail to science_policy@aaas.org. (Posted December 14, 1999.)

Hearing on Bioengineered Food Draws Demonstrators from Both Sides. The New York Times reported that the Food and Drug Administration’s last of three public hearings on bioengineered foods drew demonstrators on both sides of the issue.  At the hearing held on December 13 in Oakland, California, a group of about 30 professors and graduate students from the University of California rallied in support of the use of genetic engineering in food while consumer activists protested in opposition.  The Food and Drug Administration held the series of public hearings to inform consumers about its biotechnology regulations and to seek comments on whether its rules should be changed.  For the full article (and links to previous articles on the subject), see http://www.nytimes.com/library/national/science/health/121499hth-gm-food.html. (Posted December 14, 1999.)  

FDA Posts Public Comments on Bioengineered Food On-line. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has posted the full text of public comments received at its Nov. 18 public hearing on bioengineered foods on the Internet.  The Nov. 18 meeting, held in Chicago, was the first of three such hearings.  Other biotechnology resources on-line at the FDA site include a brief summary of the FDA’s current policy, a transcript of the Nov. 18 hearing, an article titled “Genetic Engineering: Fast Forwarding to Future Foods,” and links to FDA centers that are involved in bioengineered food issues. See http://www.fda.gov/oc/biotech/default.htm. (Posted December 14, 1999.)

Harvard Risk Center Issues Consumer Guide to Health News. The Harvard Center for Risk Analysis has published a consumer’s guide to evaluating health news reported in the media (news such as “Two Drinks a Day Keep Stroke Away” and “Persistent Heart Burn Is a Cancer Warning Sign”).  The guide “aspires to stimulate demand on the part of consumers for high quality information and to reduce consumer tolerance of junk science, quackery, and fraud,” notes author Kimberly M. Thompson of the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis, who prepared the report with input from a steering committee headed by the center's director, John D. Graham.  Other members of the committee came from outside organizations such as the National Breast Cancer Coalition, the National Education Association, and the Chlorine Chemistry Council.  The report is available on-line at http://www.health-insight.harvard.edu/. (Posted December 14, 1999.)

Back on Line: 1997 SRA-Europe Abstracts. After the abstracts for the 1997 Annual Meeting of the Society for Risk Analysis—Europe were inadvertently deleted from a former SRA-Europe web site, the society provided RiskWorld with the printed proceedings of the meeting for scanning and reposting. This task has now been completed and the abstracts are on line again. Work has now begun on the abstracts for the 1998 meeting, for which files have been provided to RiskWorld. (Posted October 25, 1999.)

RW Commentary: When Reassurances of Airline Safety Are Not Enough. My perceived risks of flying have been heightened by a series of events over the last few days, even though logic tells me that flying is still the safest mode of travel available. But consider the following:

• In the early morning hours of last Sunday, October 31, EgyptAir 990, a Boeing 767-300ER (Extended Range) aircraft, plunged into the Atlantic Ocean shortly after taking off from Kennedy Airport, killing 217 people. This was the third such accident in recent years, following TWA Flight 800, a Boeing 747-100 that crashed July 1, 1996, killing 230 people; and Swissair Flight 111, a McDonnell-Douglas MD-11 that crashed on September 2, 1998, killing 229 people.

• On October 28, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a three-pronged rulemaking package (1,2) that includes setting new certification standards and mandatory maintenance instructions on fuel systems for newly designed aircraft and also calls for fuel tank system design reviews and mandatory maintenance on existing aircraft. The proposed regulation affects 6,000 aircraft in the current transport fleet, including all Boeing 747s and 767s and MD-11s.

• Background information accompanying the proposed regulation says the action was prompted by the determination of the National Transportation Safety Board that the center wing fuel tank of the Boeing 747 that crashed in 1996 probably exploded due to an unknown ignition source.

• The National Transportation Safety Board says that Boeing Co. had failed to inform it of a study commissioned by the Air Force 19 years ago to investigate safety flaws in the military version of Boeing 747’s (Wall Street Journal, November 1). Boeing released the report in March of this year, saying the study had been overlooked and that there was no realization on the military side that it was relevant.

• Senator Charles Grassley, chairman of the subcommittee that oversees airline disaster investigations, said that Boeing also had not brought out the fact that in 1990 a fuel tank on a Philippines Airline Boeing 737 exploded at an airport in Manila (WSJ article).

• The Boeing 767 that crashed Sunday came off the assembly line in 1989 approximately two weeks before a 767-300ER built for Austria’s Lauda Air (Knoxville News-Sentinel, November 1). That aircraft crashed in Thailand on May 26, 1991, killing 223 persons. In that case, an engine thrust reverser accidentally deployed during the plane’s climb.

• In a November 2 press release, the FAA said that they were informed last Thursday by Boeing that the insulation in the cockpit constituting part of the drip shield does not comply with FAA flammability regulations. As a result, Boeing has halted delivery of its 747, 757, 767, and 777 airplanes. Boeing and FAA are reviewing whether insulating materials on aircraft already in service need to be replaced. 

I plan to forget all these events before my next flight, which I am taking because of my fear of long automobile trips --  LSA. (Posted November 2, 1999)

HUD Gives $56 million to States to Reduce Lead Paint Risks. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo has announced the latest round of grants in the Clinton Administration’s Campaign for a Lead-Safe America, distributing $56 million among 13 states.

The campaign, which was launched in 1997 with an initial $50 million in grants, is aimed at protecting small children from inhaling or eating chipped lead-based paint. An earlier Centers for Disease report says that nearly 1 million children ages 1 to 5 have elevated blood lead levels, most of them in low-income families living in old houses whose interiors were painted with lead-based paint before it was banned in the 1970s. Exposure to lead can cause permanent damage to the nervous system and widespread health problems, including reduced intelligence and stunted growth.

Administered by state and local agencies, the grants will be used in various ways. San Diego County, California, has a typical program in which risk assessments will be conducted in 288 single-family homes and 72 multi-family units, and 1,590 children will be tested for blood lead levels. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, 50 low-income residents will be provided the opportunity to become health education trainers and blood screeners. In Mahoning County, Ohio, the goal is to reduce immediate lead hazards.

In April, Cuomo said that HUD had committed more than $500 million to lead hazard control since President Clinton took office. In February, $50 million in grants was given to state and local governments in 15 states, and another $6.3 million was distributed for local and national hazard awareness campaigns and lead hazard control research.

In addition, Cuomo last year launched a new life-saving Healthy Homes Initiative that is using TV commercials, newspaper ads, millions of brochures, and a toll-free information line (1-800-424-LEAD) to help parents protect their children from lead-based paint and other deadly hidden dangers in their homes. (Posted October 29, 1999.)

Integrated Assessment of Hypoxia in Gulf Coast Waters Completed. A large zone of coastal waters in the northern section of the Gulf of Mexico on the Louisiana/Texas continental shelf is suffering from hypoxia, a condition in which dissolved oxygen levels during the summer months are lower than those necessary to sustain most animal life (lower than 2 milligrams per liter). The zone has been larger than 4,000 square miles (10,000 square kilometers) since 1993, increasing in midsummer 1999 to 8,000 square miles (20,000 square kilometers). Recognizing the seriousness of the situation, the U.S. Congress in 1998 enacted the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (Public Law 105-383), which called for an integrated assessment of the causes and consequences of hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico.

That assessment, performed by the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Working Group under the auspices of the National Science and Technology Council’s Committee on Environment and Natural Resources, has now been completed and confirms that the hypoxia condition is caused primarily by excess nutrients delivered to those waters from the Mississippi-Atchafalaya River Basin. Dramatic increases in fertilizer nitrogen input into the basin have occurred since the 1950s, and since 1980 about 1.6 million metric tons of nitrogen have been deposited in the Gulf each year. In particular, nitrates have greatly increased as river basins drain agricultural land in Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.

As a foundation for the assessment, six teams of experts analyzed existing data and applied existing models of the watershed-Gulf system to characterize the hypoxia and  determine its ecological and economic consequences, identify the sources of the nutrient loads and how to reduce them, and evaluate the costs and benefits of reducing them. Their reports are on line.

The law also requires an action plan to reduce, mitigate, and control the hypoxia in the Gulf. The plan will be developed by the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force (EPA Office of Water). (Posted October 27, 1999.)

U.S. EPA Proposes Regulations to Protect Against Radon in Drinking Water.  As required by the 1996 Safe Drinking Water Act Amendments, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is proposing new regulations to reduce the public health risks from radon in drinking water. Based on the BEIR VI report on indoor radon exposures published in February 1998 by the National Academy of Sciences, EPA estimates that breathing radon in the indoor air of homes contributes to about 20,000 U.S. lung cancer deaths each year. A second NAS report released in September 1998 on radon in drinking water led EPA to estimate that radon in drinking water causes about 168 cancer deaths per year, of which 89% is caused by breathing radon released from the water and 11% by stomach cancer caused by drinking radon-containing water. EPA’s proposed regulations allow states to choose either to develop a program addressing all health risks from radon in indoor air (called a multimedia mitigation [MMM] program) or a program focusing only on water systems. States choosing an MMM program must reduce radon levels in drinking water to 4,000 picoCuries per liter (pCi/L). States focusing on individual water systems must reduce radon levels in water systems to 300 pCi/L or develop individual local MMM programs. EPA is soliciting formal comment by publishing the proposed regulation in the Federal Register for a 60-day review. (Posted October 22, 1999.)  

