This proceedings volume results from the NATO Advanced Research Workshop on 'Biomarkers of Radiation in the Environment: Robust Tools for Risk Assessment (BRITE)’. The BRITE workshop discussed insights from cancer research, epigenetics, non-human and human risk assessment, since many of the state-of-the-art biomarkers being developed for humans deserve consideration for environmental applications and vice versa. Sessions were very wide-ranging covering methods, mechanisms, cross disciplinary application and regulation. The chapters in this book have been grouped into five major themes that were covered by the BRITE workshop: · Techniques for biomarker development · Low-dose effect mechanisms · Biomarkers for risk evaluation · Biomarkers in wildlife · Biomarker use and responses Each chapter has been written independently and reflects the views of the chapter author(s). Therefore, the readers can form their own balanced view of the different perspectives on biomarkers of radiation in the environment. Given the breadth of topics covered and the state-of-the-art perspectives shared by leading experts in their respective fields, this book should form a valuable resource for anyone with an interest in how biomarkers can be used to improve our understanding of radiation in the environment and its potential impacts.

Biomarkers have emerged as an exciting tool in disease prevention, particularly in the workplace. They may be used to document workers' exposure to toxins, signal the onset of health effects, or identify individuals with susceptibility to certain environmental threats. But the uncertainty is as great as the potential. Are biomarkers suitable for widespread use? How can they be deployed in diverse contexts? How can biological information about workers be handled fairly and ethically? Biomarkers and Occupational Health describes the state of biomarker development, including the implications of the Human Genome program, and presents a range of viewpoints on the future of biomarkers from the leaders in the field. This book explores the three basic types of biomarkers (markers of exposure, markers of health effects, and markers of susceptibility to disease) from a variety of perspectives. It examines what can be learned from well-known exposure sitesâ€"Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Chernobyl, and the Hanford nuclear site in the United States, for exampleâ€"and a wide range of human cases and animal studies. The book also explores the costs and ramifications of developing a large-scale program to monitor potentially exposed workers (e.g., at a cleanup site). A framework is offered for the use of biomarkers based on the mandate to "change the environment before you change the worker." The book explores how to identify ethical issues, how to set development priorities, and how to integrate biomarkers into an occupational health and safety program. The authors present the latest technical findings about markers for chronic beryllium disease as well as markers for exposure to carcinogens, radiation, and chroniumâ€"including prospects for detecting long-past exposures. Biomarkers and Occupational Health offers an update on biomarker development and explores a wide scope of issues. This book will be important to occupational health professionals, biomedical researchers, toxicologists, epidemiologists, and labor and management officials involved in worker health issues. Moritmer L. Mendelsohn, M.D., Ph.D., is Vice-Chairman of the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF) in Japan, which studies the long-term health effects of the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and he is former Associate Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. John P. Peeters, Ph.D., is a geneticist who is currently directing a division of the Office of Occupational Medicine for the United States Department of Energy. Mary Janet Normandy, Ph.D., is a toxicologist who specializes in the metabolism of xenobiotics in mammalian systems. She is currently a member of the Department of Energy's Office of Occupational Medicine.

Many areas of Eastern Europe have been polluted to an extent unknown in the West. Four such sites - Kola Peninsula, northern Bohemia, upper Vistula Basin, and Katowice - have been identified and detailed accounts of the pollution at these sites are given. The current status of the use of biomarkers in hazard assessment is given by several scientists from NATO countries. Four working groups, comprising scientists working on the polluted sites and western scientists with expertise in biomarkers, examine the use of biomarkers to assess the environmental health of each of these areas and make recommendations on the future direction of remedial action in these areas.

"How can biological markers help assess and predict human health risks? Find out the answers to this question and others in this timely new book examining the use of biological markers in animals and plants for evaluating the ecological and health effects of environmental contamination. The book explains the concept of environmental sentinels, presents example of field studies and discusses the utility of biomarkers within a risk analysis paradigm. Anyone who needs to know how to assess and predict environmental contamination should consider this book essential reading."--Provided by publisher.

Despite overwhelming evidence of tobacco's harmful effects and pressure from anti-smoking advocates, current surveys show that about one-quarter of all adults in the United States are smokers. This audience is the target for a wave of tobacco products and pharmaceuticals that claim to preserve tobacco pleasure while reducing its toxic effects. Clearing the Smoke addresses the problems in evaluating whether such products actually do reduce the health risks of tobacco use. Within the context of regulating such products, the committee explores key questions: Does the use of such products decrease exposure to harmful substances in tobacco? Is decreased exposure associated with decreased harm to health? Are there surrogate indicators of harm that could be measured quickly enough for regulation of these products? What are the public health implications? This book looks at the types of products that could reduce harm and reviews the available evidence for their impact on various forms of cancer and other major ailments. It also recommends approaches to governing these products and tracking their public health effects. With an attitude of healthy skepticism, Clearing the Smoke will be important to health policy makers, public health officials, medical practitioners, manufacturers and marketers of "reduced-harm" tobacco products, and anyone trying to sort through product claims.

Ecotoxicology is a relatively new scientific discipline. Indeed, it might be argued that it is only during the last 5-10 years that it has come to merit being regarded as a true science, rather than a collection of procedures for protecting the environment through management and monitoring of pollutant discharges into the environment. The term 'ecotoxicology' was first coined in the late sixties by Prof. Truhaut, a toxicologist who had the vision to recognize the importance of investigating the fate and effects of chemicals in ecosystems. At that time, ecotoxicology was considered a sub-discipline of medical toxicology. Subsequently, several attempts have been made to portray ecotoxicology in a more realistic light. Notably, both F. Moriarty (1988) and F. Ramade (1987) emphasized in their books the broad basis of ecotoxicology, encompassing chemical and radiation effects on all components of ecosystems. In doing so, they and others have shifted concern from direct chemical toxicity to man, to the far more subtle effects that pollutant chemicals exert on natural biota. Such effects potentially threaten the existence of all life on Earth. Although I have identified the sixties as the era when ecotoxicology was first conceived as a coherent subject area, it is important to acknowledge that studies that would now be regarded as ecotoxicological are much older. Wherever people's ingenuity has led them to change the face of nature significantly, it has not escaped them that a number of biological con sequences, often unfavourable, ensue.

In the late 1980s, the National Cancer Institute initiated an investigation of cancer risks in populations near 52 commercial nuclear power plants and 10 Department of Energy nuclear facilities (including research and nuclear weapons production facilities and one reprocessing plant) in the United States. The results of the NCI investigation were used a primary resource for communicating with the public about the cancer risks near the nuclear facilities. However, this study is now over 20 years old. The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission requested that the National Academy of Sciences provide an updated assessment of cancer risks in populations near USNRC-licensed nuclear facilities that utilize or process uranium for the production of electricity. Analysis of Cancer Risks in Populations near Nuclear Facilities: Phase 1 focuses on identifying scientifically sound approaches for carrying out an assessment of cancer risks associated with living near a nuclear facility, judgments about the strengths and weaknesses of various statistical power, ability to assess potential confounding factors, possible biases, and required effort. The results from this Phase 1 study will be used to inform the design of cancer risk assessment, which will be carried out in Phase 2. This report is beneficial for the general public, communities near nuclear facilities, stakeholders, healthcare providers, policy makers, state and local officials, community leaders, and the media.