A symposium on perchlorate, an environmental contaminant, will take place Monday, Sept. 29, through Wednesday, Oct. 1, at the Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown Omaha.
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The University of Nebraska Center for Environmental Toxicology and the University of Nebraska Medical Center Department of Pharmacology are coordinating and sponsoring the Perchlorate State-of-the-Science Symposium (PS3 2003). Other sponsors include the U.S. Department of Defense (the Air Force, Army and Navy), the Perchlorate Study Group, the Tri-Service Perchlorate Working Group, the Society for Risk Analysis and the Nebraska Health and Human Services System.
Approximately 200 individuals are expected to attend, including scientists, consultants, regulatory agency officials and others interested in learning about the latest research findings on perchlorate.
The symposium will provide a review of five fundamental scientific aspects of research related to the potential health risks from low-level exposure to perchlorate, which is the anion in ammonium perchlorate, the major component in solid rocket motors, fireworks and automotive airbag inflators. Perchlorate is also a trace constituent of some fertilizers and is found naturally in scattered locations. Potassium perchlorate has been used for pharmaceutical purposes for more than 50 years.
The symposium will summarize and address the most hotly debated scientific questions about perchlorate. Authors of major recent research papers will present and explain their work, while leading experts in each relevant field will evaluate these papers and provide their own insights. At the conclusion of the symposium, the experts will incorporate the newest scientific information into brief reports on the state-of-the-science of perchlorate as of 2003.
For further information, contact the UNMC Center for Continuing Education at 559-6235 or conted@unmc.edu.