Boston University Superfund Research Program

Jessica Nelson, a doctoral candidate in the BU SPH Environmental Health Department, and Madeleine Scammell, PI of the Community Outreach and Research Translation Cores, presented at a workshop focusing on translating data from emerging technologies to better inform public health decision making. The workshop, Connecting Innovations in Biological Exposure and Risk Sciences: Better Information for Better Decisions, was convened in Charleston, SC on June 16 and 17. Sponsored by the International Council of Chemical Associations, workshop participants from industry, academia and government assessed the growing gap between advancements in new technologies to measure the effects of chemicals on cells, tissues and organisms and the scientific community’s capacity to translate the data from these new technologies into information that is effective and useful for risk-based decision making.

Nelson and Scammell presented on the Boston Consensus Conference on Biomonitoring, organized by the BU School of Public Health in 2006 with funding from NIEHS. The Danish-style conference brought together leading experts in biomonitoring and a 15-member lay panel representing a cross-section of Boston area residents. The lay panel produced a consensus statement expressing the panel’s ethical concerns and policy recommendations regarding human biomonitoring. Nelson and Scammell showed a video made about the consensus conference, then highlighted the recommendations of the lay panel and emphasized the essential nature of community involvement in public health policy making.