New York Academy of Sciences

The dilution effect: How biodiversity can decrease disease risk (2 East 63rd Street, NYC 10021, from Nov 12, 2004 08:00 AM to Nov 12, 2004 08:00 AM)

Biologist Felicia Keesing, recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers in 2000. Dr. Keesing, an ecologist who studies the consequences of biodiversity loss in East Africa and in the United States, is a leader in the growing field of disease ecology. In her talk, Dr. Keesing will describe a novel potential function of biodiversity – protecting human health. Through examples from various disease systems including Lyme disease and malaria, she will illustrate mechanisms in which biodiversity dilutes the spread of infectious agents in nature.

Risk Assessment and the Precautionary Principle: Clarifying the Differences, Finding the Areas of Agreement (New York Academy of Sciences (63rd St. bet 5th Ave and Madison Ave) New York, NY, from Dec 16, 2004 06:00 PM to Dec 16, 2004 07:30 PM)

Speakers: James Hammitt, Harvard School of Public Health and Joel Tickner, University of Massachusetts at Lowell How can potential risks be evaluated and information presented to make for clearer, better-informed choices? Where do Risk Assessment and the Precautionary Principle provide complementary guidance, and where do the differences between these two methods of assessment lead to opposing policy recommendations? Environmental and public health policy-makers constantly face issues which these two approaches address in different ways – such as: EPA’s proposed mercury regulations; controls on genetically modified organisms; or the implications of chemical residues (e.g. from Teflon or fire retardants) in humans or other living beings. The presentation will provide insights to better understand Risk Assessment and the Precautionary Principle, two approaches to identifying potential outcomes of proposed actions, and to examine how their application can assist decision-makers in making wise policy choices.