The GE Wars Intensify.  An October 18 press release from the American Phytopathological Society, an organization dedicated to the study and control of plant disease, announced that the “recent approval and commercial release of genetically modified, insect-resistant corn hybrids (Bt corn)” provides an innovative technology for discouraging the buildup of corn mycotoxins, which are “potentially dangerous human and animal toxins produced by fungi that cause plant disease.” The press release also addresses controversy over the production of Bt corn, saying that consideration should be given to “food safety and environmental implications of Bt corn when making decisions about its use.”

This announcement follows a meeting during the week of October 4 at the Blue Mountain Center in upstate New York where, according to the Wall Street Journal (October 12, 1999), 22 participants from 12 countries met “to plot the first all-out assault on the U.S. biotech-food industry.” The attendees included activists, attorneys, and scientists who have successfully conducted campaigns against genetically modified foods in continental Europe and the U.K. Among other topics, the WSJ says that the possibility of massive litigation from people suffering from genetic pollution of crops was discussed. A representative from India is quoted as saying “The problems of the entire world have been created in the U.S., so we have to bring these issues back home.”

Prominent at the meeting was a representative from Greenpeace, the organization most instrumental in convincing the U.S. Gerber division of  Swiss-based Novartis AG to cease using genetically modified ingredients in its baby food. Greenpeace has been extremely active in campaigns against genetically engineered (GE) foods, and also in covering GE news on its web site. In two papers (1,2) published prior to the United Nations sponsored meetings on a Biosafety Protocol (Vienna, September 15-19), Greenpeace demanded that the participants adhere to the Precautionary Principle and cited examples of how countries are using the principle to ban GE crops, particularly Bt corn. Norway, Austria, and Luxembourg have applied the principle to ban Novartis’ Bt corn because of the (potential) impacts of the pesticide gene on biodiversity and the impacts of the antibiotic resistance gene on human health. They reported that scientific findings show that the Monarch butterfly is at risk of increased mortality from feeding off the pollen of genetically engineered corn. (The Biosafety Protocol participants are to meet again in January 2000.)

More recently, Greenpeace has announced its success in pressuring the giant Aldi supermarket chain in Germany into declaring that it will not use genetic engineering in its brand-name foods; moreover, the company will seek the same commitment from its suppliers. Six other companies controlling over three-fourths of the German food market had already made similar promises. Europe’s leading dry dog food producer, Royhal Canin, has also agreed not to include genetically modified ingredients in its products.

Greenpeace predicts that the next international confrontations will occur in November 1999 at the World Trade Organization meeting in Seattle, Washington (USA), where grain-exporting countries will push for GE decisions to be treated as trade disputes. France’s president Jacques Chirac says that France and the European Union will oppose the sale of genetically modified foods (and hormone treated beef) at the global trade summit. He is also recommending that an impartial scientific body be set up within the United Nations to assess the risks of GE foods, hormones, and other agricultural issues. (Posted October 19, 1999.)  

Rhode Island Sues Lead Paint Companies. Turning to a Charleston, South Carolina, law firm that has successfully sued the asbestos and tobacco industries, Rhode Island attorney general Sheldon Whitehouse announced on October 12 that his state was suing eight paint companies for marketing lead-based interior paints before they stopped voluntarily in the 1950s. The law firm (Ness, Motley, Loadholt, Richardson & Poole) is financing the suit for 17% of any award.

The defendants are American Cyanamid, Atlantic Richfield, E.I. duPont, O’Brien Corp., Glidden, NL Industries, SCM Chemicals, and Sherwin Williams, together with Lead Industries Association Inc. (a trade group).

The suit seeks funds to “treat sick children, clean up their houses and educate the public about the dangers of lead paint.” A recent report from the state’s Health Department says that 20 to 30% of Rhode Island kindergartners have elevated lead levels, which is attributed to their exposure to window-sill paint chips that they inhale or eat. The suit must prove the paint companies knew they were marketing a dangerous product and kept it secret. Whitehouse cites industry memos dating back to the 1930s that discuss the dangers of lead poisoning being mainly a problem in the slums.  

A spokesman for the lead industry said similar claims alleging an industry-wide conspiracy have been rejected by courts in the past. Another said that it was the paint industry itself that discovered and publicized the dangers of lead paint. (Report based on stories in The Providence Journal, October 14, and The Wall Street Journal, October 13.) (Posted October 15, 1999.)

Six Billion and Growing—Fast. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) projected that the world’s six billionth person would be born on Tuesday, October 12, 1999. At the beginning of the century the global population was only 1.5 billion, by 1960 it had doubled to 3 billion, by 1974 to 4 billion, by 1987 to 5 billion, and now in 1999 to 6 billion.

Currently, 90% of the 356,000 babies born each day are raised in developing countries, where many people lack access to basic sanitation, clean water, adequate housing, and modern health services. Mary Banotti, Irish representative to the European Parliament and UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, said the issues of population and development are inextricably linked and that the international community could not progress with development aims if men and women were not empowered to have control over their own lives. Too many people are hampered from using contraceptions by legal and/or religious bans or by the lack of resources. Ms. Banotti pointed out that contraception was made legal in her own country of Ireland only 15 years ago, and it has already resulted in smaller families, economic prosperity, and better educated young people. (Story based on United Nations press releases, October 11 and 12, 1999.) (Posted October 13, 1999.)

Trucking Industry Increasingly Dangerous, Says NTS Board Chairman.  Speaking at the Second International Truck and Bus Safety Symposium on October 8, Chairman Jim Hall of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said the American people need to know that “the most dangerous thing they do today is get on the highway.” In 1998, 5,374 people died in the United States from truck-related crashes. The production of large trucks has doubled in the past 10 years and is expected to double again in the next 10 years because of increasing economic pressures to meet consumers’ demands. The entire industry should be held accountable, Hall said, including shippers and brokers who set unrealistic demands for delivery of goods. He added that states should have uniform accident reporting procedures, and the federal government should have a national registry of commercial drivers’ licenses, with safety violations recorded. He faulted the Department of Transportation (DOT) for not requiring on-board recording devices, which are used in Europe to record speed, driving time, and use of brakes; for not requiring already available rollover alert and collision systems and electronic brakes; and for not changing its 62-year-old regulations on hours that truckers can drive (16 hours per day are allowed). He also challenged state governments to take charge in creating their own safety regulations, pointing out that in-state operations account for 40% of trucks on the road. (Based on article in Knoxville News-Sentinel, October 9, 1999.) (Posted October 13, 1999.)

Floods in Mexico and Central America Causing Damage, Loss of Life. Continued reports from southern and central Mexico say that over 600 people may have been killed in floods last week, many of them buried alive in mud slides. More than 253,000 were affected by the floods, with some 70,000 being housed in shelters. President Ernesto Zedillo called it Mexico’s worst disaster in this decade and promised the government would help rebuild houses. But many of the victims are blaming the government for their plight, saying the state-owned low-income project homes that collapsed should never have been built where they were and that authorities failed to build drainage projects needed to avoid flooding. In the latest mud slide report, a deforested mountainside collapsed and killed nearly all of the inhabitants of the remote village of Acalana in the valley below. In another area, a mud slide formed a river dam, creating a lake that is threatening trapped residents.

In Central America, heavy rainfalls throughout recent weeks have killed over 70 people and displaced more than 100,000, threatening a food crisis in the region with crop losses estimated at $40 million. This follows the devastating damage to the region caused nearly a year ago by Hurricane Mitch. The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) is distributing food to 39,000 people in Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador, but they are unable to reach those in rural areas because virtually all secondary roads have been wiped out. (Story based on reports in Knoxville News-Sentinel, USA TODAY, and UN newservice.) (Posted October 13, 1999.)

Japanese Workers’ Radiation Doses Were Massive. In an interview published in a local Knoxville, Tennessee, newspaper (The Knoxville News-Sentinel) yesterday (October 8), Director Robert Ricks of REACTS (Radiation Emergency Assistance Center/Training Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee) says that two of the workers exposed to radiation in the nuclear accident in Japan last Thursday, September 30, received whole-body doses exceeding 1,000 rads, with one approaching 1,700 rads. To his knowledge, no one has ever recovered from such massive doses. Another worker received a dose of about 300 rads, which would induce acute radiation sickness. The remainder of those exposed, which now numbers 49, are not likely to suffer any near-term medical consequences. While the REACTS team has been kept apprised of the developments in Japan, their assistance has not been requested by that country. Ricks says that Japan has the technology and expertise to deal with the situation. REACTS will continue to monitor the situation, however, to learn as much as possible for its world-wide nuclear accident registry. (Posted October 9, 1999.)

