THE PACIFIC BASIN CONSORTIUM
FOR ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH

East-West Center

The 12th International Conference of the Pacific Basin Consortium: 'Environment and Health in the 21st Century: Challenges & Solutions'

Introduction

The Pacific Basin Consortium for Environment and Health (PBC) held its 12th International Conference October 26-29, 2007 at Peking University in Beijing, China. Nearly 200 scientists, engineers, policy makers, students and government representatives representing more than twenty countries participated in the four day meeting.

Sponsors

The conference was sponsored by the National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences, USA; the World Health Organization; the East-West Center, USA, the Institute for Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences; the International Copper Association; Global Environment and Energy in the 21 st Century; the University of Arizona, Tucson, USA ; and the Institute for Health and the Environment at the University at Albany, USA..

Objectives

The primary objectives of the conference were to: 1) present research related to (a) sources of environmental pollutants, human exposure to pollutants, and the health effects of exposure; (b) advances in reducing the generation of hazardous chemical pollutants, methods for destroying or capturing them, and technology for the remediation of contaminated soils, hazardous wastes and contaminated groundwater; and (c) climate change, including ecology and health effects; 2) increase interdisciplinary and international cooperation in understanding and addressing threats to human and environmental health in the region, with a special emphasis on ensuring that lessons learned in the development process by industrialized countries are passed on to countries currently in the midst of rapid industrialization; and, 3) discuss ways to reduce risks to human and environmental health within a larger context which recognizes the importance of addressing issues of development, poverty, equity and sustainability. Each of these objectives was successfully met at the conference. Objective 1 was met through superb presentations on a variety of relevant subjects during the plenary and technical sessions. It is apparent from the nature of the discussions during the sessions and at meal and tea times, from the exchange of PowerPoint presentations, business cards, and ideas, and from the number of participants signing up to become PBC members during the meeting, that Objective 2 was also accomplished. Finally, numerous presentations both in the plenary sessions and the technical sessions focused specifically on the need to view issues of environmental health within a broader socio-political context.

Training. A pre-conference training workshop on children’s environmental health (CEH) was conducted on October 26th by an international team of experts and was attended by more than 80 participants. The main objective of the workshop was to highlight key children's environmental health issues and present the WHO Training Package on CEH for the Health Sector as a tool that enables health care providers to access updated information and make the right decisions for the prevention, diagnosis and management of environmentally-related effects in children. Trainers included representatives from WHO, the International Society of Doctors for the Environment (ISDE), and the International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety (INCHES), among others. Topics included ‘why children are not little adults’, ‘fetal environmental origins of disease’, ‘children and chemicals’, ‘air pollution and children’s health’, ‘metals & child health’ and ‘pesticides, POPs  and children’. Participants included students, university professors, and other professionals from a number of countries.                 

A second training session entitled ‘Hazardous Material Emergency Response’ was also scheduled for October 26. The session had to be cancelled due to a flight cancellation caused by inclement weather.

Technical Program. The conference technical program was held October 27, 28 and 29 and included opening and closing plenary sessions, an ongoing poster session, a special student session, and fifteen technical sessions. Session topics included indoor and outdoor air pollution; health effects of heavy metal exposure; hazardous and solid waste remediation and technologies; climate change; sustainability; children’s environmental health; persistent organic pollutants; and cultivation, environment and health. Abstracts from each session can be found by clicking on the individual sessions listed on the conference website.

Session Summaries

Poster Session. The poster session consisted of about 30 posters on topics ranging from plasma lead levels in anembryonic pregnancy to identification of trace metals in airborne particulates of Bangkok, Thailand. The poster session was on display throughout the three days of the technical meeting.

Proceedings
Participants in the PBC 2007 Conference are submitting papers to be peer-reviewed for publication in an upcoming volume of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. Powerpoint presentations of selected presentations are available by emailing the Secretariat at pbc@eastwestcenter.org or the authors directly (see abstracts for contact details).

Conference Photos Photos will be available to be viewed online shortly.

 

 

 

 

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