RISK newsletter:
SRA U.S. Chapter News

Source: The Society for Risk Analysis' RISK newsletter, Third Quarter 1995

East Tennessee Chapter has begun to reorganize with some 30 past members who have expressed an interest in future programs. The chapter plans to hold monthly meetings with two presentations at each meeting to encourage communication among different risk disciplines. In June, Curtis C. Travis of the Center for Risk Management at Oak Ridge National Laboratory discussed risk-based issues associated with government-sponsored environmental cleanup efforts, and chapter President Joseph W. Minarick of Science Applications International Corporation described the analysis of near-miss (accident precursor) events. Elections for new officers will be held in the fall.

Metropolitan Chapter (Connecticut-New Jersey-New York) sponsored a seminar titled "Low Level Chemical Sensitivity: Possible Origins, Clinical Presentations, and Interviews" with the Mount Sinai Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The chapter's past president, Miriam de Salegui, and the center's director of education, Stephen Mooser, co-organized the seminar, which was attended by some 75 medical practitioners, attorneys, health scientists, environmental consultants, and multiple chemical sensitivity sufferers. Subsequent to the seminar, approximately 25 new members joined the chapter.

Michigan Chapter elected new officers this spring, including a new president, John L. Nelson of Ford Motor Company. He is hoping to broaden the scope of the chapter meetings to include topics relating to technological advancements in risk analysis, the role of the judiciary in risk assessment, and improvements in risk assessment methodologies. The officers will meet in August to establish new directions for the chapter and to begin planning the fall meeting. One of their goals is to improve communications between the chapter and other professional societies.

New England Chapter is taking a summer break from its monthly meeting schedule, which will resume in the fall. Michael Hutcheson of the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection has begun his term as chapter president for 1995-96. The chapter recently elected officers, including a new president-elect, Dale B. Hattis of Clark University's Center for Technology, Environment, and Development.

Northern California Chapter is co-sponsoring a symposium at the 1995 SRA Annual Meeting in Hawaii with the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program. The symposium, titled "California's Road to Risk-based Regulation: Potholes and Progress on Route 65," will review the state's attempts to rationalize its risk-based regulatory policy and will propose guidelines for the current national debate.

Philadelphia Chapter annually sponsors three dinner meetings, which are held at the University of Pennsylvania's Faculty Club and are open to the public. The 1995-96 meetings will feature speakers who are involved with risk assessment reform legislation. In October or November, a key Republican with scientific expertise will speak on risk assessment legislation. In January, a key Democrat with scientific expertise will give an alternative perspective on the issue. At the spring meeting, around Earth Day, an expert in ecological risk assessment will speak. To place your name on the mailing list for meeting announcements, contact the chapter secretary, Linda M. Burg of Rohm and Haas Company.

Research Triangle Chapter most recently met in June. Daniel J. Guth of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's National Center for Environmental Assessment spoke on "Exposure-Response Analysis of Acute Inhalation Exposure Using Stratified Ordinal Regression and Benchmark Concentration Techniques." The chapter's president is David A. Kramer of the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology.

Southern California Chapter is using the summer months to plan its program year from September 1995 through June 1996. The chapter is also preparing to incorporate. As a part of incorporation, the chapter's past president, Douglas D. Orvis of Accident Prevention Group Inc., is heading an effort to revise the chapter's by-laws.

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