Source: RISK newsletter,
Second Quarter 1996, published by the Society for Risk Analysis
SRA’s specialty groups are developing sessions for the joint meeting of the Society with the International Society of Exposure Assessment in New Orleans, December 8-11. Reports of plans submitted to RISK newsletter by two groups are as follows:
Dose Response Specialty Group will sponsor four sessions at the 1996 SRA/ISEA annual meeting. One on “Time: The Forgotten Dimension in Risk Assessment” will explore the effect of time on dose-response curves. “Emerging Biologically Based Dose-Response Models for Both Carcinogenic and Non-Carcinogenic Endpoints” will address the goals and definitions of biologically based models in two sessions--the first utilizing case studies to emphasize basic principles of model development and the second identifying general characteristics of biologically based dose-response models in a speaker/panel format encouraging open discussion. “Microbial Dose Response” will describe the unique challenges which pathogen risk assessment poses. “Variability and Uncertainty in Assessing Dose Response” will explore concerns related to variability and uncertainty in quantitative risk assessment, especially its effects on environmental risk management decisions. For more information, contact the group’s president, Scott R. Baker of EA Engineering, Science, and Technology Inc., Silver Spring, Maryland, telephone (301) 565-4216, fax (301) 587-4752, e-mail sb@eaeng.mhs.compuserve.com.
Exposure Assessment Specialty Group has several session topics under consideration, including activity patterns, biological contaminants, biomarkers of exposure, environmental epidemiology, regulatory issues, probabilistic methods of exposure assessment, and exposure monitoring and modeling, including topics related to food-chain pathways, dermal exposure, indoor air pollution, water contamination, and hazardous waste. For more information, contact the group’s chair-elect, Alison C. Cullen of the University of Washington, e-mail alison@u.washington.edu, telephone (206) 543-4900, fax (206) 543-1096.
Other SRA specialty groups and their contacts are:
Ecological Risk Assessment Specialty Group, William (Bill) Alsop, ChemRisk, Alameda, California, telephone (510) 748-5657, fax (510) 521-1547, e-mail bill_alsop@mclaren-hart.com
Engineering Specialty Group, Ali Mosleh, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, telephone (301) 405-5215, fax (301) 314-9601, email mosleh@eng.umd.edu
Risk Communication Specialty Group, Branden B. Johnson, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Trenton, New Jersey, telephone (609) 633-2324, fax (609) 292-7340, e-mail brandenj@eohsi.rutgers.edu
Editor’s Note: Rae Zimmerman, chair of the 1996 SRA/ISEA annual meeting program committee, distributed to the SRA membership a detailed list of topics for which the specialty groups were soliciting abstracts. Contact the SRA Secretariat (see masthead) for copies of that mailing.