California Holding Public Workshops on Environmental Challenges. The California Environmental Protection Agency’s (Cal/EPA) Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will be convening two one-day public workshops as part of its ongoing efforts to elicit and collect ideas about future environmental challenges that may confront environmental protection programs in the next 5 to 10 years. The workshops, both scheduled from 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM, will be held November 1 in the Elihu Harris Building in Oakland and November 2 in the Van Nuys State Building in Van Nuys. To register or obtain further information about the workshops, visit the OEHHA web site or call Carmen Milanes at (916) 323-4153. (Posted October 9, 1999.)

Global Warming Notes. (1) A USA Today story on October 7 reported that a coalition of environmental groups, including the Union of Concerned Scientists, will spend $8 million during the next month in a TV campaign on 200 stations across the country to call attention to global warming. Print and radio ads will also be run. (2) A news item in the Knoxville News-Sentinel on October 8 reported that the latest edition of the journal Science includes an article by a team of scientists from the University of Washington who say that the massive West Antarctic ice sheet may indeed be headed for a complete meltdown. The cause, they say, is not global warming but a process that was triggered approximately 10,000 years ago along the boundary between floating ice and ice thick enough to reach the sea floor. Presumably the process will continue for many thousands of years into the future. (Posted October 9, 1999.)

Use Internet to Reduce Gap Between Global Haves and Have Nots. Let’s quit spending money on studies of the poor, says former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (Wall Street Journal, Oct. 4), and instead use the money to work from the bottom up. Build public libraries for the have nots, as Andrew Carnegie did a century ago. The libraries should be small, safe places where digital have nots can gain access to the accumulated knowledge of mankind. Concentrate on poor neighborhoods and poor countries and equip the libraries with computers connected to the Internet. Give them educational software for reading and writing and teachers to explain their use. Promote the rudiments of good health, hygiene, safety, and nutrition. Teach them marketable skills.

The wisdom of this approach is already being demonstrated in Pondicherry, India, where a staff of teachers with second-hand computers and Internet access have created a learning center for literacy, health care, and new skills. In Egypt, an Internet-linked library has been established in the governorate of Sharkeya that offers learning in a broad range of subjects. Reich is convinced that only by helping the poor to learn can we hope to reduce the income gap between the world’s richest fifth and the poorest fifth, which now stands at 74 to 1. (Posted October 9, 1999.)

October 13 Is United Nations’ World Disaster Reduction Day. About 100 countries will participate in the United Nations’ World Disaster Reduction Day on October 13, one of the last observances organized by the Secretariat of the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction (IDNDR 1990-2000). In a press release, the organizers point out that in 1998 alone natural disasters claimed the lives of 50,000 people and caused economic losses of US $90 billion.

The focus of the 1999 celebration will in Mexico City, with events jointly hosted by the United Nations and the Government of Mexico. The theme will be “Prevention Pays” with a special emphasis on seismic risk reduction. Tijuana will host a week-long symposium on the RADIUS Initiative, which has been implemented by the IDNDR Secretariat with technical and financial assistance from the Japanese government to reduce earthquake disasters in urban areas. From studies based on nine cases worldwide, practical tools have been developed for seismic damage estimation and risk management for cities. (See more at http://www.geohaz.org/radius.)

In an award ceremony in Mexico City, the annual UN-Sasakawa Disaster Prevention Award will be presented to a person or organization with notable achievements in the area of disaster prevention and mitigation. The award is sponsored by the Nippon Foundation, a private non-profit organization, to promote natural disaster prevention for the most vulnerable communities.

World Disaster Reduction Day will also be celebrated in other countries, such as Algiers, Armenia, Bangladesh, South Africa, Australia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Tanzania. Typical celebrations include seismic risk reduction projects for 2000 school children in Armenia; numerous seminars, conventions, etc. in India; and the distribution of materials on seismic risk reduction and landslides to 1000 schools in the United Kingdom. (Posted October 8, 1999.)

UC-Berkeley Goal: A Disaster-Resistant University. A lead story in the Natural Hazards Observer (September 1999) by Mary Comerio and Sarah K. Nathe says that a magnitude 7.0 quake on the Hayward fault, over which the University of California at Berkeley is located, could result in many deaths and injuries and sufficient structural damage to threaten the university’s existence. And seismologists say there is a one-in-three chance that such a quake will occur over the next 20 years.

Having already spent around $250 million on structural retrofits and having determined that 27% of its usable campus space is still seismically “poor” or “very poor,” UC-Berkeley is working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on a Disaster-Resistant University (DRU) initiative. The initiative is intended to help the nation’s large universities reduce and manage their vulnerability to the hazards in their region and to protect about $15 billion in university research funded by federal agencies each year.

In September 1998, UC-Berkeley faculty began working on a loss-estimation model for three possible earthquakes on the Hayward fault (magnitudes 6.5, 7.0, and 7.25), assessing each campus building in terms of both its use and occupancy time and calculating the costs of repairs and downtimes for the three scenarios. Since April 1999 they have been working on a strategic loss reduction and risk management plan for the campus that involves all university and community stakeholders and not only addresses the conditions of buildings and infrastructure, but also long-range plans for sustained operations under straitened circumstances.

The results will be incorporated into generic guidelines and support materials for other universities to use in their own planning efforts. FEMA hopes to next year award DRU planning grants to a small number of universities that will test the materials UC-Berkeley produces.  (Posted October 8, 1999.)  

World’s Largest Fire Drill on October 6. As the official sponsor of Fire Prevention Week from October 3 to 9, the nonprofit National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) is urging all U.S. and Canadian fire departments to participate in the second of its three-year public safety campaign “Fire Drills: The Great Escape!” On Wednesday, October 6, at 7 PM, a unified fire drill will take place in communities across the U.S. and Canada with families physically following planned escape routes from their homes. More than 250,000 households participated in the event last year after NFPA teamed up with fire departments, elementary schools, and other safety advocates. This year NFPA has provided 37,000 fire departments with a free tool box of print and video materials, including entry blanks for two grand prize drawings whose winners will receive Disney World vacations. NFPA’s 1999 funding partners are KIDDE Safety, Procter & Gamble, and The USAA Educational Foundation.

According to a recent NFPA report, 4,035 fire deaths occurred in the United States in 1998, the lowest number in 20 years. Approximately 80% of all U.S. fire deaths occur in the home, with thousands more injured and billions of dollars in property damage. Some 545 people died in highway vehicle fires last year, which was an increase of 21.1% over the previous year.

NFPA attributes the reduction in home deaths to more widespread public fire safety and prevention education; increased use, testing, and maintenance of smoke alarms; practicing and developing home fire escape plans; much greater use of residential fire sprinkler systems; creation of more fire-safe home production; and increased attention to the needs of high-risk groups, such as the young, older adults, and low income communities. (The NFPA web site is located at www.nfpa.org.) (Posted October 5, 1999.)

Second Mars Spacecraft May Be at Risk. A joint press release on September 30 from the headquarters of National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Lockheed Martin Astronautics, which explained that the Mars Climate Orbiter had been lost because the JPL and LMA teams had used different units of measurement (English units versus metric units), ended with the statement that the short-term goal is “to maximize the likelihood of a successful landing of the Mars Polar Lander on December 3.” That is, to determine if the same mistake was made with the Lander spacecraft, and, if so, whether it can be fixed.

The Lander, which is to perform in situ investigations of Mars’ volatiles and climate history, and also to provide descent imaging and accommodate a Russian light detection and ranging instrument, was launched on January 3, 1999, less than a month after the Orbiter. According to JPL web site information, the Orbiter was to have provided command and data relay support for the Lander, with communication between the two being established on the second day following the Lander’s landing. However, the data relay link can be established through the Mars Global Surveyor Spacecraft, which has been orbiting the Red Planet since September 1997, and a direct-to-earth link will also be available for Lander commanding and as a backup downlink.

Also at stake are two Mars Microprobes that are being carried in two basketball-sized aeroshells riding piggyback on the Lander’s spacecraft. Just prior to atmospheric entry, the Lander will separate from its cruise ring, and the force of the separation will jettison the aeroshells approximately 18 sec later. Crashing into the Martian surface at 200 meters per second, the aeroshells will shatter and release the miniature probes, which will penetrate the soil up to a depth of 2 meters. Their mission is to determine whether water ice is present and also to measure soil temperature and monitor local Martian weather. They will operate about 50 hours, sending their data to the Mars Global Surveyor.

Together, the Orbiter and Lander cost $327.6 million, not including the costs of the microprobes. The urgency of ensuring the safe landing of the Lander is obvious. (LSA) (Posted October 5, 1999.)

U.S. Nuclear Accident Response Team Awaiting Orders to Leave for Japan. At 2 PM EST today (Friday, October 1), the Radiation Emergency Assistance Center and Training Site in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, was still awaiting a decision as to whether the REACTS team would be sent to Tokaimura, Japan, to provide assistance in dealing with the results of an uncontrolled nuclear reaction that occurred in a uranium processing plant in that city on Thursday. Pam Bonee, spokesperson for REACTS, said the team’s 10 full-time members, who have provided assistance to several countries, were prepared to leave on short notice and could draft additional assistance from extramural faculty if needed. The team includes two physicians, two registered nurses (one of whom also has a PhD in education and the other also trained as a paramedic), several health physicists specializing in radiation monitoring and radiation dosimetry, plus clerical staff. The team’s director since 1976 is Bob Ricks, a radiation biologist.

