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Second Printing, May 1992
Committee on Opportunities in Applied Environmental Research and Development
Richard N. L. Andrews, Chairman,
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
David Bates,
University of British Columbia, Vancouver
Richard A. Conway,
Union Carbide Corporation, South Charleston
Donald Hog,
Harvard University, Cambridge
Duncan T. Patten,
Arizona State University, Tempe
F. Sherwood Rowland,
University of California, Irvine
Arthur C. Upton,
New York University Medical Center, New York
Staff
Deborah D. Sane, Project Director
Robert B. Smythe, Program Director
Kathleen J. Daniel, Staff Officer
Ruth Crossgrove, Editor
Norman Grossblatt, Editor
Karen L. Hulebak, Senior Staff Officer
Bernidean Williams, Information Specialist
Boyce N. Agnew, Project Assistant
Ruth P. Danoff, Project Assistant
Sponsors
Environmental Protection Agency
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, U.S. Public Health Service
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences
Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology
Gilbert S. Omenn, Chairman,
University of Washington, Seattle
Frederick R. Anderson,
Washington School of Law, American University, Washington, D.C.
John Bailar, III,
McGill University School of Medicine, Montreal
Lawrence W. Barnthouse,
Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge
Garry D. Brewer,
Yale University, New Haven
Joanna Burger,
Nelson Laboratory, Rutgers University, Piscataway
Yoram Cohen,
University of California, Los Angeles
John L. Emmerson,
Lilly Research Laboratories, Greenfield
Robert L. Harness,
Monsanto Agricultural Company, St. Louis
Alfred G. Knudson,
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia
Gene E. Likens,
The New York Botanical Garden, Millbrook
Paul J. Lioy,
UMDNJ—Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Piscataway
Jane Lubchenco,
Oregon State University, Corvallis
Donald Mattison,
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
Nathaniel Reed,
Hobe Sound
F. Sherwood Rowland,
University of California, Irvine
Milton Russell,
University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Margaret M. Seminario,
AFL/CIO, Washington, D.C.
L. Glenn Sipes,
University of Arizona, Tucson
Walter J. Weber, Jr.,
University of Michigan Ann Arbor
Staff
James J. Reisa, Director
Robert B. Smythe, Program Director for Exposure Assessment and Risk Reduction
David J. Policansky, Program Director for Natural Resources and Applied Ecology
Richard D. Thomas, Program Director for Human Toxicology and Risk Assessment
Lee R. Paulson, Manager,
Toxicology Information Center
Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources*
M. Gordon Wolman, Chairman,
The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
Robert C. Beardsley,
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole
B. Clark Burchfiel,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Ralph J. Cicerone,
University of California, Irvine
Peter S. Eagleson,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
Helen Ingram,
Udall Center for Public Policy Studies, Tucson
Gene E. Likens,
New York Botanical Gardens, Millbrook
Syukuro Manabe,
Geophysics Fluid Dynamics Lab, NOAA, Princeton
Jack E. Oliver,
Cornell University, Ithaca
Philip A. Palmer, E.I.
du Pont de Nemours & Co, Newark
Frank L. Parker,
Vanderbilt University, Nashville
Duncan T. Patten,
Arizona State University, Tempe
Maxine L. Savitz,
Allied Signal Aerospace, Torrance
Larry L. Smarr,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Champaign
Steven M. Stanley,
Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland
Sir Crispin Tickell,
Green College at the Radcliffe Observatory, Oxford, UK
Karl K. Turekian,
Yale University, New Haven
Irvin L. White,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, Albany
James H. Zumberge,
University of Southern California, Los Angeles
Staff
Stephen Rattien, Executive Director
Stephen D. Parker, Associate Executive Director
Janice E. Mehler, Assistant Executive Director
Jeanette A. Spoon, Financial Officer
Carlira Perry, Administrative Assistant
Robin Lewis, Sr. Project Assistant
* |
This study was begun under the Commission on Physical Sciences, Mathematica, and Resources, whose members are listed in Appendix E, and completed under the successor Commission on Geosciences, Environment, and Resources. |
Preface
There are many opportunities in applied environmental research and development. In investigating such opportunities, the committee attempted to look into the future; therefore, this report is not an exhaustive scientific report, but rather an attempt to summarize the opinions of experts in several fields. Four areas were investigated by this committee with the assistance of participants in a series of workshops: waste reduction, ecosystem and landscape change, anticipatory research, and long-term chemical toxicity.
One fundamental question is whether the Environmental Protection Agency and other agencies should fund only research linked specifically to its legislated regulatory objectives or whether it should also anticipate new or emerging, unregulated environmental problems. This committee believes that applied research should focus on the most serious environmental hazards rather than be driven by current regulatory priorities or news media coverage.
Further, the committee believes that research is an essential foundation of environmental protection and that scientifically based advisory panels should play a larger and more visible role in fostering improvements in environmental science, such as developing high-quality research institutions and advising environmental agencies on ways to link research effectively with policy and management decision making.
The committee's efforts were facilitated by the many scientists and engineers who participated in its workshops. The committee wishes to thank them for their endeavors. In addition, the committee would like to thank Karen Hulebak and Kathleen Daniel, who began the project, and Deborah Stine, who guided the report through the review process, provided valuable comments, and diligently ensured that the document was complete. Others of the BEST staff who contributed to the efforts include James Reisa, director; Robert Smythe, program director; Lee Paulson, Ruth Crossgrove, and Norman Grossblatt, editors; Tania Williams, who produced the camera copy; and Boyce Agnew and Ruth Danoff, project secretaries.
Richard N. L. Andrews
Chairman