RISK newsletter:
U.S. Chapter News
Source: The Society for Risk
Analysis' RISK newsletter,
Second Quarter 1995
Metropolitan Chapter (CT-NJ-NY) President Wayne Tusa
of Environmental Risk and Loss Control Inc. says the chapter
plans to sponsor evening seminars on electric and magnetic fields
and multiple chemical sensitivity. Members have also expressed
interest in other topics, including residential risk, indoor air
quality, life-cycle analysis, drinking water quality, and
treatment-resistant infectious diseases, for which speakers are
being sought. The chapter is also seeking ways to better support
local risk assessors and risk managers.
At the end of 1994 the chapter had approximately 30 members.
New England Chapter and the Boston Risk Assessment
Group have continued their seminar series in 1995 with the
following speakers and topics: Katherine von Stackleberg of
Menzie-Cura and Associates Inc., on fish food chain models for
predicting body burdens of PCBs; Cynthia Jennings, a consultant,
on public involvement and environmental justice; Sharon McCarthy
of Gradient Corporation, on modeling multimedia exposure to
municipal waste incinerators; Brian Toal of the Connecticut
Department of Public Health and Addiction Services, on public
health implications of mercury usage in some Hispanic
communities; Laura Greene of Cambridge Environmental, on dioxin
risk assessment; SRA Councilor Gail Charnley of the National
Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management, on the 104th
U.S. Congress' impact on health risk assessment; SRA Past
President Robert Tardiff of EA Engineering, Science, and
Technology Inc., on comparative risk; Lebelle Hicks of the Maine
Department of Agriculture, on the state's perspective on fish
advisories; Bernard Goldstein of Environmental and Occupational
Health Sciences Institute, on new risk characterization
approaches; and Brian Leaderer of Yale University's Pierce
Laboratory, on sick building syndrome studies.
Northern California Chapter held its winter meeting in
March at the University of California at Berkeley. More than 30
members heard the chapter's new president-elect William Pease of
the university's School of Public Health speak on "Orphan
Risk Assessments: Why CalEPA [California Environmental Protection
Agency] Abandoned Its Comparative Risk Project." The
chapter's new president is Kenneth Bogen of Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory.
A new chapter project offers members' expertise to local
nonprofit organizations as a pro bono service.
Philadelphia Chapter had three 1994-95 dinner
meetings. Deborah Weil of Bailey Research Associates Inc., New
York City, addressed "The EMF [electric and magnetic fields]
Health Issue: The Role of the Science." Clay Frederick of
the Rohm and Haas Toxicology Laboratories, Spring House,
Pennsylvania, presented "The EPA's New Carcinogen Assessment
Guidelines." Reginald Baldini of the New Jersey Department
of Environmental Protection, Trenton, spoke on "What's
Needed for Risk Assessment on Acutely Toxic Substances?"
Research Triangle Chapter offered new memberships at a
reduced fee with registration at its symposium on environmental
risk equity last October. The symposium drew more than 70
registrants. The chapter now has approximately 100 members.
At the chapter's January meeting, Linda Birnbaum of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's Health Effects Research
Laboratory spoke on "Dioxin Reassessment: Where We've Been,
Where We Are, and Where We're Going." In March, Karla Thrall
of Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratory spoke on "Real-Time
Breath-Analysis Instrumentation: Applications in Risk
Assessment."
Southern California Chapter cosponsored its eighth
annual workshop on May 18 with the University of Southern
California's Institute of Safety and Systems Management. The
day-long event included a plenary session panel addressing the
communication gap on risk between the "pundits" and the
"polls," 16 invited papers in two parallel tracks on
human health risk assessment and technological risk assessment
and management, and a panel discussion on the use of risk
analysis in litigation support. Approximately 80 people attended.
A few copies of the abstract booklets are available from Douglas
Orvis of Accident Prevention Group at telephone (619) 592-0189 or
e-mail 74166.1455@compuserve.com.
The chapter officers and councilors are rotating the tasks of
editing and producing the chapter's newsletter Risk Resources.
The newsletter is utilizing FAXBAK--a form provided in the
newsletter for readers to "fax back" reservations for
dinner meetings, responses to membership surveys, etc.
The new chapter officers include President Larry Froebe of IT
Corporation and President-elect Krishna Nand of Parsons
Engineering Science Inc.
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