How many members of the REACTS team would go to Japan would depend on Japan’s specific needs and whether the event is classified as an “incident” or an “accident,” Bonee told RiskWorld. (Posted October 1, 1999.)

RW Commentary: Critical “Criticality” in Japan. The nuclear event (incident or accident?) that occurred in the city of Tokaimura, Japan, yesterday—the second since 1997—once again points out that the safety of any industry, no matter how high tech, depends to a large extent on how well each individual worker understands his or her job. According to reports, the initiation of a chain reaction in a nuclear processing plant of the JCO Co. was blamed on “worker inexperience.” That inexperience led the worker(s) to mix 35 pounds (16 kilograms) instead of just 5 pounds (2.4 kilograms) of uranium with nitric acid in a tank under conditions that allowed the mixture to reach “criticality.” Once those conditions were set up, any stray neutron(s) could initiate the fissioning process in which split uranium nuclei release more neutrons which split more nuclei, etc. The process can be stopped only if some material that absorbs a sufficient number of the neutrons is thrust into the mixture (as control rods in a reactor) or if the critical configuration is altered. Apparently the latter occurred for this event, with Japanese engineers succeeding in draining water from the mixture. Radiation levels were immediately greatly reduced to near normal.

In the meantime, those within the near vicinity of the chain reaction were exposed to both the neutrons escaping the configuration and the alpha, beta, and gamma radiation also produced in the fission process. In addition, gases escaping from the accident carried the alpha, beta, and gamma radiation outside the plant.

Officials have now given the all-clear signal for moving outside. At least 39 people suffered from some radiation exposure, and three workers are in the hospital, two in critical condition.

From Japan’s perspective, it is critical that such criticality events be prevented in the future. With extremely limited energy sources, the country cannot afford to back away from the nuclear power industry that supplies one-third of its electricity. LSA (Posted October 1, 1999.)  

RW Commentary: The Dilemma of Conflicting Science.  On Friday, August 27, a 5-month-old bear cub at a petting zoo near Clermont, Iowa, suddenly expired. The next day the Iowa State University’s veterinary laboratory announced that the bear had died of rabies, although it had not previously shown any symptoms of the disease. Iowa health officials immediately tried to trace and inform the approximately 400 people who had had possible contact with the cub, recommending that they take a $1,500 series of shots to protect them from potential death. They even arranged to send the vaccine to tourists who had returned to their homes in Australia, where it is not readily available. Still, there were some visitors they had  not yet found. In the meantime, they sent the cub’s brain to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta for tests to pinpoint how the cub had become infected.

One week later, the CDC reported that it could not confirm that the bear had rabies. Neither could the Iowa Hygienic Laboratory. The university lab stands behind its results, and it may be another month before the conflict can be resolved. An Iowa health department spokesman says, “We can’t say for sure that people should not get the vaccine.”

The risk community argues that decisions for action should be based on sound science. But in this case, the public cannot know which of these reputable institutions has the sound science, and they possibly will not know within the window of three to eight weeks before symptoms of the disease appear. Having no real guidance, the individuals are each faced with making an unscientific decision. (This commentary is based on facts published in two USA TODAY stories, September 2 and September 7.) --LSA  (Posted September 9, 1999.)  

Nurses Fighting for Safe Needles. According to the Ohio Nurses Association, U.S. health care workers sustain up to 1 million needlestick and sharps injuries every year, resulting in approximately 1,000 new cases of HIV, hepatitis C, or hepatitis B due to occupational injury. The technology exists to prevent such injuries, yet less than 15% of U.S. hospitals use it. To eliminate this health risk in Ohio, legislation backed by ONA and a coalition of supporters has been introduced in the Ohio senate requiring that safe needles be used in all state health care facilities. Many hospitals choose not to use the available technology, such as retractable needles, because they are more expensive than standard devices; however, ONA contends that not using them is even more expensive. They say the average cost of treating a nurse who has been stuck is $3,000, and if an infection occurs, the cost can reach $1 million or more. These costs escalate even higher when the emotional trauma nurses and families face when they learn they have contracted a disease is considered. (This story is based on a press release from PRNewswire.) (Posted September 8, 1999.)

Catastrophe Index Reveals Insurer Losses. The recently published Guy Carpenter Catastrophe Index says that as of June 30, U.S. homeowner insurers had paid approximately $4.6 billion in property claims caused by freezing conditions, wind, and hail for damages occurring in 1998. Over $1 billion was required to settle claims for damages in Minnesota during the month of May, an amount that was roughly three times the amount of annual premiums that insurers collected on the policies. In addition to describing overall damage rates for states and regions, the index provides detailed information on insured properties and paid losses for most ZIP codes in the United States. (Posted September 8, 1999.)

Earthquake Engineers Say Turkey Earthquake Has Implications for California. A team of engineers from EQE International, a risk management firm, says that the August 17 earthquake in Izmet, Turkey, which measured 7.4 on the Richter scale, has implications that reach deep into the heart of California. It was the first earthquake with major faulting to strike through heavily populated areas and is of particular interest to San Francisco because of similar fault offsets with the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. While the team found substandard engineering and construction quality in Turkey, the effects of the quake are important in understanding the seismic risk to regions of the world that have high population densities, modern infrastructure, industry and buildings and are in areas with major fault systems like the Hayward and San Andreas. “The parallels are tremendous and the United States in general and California in particular should pay close attention,” says Peter Yanev, president of EQE. More on EQE’s findings can be found at http://www.eqe.com. (Posted September 8, 1999.)  

The Push Against DWI Offenses. On Wednesday, September 1, the truck driver responsible for the death of 27 people when he crashed into a church bus near Carrollton, Kentucky, was freed after serving 11 years in prison. Two hours after the crash, the driver registered an alcohol level of 0.24%.

The 1988 crash has been called one of the nation’s most influential highway accidents ever (see USA TODAY, September 1, 1999), spawning numerous safety laws to reduce the risks of highway fatalities. But probably its greatest impact has been on the collective attitude of the nation about driving-while-impaired (DWI) offenses. Before the year ended, all states had raised the minimum drinking age from 18 to 21, and since then 17 states and the District of Columbia have lowered the legal limit for a driver’s blood alcohol concentration to 0.08%. In rewarding one state for its leadership in reducing DWI offenses, the U.S. Department of Transportation this week awarded North Carolina with a second consecutive incentive grant ($3.5 million) for its Governor’s Highway Safety Program, which operates "Booze It & Lose It," a nationally recognized impaired driving initiative that combines stepped-up enforcement with public education and outreach.

Also in recent days, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), joined by Nationwide Insurance, launched its 7^th annual National Sobriety Checkpoint Week campaign in anticipation of approximately 250 alcohol-related highway deaths over the Labor Day weekend. The national kickoff for the campaign was September 2 in New York City, with Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and others attending the event. A total of 40 states and the District of Columbia will be conducting sobriety checkpoints, which were upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1990. Says MADD national president Karolyn V. Nunnallee, "If you choose to drink and drive this holiday weekend, the chances you will be caught are much greater." (Note: This story is partially based on two press releases from PRNewswire.) (Posted September 3, 1999.)

On-Campus Drinking Targeted by AMA. A program by the American Medical Association and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reduce high-risk drinking among college students now has 10 participating universities, up from six when the program was initiated in 1996 after an AMA survey showed that 20% of Americans aged 18-30 reported binge drinking and many admitted to drunken driving. Called "A Matter of Degree," the seven-year, $10 million initiative includes universities that have formed partnerships with surrounding communities to enforce the legal drinking age, discourage heavy alcohol consumption in short periods of time, and reduce the sale of alcohol near campuses. Accomplishments to date include eliminating alcohol sales at sports events at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Colorado, introducing an alcohol-free tailgate area at the University of Iowa, enacting an ordinance banning "bring your own bottle" clubs near the University of Nebraska, placing deed restrictions that ban alcohol sales on properties near the University of Delaware, and organizing students to change social norms. The national problem has been highlighted by a 1998 Harvard University study reporting that on one-third of American campuses, more than 50% of the students are binge drinkers. (Note: This story is based on a press release from PRNewswire.) (Posted September 3, 1999.)

1,100 Colleges Teaching About Alcohol Abuse. This fall, more than 1,100 college campuses across the United States are offering "Alcohol 101," an interactive CD-ROM program on alcohol abuse developed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and The Century Council (TCC), a not-for-profit organization funded by America’s leading distillers. Nationally launched in 1998, the program places students at a "virtual" party where they face varying outcomes, depending on their drinking choices. Last year, over 100,000 first-semester freshmen at 750 campuses participated, with the result that many changed dramatically their perceptions of acceptable amounts to drink. A related program aimed at parents, called "Parents, You’re Not Done Yet," includes a brochure urging families to discuss alcohol use before and during the first six weeks of college. In 1998, 2.5 million copies of the brochure, which was developed by TCC with alcohol abuse prevention experts from several universities, were used by 1,800 colleges and universities in freshman acceptance mailings and freshman orientations with parents. (Note: This story is based on a press release from PRNewswire.) (Posted September 3, 1999.)

