Center for Risk Science kicks off with symposium Sept. 15-16

Updated 12:00 PM September 7, 2005

Center for Risk Science kicks off with symposium Sept. 15-16

By Colleen Newvine
News Service

When David Garabrant was a public health student, he witnessed the massive change in regulation and behavior that came from recognizing the risks associated with asbestos, vinyl chloride and benzene.

"These were all hot issues in the 1970s," says Garabrant, a physician and professor of occupational medicine and epidemiology at U-M.

Garabrant says increased attention uncovered the obvious offenders—chemicals with known health effects from high levels of exposure. Now 30 years later, with modern risk analysis, scientists are exploring more subtle health effects resulting from exposure to low levels of chemicals in the environment.

To address complex questions about which chemicals are or are not safe, and at what levels, Garabrant is helping to launch the Center for Risk Science and Communication at the School of Public Health (SPH) during a two-day symposium Sept. 15-16.

"Risk modeling is the basis for virtually all regulation of chemicals in the U.S.," says Garabrant, director of the center. Because of that, he adds, it is important that legislators and the public feel confident the research is unbiased and unemotional—not slanted to protect the interests of corporations or to serve the desires of their critics.

"Regardless of the source of funding, whether public or private, only the University of Michigan controls the research. And we will publish our results, even if the findings are not beneficial to the funders," he says.

Martin Philbert, professor of toxicology and senior associate dean for research at SPH, is executive director of the center. As a nanotechnologist and toxicologist, he collaborates with colleagues in medicine and engineering, among other disciplines. He sees similar strengths for the center.

"Health hazards are growing more complex so we need a more comprehensive approach to studying them. The risk science center draws upon the University's faculty in fields from science to health to business and communications. Combining these strengths, we can help conduct the science that leads to better understanding of health risks," Philbert says.

The center aims not only to conduct research on potential health hazards, but also to help explain research results to the general public.

"Statistically, bicycles are more dangerous than nuclear power plants, but we fear nuclear power more than bicycles," Garabrant says. "The public perception of some health risks may be at odds with reality. We need to understand that better so we can find better ways to communicate with the public about what is and is not a major health hazard."

To address such questions, Garabrant and Philbert will focus on chemical and human health during the symposium.

Gina Kolata, science reporter for the New York Times, is slated as a keynote speaker Sept. 15. John Graham, administrator in Information and Regulatory Affairs in the U.S. Office of Management and Budget also will speak, and John Henshaw, former assistant secretary of labor for Occupational Safety and Health, and an alumnus, will deliver remarks at an evening banquet.

On Sept. 16, presenters include John Marburger, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy for President Bush; Michael DeVito, a branch chief with the Environmental Protection Agency National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory; and John Butenhoff of 3M Corporate Toxicology and Regulatory Services.

The symposium is funded, in part, by a gift from the Isadore Bernstein Fund at SPH.

For more information, visit: http://www.sph.umich.edu/riskcenter.

To register, visit: http://www.sph.umich.edu/riskcenter/symposium.htm.

Center for Risk Science kicks off with symposium Sept. 15-16

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