Human Health and the Environment - Some Research Needs: Report of the Third Task Force for Research Planning in Environmental Health Science

摘要

The National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council (NAEHSC), assessed the state of existing knowledge and identified areas of particular scientific opportunity so that the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) will have clearly defined direction and priorities over the next seven to eight years. The five broad topic areas addressed are (1) Biological mechanisms through which physical and chemical agents give rise to disease, (2) methods for assessing the health significance of exposure to toxic agents, (3) research strategies for preventing environmentally provoked diseases, (4) organization and structure of environmental health research in the United States; and (5) information exchange in the environmental health sciences. In addressing each of these topic areas and their ramifications, the report considers such issues as the state of relevant knowledge (including cogent epidemiological investigations and databases), key research needs, promising research opportunities, and impediments to research progress. The scope of the report is exceedingly broad, ranging from studies at the subcellular and molecular levels to institutional relationships affecting large human population groups and complex organizations.