Challenges Remain for TB Eradication. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that the United States had 18,361 active tuberculosis cases in 1998, an 8% reduction from 1997 that indicates that the nation has recovered from the resurgence of TB in the 1980s. However, concerns remain on the impact of the global TB epidemic, with the proportion of foreign-born cases in the United States increasing from 27% in 1992 to 42% in 1998. Also, cases of multi-drug resistant TB were reported by 45 states between 1993 and 1998. Thus, TB elimination will require a sustained U.S. commitment and increased global collaboration. (Posted September 3, 1999.)

Wild Poliovirus Almost Eradicated. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that the Americas, the Pacific Rim, Europe, and Central Asia are all polio free. As of 1999, the only known reservoir for wild poliovirus type 2 is the Ganges Valley of India. In addition, a group of other polioviruses within serotypes with genetic similarity has been significantly reduced globally. With further intensification of vaccination and surveillance activities, the goal of the World Health Assembly to eradicate all wild poliovirus serotypes by the year 2000 can be achieved. (Posted September 3, 1999.)

EPA’s Radiation Standards for Yucca Mountain Proposed. As required in the U.S. Energy Policy Act of 1992, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recently proposed environmental radiation standards for Yucca Mountain, a site in Nye County, Nevada, that is the U.S. Department of Energy’s potential geologic repository for spent nuclear fuel and high-level radioactive waste. The standards address all environmental pathways and are designed to limit exposures of the closest residents (at a distance of about 12 miles) to less than 15 millirem per year. EPA will accept public comments on the proposed standards for 90 days following their publication in the Federal Register and will hold public hearings to receive additional comments. Information on the hearings will appear in the Federal Register and on the web at the EPA’s Yucca Mountain web site. A guide to the proposed standards is available on the web. (Posted September 2, 1999.)

Alaska Native Children Susceptible to Iron-Deficiency Anemia. The prevalence of iron-deficiency anemia in Alaska native children from 12 to 71 months old is more than twice the U.S. average says a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Factors associated with the anemia in these children is their lower intake of foods that enhance iron absorption, such as citrus juices, and their high susceptibility to the Helicobacter pylori infection, a bacterial infection shown to be associated with stomach inflammation and ulcers in people worldwide. (Posted September 2, 1999.)

Plan to Reduce North American Mercury Releases Announced. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC), an international organization created under the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation, announced on August 17 the release of Phase II of its draft North American Regional Action Plan on Mercury for a 45-day public comment. The plan’s ultimate goal is to achieve a reduction in mercury released to the North American environment as a result of human activity to amounts that can be attributed to naturally occurring levels. The Phase II plan, which is action oriented, incorporates goals from a Phase I plan approved by the CEC Council in October 1997. When approved, the plan will commit Canada, Mexico, and the United States to implementing its actions. For more information, see press release, Phase I report, Phase II draft. (Posted August 30, 1999.)

Report Conclusion: Determining Low-Dose Effects of Endocrine Disrupters Will Require Conception-to-Death Studies. The National Research Council’s Committee on Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment says that determining the low-dose effects of endocrine disrupters (chemicals that mimic the actions of sex hormones and have been associated with adverse reproduction and developmental effects in wildlife) will have to await controlled studies of at-risk groups from conception through adulthood. Examples of the chemicals involved are polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), DDT, and numerous chemicals in commercial products such as cleaners, pesticides and food additives. Although some association between endocrine disrupter exposures and adverse health effects have been found in wildlife, no firm evidence exists to date on cancers, male reproductive disorders, or neurologic and immunologic effects in humans caused by the chemicals. (Exception: Fetal exposure to pesticides and other pollutants from maternal consumption of contaminated foods can cause lower birth weights, premature births, lower IQs, and delayed neuromuscular development.) Endocrine disrupters may have contributed to declines in some wildlife populations (fish and birds in the Great Lakes, alligators in Florida, mink in the United States, river otters in Europe), but a clear causal relationship cannot be established. According to Risk Policy Report (August 20), the Environmental Protection Agency officials are disappointed that "the report does not prioritize areas for future research….and will probably not lead the agency to change course." The report, entitled Hormonally Active Agents in the Environment, is available from the National Academy press (see press release). (Posted August 30, 1999.)

RW Commentary: On the Soybean Battle. The media has been awash in recent months with articles on genetically modified organisms (GMOs), many of them focused on whether genetically engineered strains of soybeans are safe and which farmers should have access to gene-altered soybean seeds. A story in the Christian Science Monitor (August 25) describes the fury of a soybean farmer in Brazil because a Brazilian federal judge has banned sales of Monsanto Corp.’s modified seeds in that country. But some producers in Brazil, which is second only to the United States in soybean production, believe rejecting transgenic beans may have economic and political dividends, especially since the country’s biggest market is Europe, where all food technologies are undergoing scrutiny and anti-biotechnology activism is intense.

For example, an article, editorial, and several letters in the Wall Street Journal this month have pointed out how Norvartis, the big Swiss drug and biochemicals company, has bowed to a Greenpeace campaign and agreed to stop using genetically engineered strains of soybeans (and corn) in its Gerber baby foods "just in case the European food phobia jumps the Atlantic." Greenpeace countered that many scientific experts are astounded at the lax regulations of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding engineered foods. According to the WSJ editorial, half of the soybeans produced in the U.S. are planted with genetically modified seeds, and soybeans and their derivative products exist in some form in approximately 60% of processed foods.

In the meantime, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology, which was established in 1987 by the United Nations, is finding it difficult to carry out its mandate to "promote the safe use of biotechnology world-wide and with special regard to the needs of the developing world." It points out that in 1998, 35 million hectares of genetically modified crops, including varieties of soya, maize, tomatoes, potatoes, cotton, tobacco and oilseed rape, were planted for commercial purposes worldwide, of which some 75% was in the United States. Canada, Australia, and China also have significant commercial plantings of such crops. But developing countries are still desperately trying "to fill the technology gap and to build capacity for scientific evaluation and risk assessment and management of this event." They have a long way to go. In February 1999, officials from 138 governments in Cartagena, Colombia, suspended talks after they were unable to agree on a legally binding protocol on reducing risks related to the transboundary movement of GMOs.—LSA (Posted August 27, 1999.)

Thalidomide Being Used to Fight Cancer. Thalidomide, a drug marketed to expectant mothers outside the United States in the 1950s and known to have caused birth defects in thousands of children, is now being used in the United States to treat cancer patients who have exhausted all other possible treatments. While the Food and Drug Administration approved marketing of the drug with a label stating that it was to be used specifically for a skin condition associated with leprosy, a federal judge ruled that the FDA could not stop drug companies from telling doctors about an "off-label" use. The company distributing the drug, Celgene, says that 50% to 70% of the 12,000 prescriptions written for thalidomide since July 1998 have been for cancer treatment. While promising and even startling results are being reported for some patients, Harmon Eyre, the chief medical officer for the American Cancer Society in Atlanta, advises against the off-label use of thalidomide for cancer, as does Howard Fine of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. Robert D’Amato, a researcher at the Children’s Hospital in Boston whose work led to thalidomide’s use against cancer, argues that it often represents the only hope for terminally ill patients. (Note: This news brief is based on articles written by Kathleen Fackelmann, USA TODAY, August 24, 1999.) (Posted August 26, 1999.)

A Strike Against Cultural Pollution. Some may call it smart advertising, but 11 major corporations, denying television network claims that they were "giving adverstisers just what they want," have organized the Family Friendly Programming Forum and are putting up $900,000 for the The WB Network to develop scripts for potential TV pilots that are "family friendly." The participating corporations are AT&T, General Motors, Johnson & Johnson, Procter & Gamble, Sears, Ameritech, IBM., Nationwide, Pfizer, Warner-Lambert, and Wendy’s. Andrea Alstrup, ad director for Johnson & Johnson, was instrumental in forming the coalition because advertisers were not being given "a lot of options." (Note: This news brief is based on a story by Maria Matzer, Los Angeles Daily News.) (Posted August 26, 1999.)

GAO Asked to Compare EPA and GE Reports on Hudson River Sediment Contamination. The August 20, 1999, issue of Risk Policy Report says that Representatives Thomas Bliley (R-VA) and John Sweeney (R-NY) have asked the General Accounting Office to evaluate conflicting reports prepared by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (see below) and by a contractor for General Electric on the contamination of the Upper Hudson River sediment with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The Upper Hudson River was designated as a Superfund site because of PCBs dumped in the river by GE facilities over a 30-year period ending in 1977. EPA declined to provide the GE report to peer reviewers of the EPA report. Rep. Sweeney and several affected communities are particularly opposed to cleanup through dredging, one of the options being considered by EPA. They say PCB levels have dropped dramatically and that dredging would take 20 years to complete and would require construction of a dewatering facility and a landfill the size of Yankee stadium. (Posted August 26, 1999.)

