| In
This Issue
Human Ecology
Study Questions Role of Viruses
In New Zealand Mesothelioma Epidemic
Malignant mesothelioma, a
relatively rare cancer of the lining of the body, in the years 1975 to
1980, had an annual death rate in New Zealand of two per million. Tord
Kjellstrom and Pamela Smartt of the University of Auckland have
established that the rate for men reached 25 per million for 1995, and
that the incidence is expected to double by 2010. What caused the
epidemic?
Read More
Fear of a New Form of Eugenics
Who Should Regulate Bioethical
Issues In Genomic Research?
Bioethics issues for
public, but not privately-funded, genomic research are regulated by
several agencies in the United States. Does the European Union [EU] have
a more comprehensive system? GEE! asked Contributing
Editor Marja Sorsa if there is a regulatory agency [as distinct from
an investigatory or advisory body] in the EU. For her answer and an
insight into the state of regulation in Europe and the US, click on
Read
More
Genetic Profiles
Ethnicity Cannot Predict
Drug Success
Race should not influence drug prescriptions, warn
geneticists. Genetic differences between individuals give a better
indication of who will respond well to a medicine, a new study shows. Read
More
Amarillo
Health Consortium
Board Elected, First
Screening Planned
The
Amarillo Health Consortium, a new voluntary occupational health
agency formed by a partnership of the Amarillo Metal Trades
Council and The Ramazzini Institute, has elected an initial
Board and put in place its first program objectives. The new
agency will assist both workers at Pantex, the Department of
Energy’s nuclear weapons facility in Amarillo, and other
workers and their families in the Amarillo metropolitan area, at
risk of occupational disease. Read
More |
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Moral Questions
September 11, 2001: An Attempt To
Arrest Civilization
Was
the tragedy at the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11
an inevitable, repeat performance of history’s violent drama,
reflecting an innate rot in the human core?
Some
clues to the answer are found in the work of Abu Zayd Abd-Ar-Rahman
Ibn Khaldun, a late 14th century Islamic scholar, an Arab
of North Africa, who is claimed by historians, philosophers, economists,
sociologists and anthropologists as one of their own pioneers. He also
was a practitioner of Human Ecology, a biologically-modeled approach to
understanding the nature of ourselves. Read
More
Who Are We?
Buffler Joins Institute Board
Patricia A. Buffler, PhD,
MPH, Professor of Epidemiology and Dean Emerita of the School of Public
Health, University of California at Berkeley, has been elected to the
Board of Directors of The Ramazzini Institute. Dr.
Buffler takes the position vacated by Professor Arthur Frank, MD, PhD,
of the University of Texas Health Center at Tyler.
Dr. Frank has been elected Treasurer to replace the late William
Nicholson. Dr. Buffler is completing a sabbatical at the World Health
Organization’s International Agency for Cancer Research in Lyon,
France. Read
More |
| News
In Brief!
In
the face of the Sept. 11 disaster…
- Conference Re-scheduled! Human Genetics,
Environment and Communities of Color: Ethical and Social
Implications. An important conference originally scheduled
at Columbia University, in New York City, Sept. 20, 2001, is
being re-scheduled. Speakers: Primary speaker is Kenneth
Olden, Director of the National Institute for Environmental
Health Sciences and a leader in the American Environmental
Justice movement. Other speakers include Eula Bingham,
University of Cincinnati, former Assistant Secretary of Labor
for Occupational Safety and Health; and Paul Schulte,
Education Director for the National Institute of Occupational
Safety and Health and a pioneer on issues of moral
responsibility among government epidemiologists. Details?
Contact: www.weact.org.
- In Washington, DC
, an estimated 140 to 150 state
legislators and legislative staff attended Genetics, Policy
and Law: A National Forum, Oct. 5 and 6, conducted by
the Genetic Technologies Project of National Conference of State
Legislatures, Georgetown University Law Center, and Johns
Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. The meeting was
sponsored by NIH and the American Council of Life Insurers.
Speakers included nationally recognized
experts such as Professor Mark Rothstein of the newly created
center on bioethics and law at the University of Louisville and
Mary Davidson, Executive Director of the Genetic Alliance. GEE!
publishes in this issue the full text of Davidson’s
presentation.
Cheye Calvo, NCSL specialist, and James
Hodge, Jr. Georgetown University Law Center reported the
findings of their three-year study of genetics public policy at
the state level. Copies of the NIH-funded study can be obtained
from the Conference: www.ncsl.org/programs/health/genetics.htm.
- For the experts: The National Center for
Toxicogenomics, NIEHS, is sponsoring Gene Expression and
Proteomics in Environmental Health Research, a symposium,
December 3-4, 2001, at the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD, on
functional genomics, proteomics, toxicology, informatics and
database development.
Toxicogenomics, said to be a new
science, combines clinical, genomic [including environmental
genomic], and proteomic information to increase understanding
of biochemical and genetic pathways to disease. Key speakers: Doctors
Leroy Hood and Michael Karin.
More information? Call: Dr. James
Selkirk or Ms. Sandy Sandberg (919) 541-2548 or 541-3464. http://www.niehs.nih.gov/nct/brochure.htm
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