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RN01 - 1 July 2006
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Risk Newsletter.
The newsletter is a publication of the Risk Network, a EU FP6 funded activity (SOCIETY-3.1 Public understanding and confidence, proposal #513310). In the Newsletter you will find updates on activities of the Network, as well as news items on risk in life sciences: assessment, research, communication and policy.

Risk Network Website Operational.
The website of the Risk Network has been upgraded with a new service: a Document Database. Together with the expanding Links and News sections, we expect that this trinity will serve visitors of the Network website with valuable background information. We would be grateful for suggestions or submissions to one of these three activities, please use: [http://risk.eusem.com/main/contact]. Although a search facility is made available, the supplied information will be placed in appropriate sub-sections in the future. 

Pesticides Increase Risk Of Parkinsons Disease.
A new Harvard study has linked pesticide exposure to a 70% increase in Parkinson's disease. The study, which is the largest ever conducted, was released in the July 2006 issue of the Annals of Neurology. This research backs up earlier animal studies linking pesticide exposure to brain and nerve damage. For those who were exposed, occupation was not a risk factor, as farm workers and everyday home bug-sprayers all had the same increased risk. The study did not correlate the increased risk with any specific pesticides, but rather found the connection in overall general use of pesticides. "This is certainly the biggest and most serious populations study on people, and it appears to be the best proof today that there is a general association between pesticide and Parkinson's among people," said Robin Elliot, executive director for the Parkinson's Disease Foundation in New York City, describing the findings as "important and solid."
[http://www.organicconsumers.org/2006/article_902.cfm]

Study Says Mad Cow Epidemic May Be Incubating In Thousands Of People.
A new study in the Lancet medical journal (UK) suggests that variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD), the human variant of Mad Cow Disease, may not peak in the human population for several decades, by which time many thousands of beef eaters and hospital patients that have received tainted blood transfusions could die. The study shows how Kuru, a similar fatal brain-wasting prion disease in New Guinea, has been found to have an incubation period of 35 to 41 years. Researchers suspect it could be longer for vCJD because the infection is transmitted between species, from cows to humans. The 160 fatal human cases of the disease that have already surfaced around the world could represent a distinct genetic subgroup of the population with an unusually short incubation period, according to John Collinge, the study leader and a professor at University College, London. There could be "substantial underestimations" in recent estimates of the size of the vCJD epidemic, Collinge said in a report in The Lancet medical journal.
[http://alerts.organicconsumers.org/trk/click?ref=zqtbkk3um_0-25x359x322720&]

Multispecies Habitat Conservation Plans May Place Some Species at Greater Risk.
Habitat conservation plans are intended to achieve a balance between development and the long-term conservation of species listed as endangered or threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Developers seeking permits for the incidental take of listed species often include multiple species in their plans, both listed and nonlisted, because if a species not in the plan is subsequently listed under the act, the continued activities of the permittee could be jeopardized. The result, the article argues, is that some species that are present but unconfirmed are placed in greater danger.
[http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/060701_multispecies_habitat_conservation_plans_may_place_some_species_at_greater_risk.html]

Japan To Assess Risk Of Molecular Substances On Human Health.
The Japan health ministry has started researching potential risks such as toxicity of molecular substances increasingly used in a broad range of products from information technology devices to cosmetics
[http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r571886885]

A matter of ethics: "Action by Churches Together" (ACT) International adopts policy on the use of GM food in emergencies.
Add the humanitarian imperative in disaster response to the discussion, and you end up with a double-edged sword: the non-acceptance of genetically modified food can lead to a deepening crisis, with more deaths as a result, but at the same time, accepting these foods can lead to changes in agricultural practices, pollute the environment and damage local food grain varieties. The policy calls for any GMO grain given in a food emergency to be milled.
[http://act-intl.org/news/dt_nr_2006/nrgmos0206.html]

Risk in Society.
The assessment of risk in modern society is one of the most obvious areas where clear statistical thinking can have a positive impact on public misconceptions. With this in mind, Series A of the Royal Statistical Society's Journal decided to dedicate its June 2003 issue to the question of how to communicate risk to the public.
[http://www.rss.org.uk/main.asp?page=1884]

Diabetes Confers Health Risk Equivalent To Ageing 15 Years.
The effect of diabetes on health is equivalent to ageing 15 years, according to an article in this week's issue of The Lancet. Canadian researchers found that people with diabetes fell into the high-risk category for cardiovascular disease (CVD)* 15 years earlier than those without diabetes.
[http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/medicalnews.php?newsid=46321&nfid=rssfeeds]

Risk factors for pulmonary tuberculosis: a clinic-based case control study in The Gambia.
The tuberculosis (TB) epidemic in Africa is on the rise, even in low-HIV prevalence settings. Few studies have attempted to identify possible reasons for this. We aimed to identify risk factors for pulmonary tuberculosis in those attending a general outpatients clinic in The Gambia, a sub-Saharan African country with relatively low HIV prevalence in the community and in TB patients.
[http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2458-6-156.pdf]