EPA Seeks Comments on Two Hudson River Risk Assessments. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 2 held public meetings recently to discuss the findings in two baseline risk assessment reports for the Upper Hudson River: one a human health risk assessment, and the other an ecological risk assessment. The health assessment says that, with no cleanup or institutional controls, people eating PCB-contaminated fish from the Upper Hudson River will be exposed to both cancer and non-cancer health hazards above EPA’s generally accepted levels over a 40-year exposure period. The ecological assessment says that the PCBs will adversely affect the survival and reproduction of both the fish and the birds and mammals that eat the fish (bald eagles, great blue heron, mink and river otter, etc.), with the resulting bioaccumulation placing many species at risk for decades to come. EPA will accept public comments on the reports through September 7. Additional risk assessments are under way for the Mid-Hudson River and Lower Hudson River, the ultimate goal being to establish acceptable exposure levels in fish, sediments and water, and, by December 2000, to evaluate cleanup alternatives for sediments in the Upper Hudson River. (For more information, contact Region 2 Press office, rychlenski.ann@epamail.epa.gov. (Posted August 25, 1999.)

RW Postscript: More on Reactor Transport Story. The Wall Street Journal reported on August 23 (p. B5B) that burial of the 1000-ton Trojan Nuclear Power Plant "reactor," wrapped in bright blue, had begun at US Ecology’s 100-acre disposal site on the Hanford nuclear reservation. (See previous RW news brief.) (Posted August 25, 1999.)

Food Safety: A Unified, Risk-Based Inspection System Needed. Reiterating recommendations it has made since 1992, and hearkening back to a 1972 concept, the U.S. General Accounting Office once again urged a congressional subcommittee to create "a single agency to administer food safety activities that are uniform and risk-based" to better ensure the safety of the U.S. food supply. GAO says that the current system of 12 different agencies administering as many as 35 food safety laws results in some food firms being over-inspected and others receiving no inspection in 10 years. The agencies do not adequately coordinate their work, and the fragmentation of responsibilities causes problems both in determining food health risks and in notifying the groups that need to take corrective actions. Also, oversight of imported foods is inconsistent and unreliable. The National Academy of Sciences similarly recommended a unified system in 1998, which was affirmed by the President’s Council on Food Safety in a March 1999 report. The GAO report (GAO/T-RCED-99-256) is available on line at http://www.gao.gov/new.items/rc99256t.pdf. (Posted August 23, 1999.)

RW Commentary: On Dealing with "Real" Risks. No number of erudite studies calculating risks of ten to the minus six or so can heighten our sense of danger like a single, brief act of nature. We now know that the earthquake that hit Turkey on Thursday caused the deaths of at least 10,000 persons and maybe as many as 40,000. It also injured more than 45,000. These tragedies are compounded as Turkey’s citizens deal with their grief, frustration, and anger; lack of food; health epidemics; monumental engineering tasks; and overall degradation of their surrounding environment. Unfortunately, for them the future may hold more of the same. According to an MSNBC News report (Aug. 20), 96% of the country and 98% of the population are in a high-risk region with multiple seismic faults. Can the numerous risks these people continue to face be calculated? Can the risks be integrated? Are the data bases now adequate for such calculations? But more importantly, can something be done to mitigate such tragic outcomes in the future? From the devastation of dwelling places we are viewing on television, it would appear that strict enforcement of building codes (presuming such codes exist) would be an imperative first step.—LSA (Posted August 20, 1999.)

SAB Integrated Risk Report Criticized. According to Risk Policy Report (July 16, 1999), a peer review panel of the Science Advisory Board’s report Integrated Decision-Making in the 21^st Century, which resulted from the Integrated Risk Project, says that the report "failed to articulate an encompassing paradigm for integrated, cross-media decision-making." Meeting July 1-2 and chaired by Granger Morgan of Carnegie Mellon University, panelists felt that the report offered valuable approaches to integrated decision making but not a complete package. The panel recommended that a modified summary report be issued, but that the longer report be broken up into a series of "working papers," some of which should be developed into stand-alone reports. The draft report, issued May 3, can be viewed at the SAB web site. (Posted August 19, 1999.)

RW Commentary: Reports of Transporting Nuclear Reactor Misleading. During the last 10 days I have read headlines in two newspapers (The Knoxville News-Sentinel, August 7, and USA Today, August 9) stating that the 1000-ton "reactor" from the shut-down Trojan Nuclear Plant was moved by rail, river barge, and highway to a burial ground at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in the state of Washington. The trip included a 270-mile river journey through the heart of Portland, Oregon, and was undertaken to the dismay of environmentalists who wanted the decommissioned plant mothballed for 50 years. A picture accompanying one of the stories showed men standing next to the rail car on which was mounted the "reactor," carefully shrink-wrapped in blue plastic. Only midway through the shorter USA Today story did I find what I knew had to be true—that the reactor had been "emptied of its uranium fuel." What they were actually transporting was not the reactor, but rather the reactor vessel. Not to say that the vessel was not radioactive. It was. But you would never find a reactor (that is, a bundle of uranium fuel elements) shrink-wrapped in plastic and transported on a rail car.—LSA  (Posted August 18, 1999.)

Y2K On-line Resources Compiled. RiskWorld has compiled on-line resources regarding the Year 2000 problem, in which computer software programs that record dates using only the last two digits of the year potentially could fail if "00" were read as "1900" in the new millenium.  The listing includes on-line news articles, web sites devoted to the Y2K issue, government information, and direct links to corporate information in several major industries. Go to listing.  (Posted August 5, 1999.)

Endocrine Disrupter Report Says Long-Term Research Needed.  A newly released report from a diverse National Research Council committee says that long-term research is needed to determine the risks of low level exposure to endocrine disrupters – which the report refers to as chemicals that are hormonally active. "Determining the risk to humans from contact with these chemicals in the environment is difficult because ordinary exposure to these agents has not been routinely monitored," said committee chair Ernst Knobil, the Ashbel Smith Professor and H. Wayne Hightower Professor in the Medical Sciences, Medical School, University of Texas, Houston. "Determining what these exposures actually are is therefore of primary importance." The report calls for new studies to be conducted that follow groups of at-risk subjects from conception through adulthood. For more information, see The New York Times article "Study Inconclusive on Chemicals' Effects" and the National Academies’ press release.  A preliminary copy of the report is available for a fee from the  National Academy Press. (Posted August 4, 1999.)

Judicial Review Language in Regulatory Improvement Acts Workable, Says Report. A recent publication from the Center for Risk Analysis of the Harvard School of Public Health (Regulatory Improvement Legislation: Judicial Review of Provisions Regarding Risk Assessment and Cost-Benefit Analysis)  reports that a group of legal practitioners and scholars attending an invitational workshop in December 1998 concluded that the then-proposed U.S. Senate bill S.981 ("The Regulatory Improvement Act of 1998") as modified by negotiations between the bill’s authors and the Clinton Administration is "a workable effort to balance the need for expeditious administrative action with the need for judicial intervention in cases where agencies fail to perform their mandated analytical responsibilities." While no vote was taken on the bill, a bill introduced this year (S.746, "The Regulatory Improvement Act of 1999") contains the same language on judicial review as was in the negotiated compromise. The Center’s report also addresses the merits of an alternative approach that would subject the analytical requirements to the established norms of judicial review under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). To obtain a copy of this report, contact Bryan Sweet, telephone (617) 432-117 or e-mail Bsweet@hsph.harvard.edu. (Posted August 3, 1999.)

Global Carbon Dioxide Emissions Fall While Economy Expands.  World emissions of carbon dioxide fell in 1998 despite world economic growth, "undercutting arguments that reducing emissions will damage the economy," the Worldwatch Institute reports. See the Worldwatch Institute’s report  and the BBC Online Network's news coverage. (Posted July 28, 1999)

AIDS Epidemic in Sub-Saharan Africa Is "Plague of Biblical Proportions," Says White House. A report written by White House AIDS policy director Sandra Thurman and released by Vice President Albert Gore on July 19 says that 12 million people in sub-Saharan Africa have died of AIDS in the last decade, depriving 40 million children of one or both parents in the next decade (USA Today, July 19, 1999). AIDS victims in the area will soon surpass the 20 million people in Europe who died in the plague of 1347, the daily death toll expected to reach 13,000 by the year 2005. Also by 2005, AIDS deaths in Asia will mirror those in Africa. The U.S. Administration is proposing spending an additional $100 million next year for the prevention and treatment of the disease around the world ($125 million is being spent this year), with most of the funds earmarked for Africa. UNAIDS, the United Nation’s AIDS program, hopes the U.S. initiative will prompt other donor countries to increase their global AIDS efforts. (Posted July 21, 1999.)

Simple, Affordable Drug Prevents HIV Infection in Newborns. A joint Uganda-U.S study sponsored by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has shown that a single oral dose of the antiretroviral drug nevirapine (NVP) given to an HIV-infected woman in labor and another dose given to her baby within three days of birth reduces the transmission rate of HIV from mother to child by half compared to a similar short course of AZT (see story). Costing about $4 per dose, the NVP is 70 times cheaper than the AZT and is potentially affordable for developing countries to use in preventing 300,000 to 400,000 newborns per year from beginning life infected with HIV. In sub-Saharan Africa, up to 30% of pregnant women are infected with HIV and 25% to 35% of their infants will be infected. UNAIDS estimates 1,800 HIV-infected babies are born every day in developing countries. NVP was developed by Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals. (Posted July 21, 1999.)

