A host of international marine experts will be attending a workshop at the Bermuda Biological Station for Research later this month to discuss issues affecting ocean and human health.

The workshop will be attended by what a BBSR spokesperson called "the who's who'' of the world's scientists working on the ocean/human health connection.

Included will be Dr. Ken Olden, director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health, which is the US government funding agency most concerned with this area of science.

BBSR director Dr. Tony Knap said: "For someone like Dr. Olden to come to Bermuda for this type of workshop demonstrates the important role Bermuda plays in the scientific community and its importance to US government scientific funding agencies.'' BBSR kicked off their Centre for Ocean and Human Health on May 1 with a symposium for the Bermudian public that outlined the Centre's research plans.

Since then it has continued to develop research and educational initiatives both in Bermuda and abroad, including programmes in Costa Rica.

Research at the Centre investigates the relationship between ocean health and human health, using recent intellectual and technological innovations in fields such as ecotoxicology and molecular marine biology.

In addition, the Centre's mission includes research to help environmental errors, ranging from mismanagement of oil spills to overfishing.

The upcoming workshop is expected to develop a detailed research agenda, not only for BBSR's new Centre, but for this new field of research globally.

The next step for the Centre is a briefing in Washington D.C. early next year for Congressional and scientific funding agency staff.

At the briefing, Dr. Knap will moderate a panel that includes Dr. Olden and other scientists who will discuss the issues addressed at the BBSR workshop.

Goals include reviewing the current state-of-the-art science on the use of indicators to link environmental changes, their effects on marine organisms and ultimately their effects on human health; using knowledge gained from well-studied areas, such as New Bedford Harbour and the Arctic; and establishing collaborations between national and international governmental and private sector groups.

Other participants will include Canadian physician and public health expert Dr. Eric DeWailly from Laval University, Dr. Michael Bolger of the US Food and Drug Administration, which plays an important role in monitoring seafood safety and approving pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Michael Depledge from the Plymouth Environmental Research Centre, UK, considered Europe's leading ecotoxicologist.

The workshop runs from November 16 to 19 and more information can be found on the Internet at www.bbsr.edu.

SCIENCE SCI