Proceedings of the Hydrogen Sulfide Health Research and Risk Assessment Symposium October 31-November 2, 2000.

The Hydrogen Sulfide Health Research and Risk Assessment Symposium came about for several reasons: (1) increased interest by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and several state agencies in regulating hydrogen sulfide (H2S); (2) uncertainty about ambient exposure to H2S; (3) confusion and disagreement in the literature about possible health effects at low-level exposures; and (4) presentation of results of a series of recent animal bioassays.

Health and air quality: directions for policy-relevant research.

The NERAM International Colloquia series is a program of five annual meetings involving scientists, regulators, industry representatives, and other stakeholder groups to improve the linkage between emerging scientific evidence on the population health impacts of exposure to particulate matter and clean air policy decisions. Health and Air Quality 2001, the first meeting in the colloquium series, focused on the findings of prospective cohort studies of particulate air pollution and mortality and implications for risk management. A further objective of the colloquium was to identify research directions to reduce information gaps and uncertainties faced by policy makers.

Commentary: an industry perspective.

I have been asked to summarize "industry's views" of the results from the air quality (AQ) studies. This is an impossible task; there are widely divergent views and opinions held by those of us in industry. However, there are areas of broad agreement, and the following three messages, for which I take full responsibility, have been tested with a number of colleagues and have met with their approval.