Risks to Women Are Social and Attitudinal Says IWHC President. In a letter to the Wall Street Journal (July 14, 1999), Adrienne Germain, president of the International Women’s Health Coalition, lauds the recent action plan on population and development agreed to by the U.N. General Assembly. It will foster the social development and attitudinal changes needed to end the annual tragedies of 500,000 women dying unnecessarily in childbirth, 85,000 dying from botched abortions, 40 million undergoing abortions, and untold numbers being infected with sexually transmitted diseases, she says. (Posted July 21, 1999.)

FDA Warns Against Unpasteurized Orange Juice. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a nationwide warning on July 10 against drinking unpasteurized orange juice distributed under a variety of brand names by Sun Orchard Inc. of Tempe, Arizona, because of possible contamination with Salmonella Muenchen. Even though the company had already undertaken a recall, FDA issued its warning because dozens of illnesses were being reported throughout the United States and Canada. The labels involved are Sun Orchard, Earls and Joey Tomato’s, Viola, Trader Joe’s, Aloha, Zupan, Markon, and Sysco. Also recalled is Fresh Margarita Mix with Fresh Orange Juice, as well as a frozen form of the juice sold under the brand name Vareva. Sun Orchard has stopped production of unpasteurized orange juice and is currently pasteurizing all of its juice products. (Posted July 21, 1999.)

FDA Issues Advisory Against Eating Raw Sprouts. Outbreaks of sprout-associated salmonellosis during the first half of 1999 prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to issue an advisory on July 9 against eating raw sprouts (for example, alfalfa, clover, and radishes). The sprout industry is working with the government, academia, and other industry segments to make its products safe, primarily by focusing on seed treatment strategies, good manufacturing practices, and sanitation. Home-grown sprouts also present a risk if eaten raw, since many outbreaks have been attributed to contaminated seed. (Posted July 21, 1999.)

Raw Eggs Being Pasteurized.  A USA Today report by Anita Manning (July 13, 1999) says that two companies, Michael Foods in Minnesota and Pasteurized Eggs in New Hampshire, are pasteurizing raw eggs to eliminate the risk of salmonella infection from foods containing uncooked eggs. Pasteurizing equipment is also being supplied to egg producers who will begin shipping pasteurized eggs to distributors in the northeast in October. The process, which involves hot water baths to sterilize the eggs without cooking them, will add 35 to 40 cents to the cost of a dozen eggs. A pasteurized egg is said to be indistinguishable from an unpasteurized egg and can be used exactly like any other raw egg. A 1998 report by the Agriculture Department predicts that salmonella is present is one in 20,000 eggs. (Posted July 14, 1999.)

Regulatory Improvement Act and Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act Passed. On May 21, 1999, Senate Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Fred Thompson (R-TN) announced that the Levin-Thompson Regulatory Improvement Act of 1999 (S.746) was reported out of the Committee in an 11-5 vote Thursday night, May 20. This is regulatory reform legislation introduced in the last Congress that the President agreed to sign into law as proposed. This bipartisan bill would require agencies to make major regulatory decisions after consideration of cost-benefit analysis and risk assessment. (See related story and links at http://www.riskworld.com/news/98q1/nw8aa059.htm.)

The Committee also approved the Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act authored by Senator Susan Collins (R-ME). This bill would impose certain requirements on sweepstakes mailings, establish strong financial penalties, allow the Postal Service additional authority to investigate and stop deceptive mailings, and preserve the ability of states to impose stricter requirements on deceptive mailings. (Posted May 24, 1999.)

Tennessee Legislature Considers Campus Safety Bill. The Tennessee state legislature is considering a campus safety bill that was introduced after gunshots were fired into the air during a conflict between two student groups at the University of Tennessee's Martin campus earlier this year. The state Senate passed the bill (SB 1886) unanimously (32-0) on May 17. However, the bill has been delayed in the House, which is expected to consider the proposal (HB 1916) on May 25. The bill would permit state colleges and universities to disclose the records of disciplinary proceedings against students alleged to have broken school rules associated with any crimes. In addition, schools would be able to notify parents if their child who is under 21 violates any federal, state, or local law or any school rules and policies that govern the use or possession of alcohol or a controlled substance.

The legislation came about after Martin campus officials told J. K. Devine, the editor of the campus' student newspaper, that they could not tell her whether or not the students involved in the shooting were still on campus. Campus safety advocates and media organizations claim that this type of secrecy gives students a false sense of security and that not letting them know who offenders are puts students at even greater risk.

"It may shock many parents to know that even when they are paying all the bills, colleges cite student privacy laws and say they can't tell parents about any of these crimes or even if their student is having a serious alcohol or drug problem," said S. Daniel Carter, a campus safety expert with the national non-profit group Security On Campus, Inc. "Common sense prevailed and last year the Congress changed federal law so that this information could be released, but Tennessee schools have continued to hide behind a similar state law," he said in a written statement released May 21. (Posted May 24, 1999.)

SAB’s Integrated Risk Project Nearing Completion. The May issue of Happenings at the Science Advisory Board says that the report of the Integrated Risk Project (IRP) is currently undergoing peer review in a process that is chaired by Granger Morgan of Carnegie-Mellon University and will culminate in a public meeting this summer. The intent is for the final report to be delivered to the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency by the end of the year. The report, titled Integrated Environmental Decision-making in the 21^st Century, updates and expands the Board’s 1990 report Reducing Risk, which focused on comparative risk issues. The 1999 document focuses on tools that can be used to compare risks posed by a variety of physical, chemical, and biological stressors. Genevieve Matanoski of Johns Hopkins University led a team of more than 40 physical scientists, engineers, biological scientists, and social scientists in the multiyear project. She briefed the EPA leadership on the report in April and will brief congressional staff in May. (Posted May 10, 1999.)

Risk Education Web Site Under Construction. David M. Hassenzahl, a graduate student in the Science, Technology, and Environmental Policy Program at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, and his adviser Daniel M. Kammen, who recently accepted a position as associate professor of energy and society in the Energy and Resources Group and Nuclear Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, are soliciting information to post on a web site source for risk analysis instructors and students. Hoping to help organize the risk education community, they plan to provide the names of institutions and instructors offering risk analysis classes, with a syllabus or link to a syllabus for each class. They will also post risk problems, with brief notes about the nature of the problems (e.g., epidemiology, ecological modeling, fault-tree analysis, etc.). All information needed to solve each problem (including links to other sites) will be provided. The site will also include a glossary of terms with definitions or explanations. Each problem and glossary entry will be attributed to the donor, and all problems will be available at no charge. Free access to a solutions page will also be available to instructors upon request. All information submitted for the web site should be sent to Hassenzahl, whose e-mail address is: hasenzhl@princeton.edu. (See also http://www.wws.princeton.edu:80/~step/swri/)

This web site, which when available will have the address http://socrates.berkeley.edu/erg/swri, is an outgrowth of a recent book published by Kammen and Hassenzahl titled Should We Risk It? (Posted April 23, 1999.)

UK To Identify Good Practice in Securing Expert Scientific Advice. Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the United Kingdom's governmental body that ensures that risks to the health and safety of those who work and of the public who may be affected by work activity are properly controlled, has launched a new research project to identify good practice and prepare guidelines for government departments when they obtain expert scientific advice for informed decision making. The document that is produced from the research, which is expected to be completed in 15 months, will build on the existing 1997 guidelines, The Use of Scientific Advice in Policy Making, by the UK's Chief Scientific Adviser, Sir Robert May. (The guidelines are available on line at http://www.dti.gov.uk/ost/ostbusiness/policy.htm or in print from Daniela Clare, Office of Science and Technology, telephone 0171 271 2097, fax 0171 271 2028, e-mail daniela.clare@osct.dti.gov.uk.)

The focus of the research project is almost entirely on risk issues, says Tony Cox of the London-based risk assessment and management consultants SafetyCraft Limited. Cox is managing the project on behalf of the organization that was awarded the research contract, OXERA (Oxford Economic Research Associates), independent consultants who provide economic analysis and advice to government and to industry.

The work will draw upon a number of case studies and also will review international practice. OXERA Director Dieter Helm welcomes contributions from anyone with information for the project. Contributors should send their information to Toby Brown, OXERA, Blue Boar Court, Alfred Street, Oxford, OX1 4EH, telephone 01865 251142, fax 01865 204606, e-mail toby_brown@oxera.co.uk.

For more information, call HSE's InfoLine, telephone 0541-545500, or write to HSE Information Centre, Health and Safety Executive, Broad Lane, Sheffield S3 7HQ, fax 0114-2892333. The full press release is available at http://www.open.gov.uk/hse/press/e99074.htm. (Posted April 23, 1999.)

Abstracts of the 1998 Fourth Quarter Issue of the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health On Line. Abstracts of the November 1998 issue (Vol. 4, No. 4) of the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health, published by the American Society of Agricultural Engineers, are now on line in RiskWorld. Topics include review of ambient aerosol test procedures in ASAE Standard S525, NIOSH perspective on tractor-related hazards, employee health and safety in swine production facilities, and a safety survey of auctioned farm equipment.

Abstracts of the 1998 Society for Risk Analysis’ Annual Meeting On Line.   RiskWorld has placed on line the abstracts of the 408 papers presented at the Society for Risk Analysis’s 1998 annual meeting. The abstracts are indexed in RiskWorld by title and by author, and both indices are searchable by keyword. (Posted May 24, 1999.)

SRA Section Launches Web Site. The Society for Risk Analysis-Europe (SRA-Europe)--one of three international sections of the Society for Risk Analysis--has launched its own web site, which is located at http://www.sraeurope.org/. The site provides background and descriptive information about the section; a membership application form; the procedure for submitting manuscripts for publication in the Journal of Risk Research, the official journal of SRA-Europe and the Society for Risk Analysis-Japan; a list of the SRA-Europe Executive Committee members, including their e-mail addresses; and links to the web pages of past and future SRA-Europe annual conferences. The site will eventually include links to other SRA-related and risk-related web sites, as well. (Posted March 23, 1999; updated July 15, 2002.)

SRA Section To Hold Ninth Annual Conference in Rotterdam. The Society for Risk Analysis-Europe will hold its Ninth Annual Conference on October 11-13, 1999, at the Beurs - World Trade Center in Rotterdam, Netherlands.

Authors must submit the abstracts of papers and posters they would like to present at the conference by April 1. Delft University of Technology and Conference Director Louis H. J. Goossens are organizing the event. The conference web site, which provides more information, is located at http://www.wtm.tudelft.nl/~sra-e1999/. (Posted March 23, 1999.)

Abstracts of the 1998 Society for Risk Analysis’ Annual Meeting On Line.   RiskWorld has placed on line the abstracts of the 408 papers presented at the Society for Risk Analysis’s 1998 annual meeting. The abstracts are indexed in RiskWorld by title and by author, and both indices are searchable by keyword.

Using the theme "Assessing and Managing Risks in a Democratic Society," the meeting was held December 6-9, 1998, in Phoenix, Arizona. It focused on "the quandary of how best to reconcile good science and public values in decision-making," with the society stating in its final program that "developing the foundations for good risk assessment and risk management and their social and scientific underpinnings is in the domain of interest of all members of the Society."

Session topics covered by the abstracts include E. Coli risks in hamburger, perchlorate contamination, risk issues in engineering systems, toxicological issues, the use of risk information in business decisions, risk perceptions across cultures, uncertainty factors, target tissue dose predictions, risk and the U.S. Armed Forces, chemical v. radiation risk management, risk assessment of salmonella entertidis, probabilistic methods, aggregate exposure assessment for pesticides, effective risk messages, modeling exposure over global ranges, uncertainty analysis, toxic injury lawsuits, implementation of the Food Quality Protection Act of 1996, cost benefit analysis, microbial risk, alternative dose-response models, ecological risks, risk regulatory reform, risk education, and many others including a variety of risk communication topics. (Posted March 2, 1999.)

Index of On-line Endocrine Disruptor Resources Published by RiskWorld.  RiskWorld has compiled a detailed index of major endocrine disruptor resources available on line. The index provides a brief description of each resource and includes information provided by U.S. government agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of the Interior, and the White House; by international groups; by universities; by news publications; and by environmental organizations. (Posted March 2, 1999.)

U.S. EPA’s Proposed Endocrine Disruptor Screening Program On Line.  An outline of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s first testing program for evaluating whether chemicals present in the environment can adversely affect the endocrine systems of humans and wildlife is available on line in the Federal Register. The program is based on recommendations by EPA’s Endocrine Screening and Testing Advisory Committee, an independent advisory group of scientists, public health experts, industry representatives, and environmentalists. As proposed, the program’s first step would be to screen approximately 15,000 chemicals for endocrine activity, focusing on chemicals that are manufactured in volumes exceeding 10,000 pounds annually and for which existing test data is limited. EPA's proposed program is scheduled to be reviewed by the EPA Science Advisory Board and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel at a meeting on March 30-April 1, 1999. (Posted March 2, 1999.)

Children's Consumption of Pesticide-Treated Fruits and Vegetables Raises Controversy. The Washington, D.C.-based Environmental Working Group has released a new study that claims some of children’s favorite fruits and vegetables, including apples, are so contaminated with pesticides that parents should consider substituting items known to be lower in pesticides. The group has published the report "How ‘Bout Them Apples?" 10 years after the public outcry against apples treated with the pesticide Alar (see press release and link to report at http://www.ewg.org/pub/home/reports/apples/applepr.html). However, another organization, the American Farm Bureau Federation, claims the report is "unscientific" and "a shameless attempt to frighten parents" (see press releases at http://www.fb.com/news/nr/nr99/nr0225.html and http://www.fb.com/news/fbn/html/scientific.html). (Posted March 2, 1999.)

The Great Apple Scare Revisited: Article Marks 10-year Anniversary of Alar Controversy. The American Council on Science and Health also has marked the anniversary of the "Great Apple Scare" with an article by Kenneth Smith, editorial writer for The Washington Times, and Jack Raso, ACSA's director of publications, that provides a history of the event (see "An Unhappy Anniversary: The Alar 'Scare' Ten Years Later" at http://www.acsh.org/publications/reports/alar_0299.html). (Posted March 2, 1999.)

Latest Risk News from the U.S. EPA.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has the following information regarding its risk-related activities on line:

• Public comment sought by March 9 on preliminary risk assessments for 12 organophosphates
• Informational meetings on pesticide residue on food open to public
• EPA proposes adding more chemicals to the Toxic Release Inventory and to lower the reporting threshold for chemicals presently on the inventory list
• EPA's "Pollution Prevention Research Strategy" report released
• Guidelines available on how to submit risk management plans electronically to EPA.
• EPA's Risk Management Program rule revised
• Susan H. Wayland named as the acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic Substances

TSE Workshop Documents Are Available On Line. Documents from a two-day workshop held in June 1998 on the potential risks of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) are available on line. The Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, with the collaboration of several government agencies and international organizations, convened the workshop "to define the state of current knowledge and to identify practical guiding principles for evaluating the risks posed by TSEs." The on-line workshop program links to many of the abstracts, transcripts, and figures that were presented. The web site also includes abstracts of poster presentations, biosketches of the speakers, and a draft framework for the evaluation of TSE risks (public comment is requested). The workshop site is located at http://www.life.umd.edu/jifsan/tse.html. (Posted February 19, 1999.)

Abstracts of Risk-related Articles from the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health's August 1998 Issue On Line. RiskWorld has posted several risk-related articles from the Journal of Agricultural Safety and Health on line. The abstracts cover topics such as Nordic perspectives of rollover fatalities, qualitative assessment of farmer responses to Certified Safe Farm Concept, and experience with tractor rollovers.(Posted February 3, 1999.)

Corrected Food and Drug Interactions Brochure Is Released. The corrected version of a widely publicized brochure to alert consumers about possible food and drug interactions is now available in print and on the Internet. National Consumers League, a U.S. non-profit consumer group organized in 1899, has published the brochure for a public education campaign it launched last November 18 with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. (Posted January 15, 1999.)

Multistate Listeriosis Outbreak Heightens Risk Awareness. Twelve states reported at least 60 illnesses caused by a rare strain of the bacterium Listeria monocytogenes, serotype 4b, to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) between August 1998 and January 14, 1999. From those illnesses, nine adults have died and three pregnant women have had spontaneous abortions. CDC and state and local health departments identified two production lots of hotdogs and deli meats manufactured under several brand names at the Bil Mar Foods plant in Zeeland, Michigan, as the probable vehicles for transmission of the bacterium. The company recalled those products in late December 1998. Although pregnant women and their newborn children and persons with weakened immune systems are at increased risk of becoming seriously ill with listeriosis, a serious infection caused by eating food contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes, healthy adults and children also can occasionally get listeriosis but rarely become seriously ill. See news brief for links to more information. (Posted January 14, 1999.)

TERA Reports Acrylamide, Acrolein and Acrylonitrile Independent Peer Review Results. Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) has reported the results of a meeting it organized last November when an independent panel of expert scientists and risk assessors discussed scientific issues related to assessing the risk of acrylamide monomer (see the following news brief) and reviewed assessments of acrylonitrile and acrolein. The brief report is available on TERA's web site (http://www.tera.org/news/postannounce1298.html). TERA will post a more detailed summary of the meeting on its web site in early February. (Posted January 9, 1999.)

TERA To Make Available Phase II Document of Risk Assessment for Acrylamide. Scientists from the acrylamide industry and Toxicology Excellence for Risk Assessment (TERA) prepared a document titled "Integrated Biologically-Based, Multiple Endpoint Risk Assessment for Acrylamide. Phase 1: Cancer and Modes of Action" that was discussed at an independent peer review meeting last November, which TERA organized and the Acrylamide Monomer Producers Association sponsored (see previous news brief). The document discussed data from numerous endpoints and proposed four possible modes of action for acrylamide’s toxicity but emphasized issues related to cancer assessment. The review panel's discussion of the Phase I document provided input that is being used to prepare a Phase II document, which will also incorporate information and risk assessments for the noncancer effects of acrylamide. The Phase II document will be available after April. Contact Jacqueline Patterson of TERA, telephone (513) 521-7426, fax (513) 521-7428, or e-mail patterson@tera.org, for more information. (Posted January 9, 1999.)

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