The When, Where, and How of Environmental Hazards

Experiment is a research endeavor that examines the relationship between ENSO and other climate-related phenomena and human health, and explores the potential for using climate forecast information to provide early warning of conditions posing a public health threat. The project is coordinated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and was initiated in 1997 as a result of the colloquium. The ENSO Experiment studied the 1997-1998 ENSO then underway; today, studies sponsored by several different agencies continue to track the human health aftermath of that phenomenon. Second, modeling studies must be undertaken to elucidate links between climate and infectious disease. According to the report, one of the primary goals of model building for research on weather-disease links is to be able to predict outbreaks of disease in response to particular climatic variables. The report says models are needed not only to organize and assess the new data that are being collected, but also to reassess data that are already available. Several new models are being developed, such as a model by Mercedes Pascual of the Center of Marine Biotechnology at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute in Baltimore, which will examine the predictability of cholera in endemic regions and its relationship to climate variability. Third, the report stresses the need for collaboration and communication among scientists, and between scientists and the public. The report calls for an international collabora-tive research effort and the establishment of new research centers specifically to study the relationship between climate, weather, and disease. The report also cites the need for increased and longer-term funding. Traditional research fund-J ing cycles run 2-3 years, j which is in sharp contrast to the 25 years recommended by the report for a comprehensive study documenting the weather-disease relationship. The report particularly stresses the need to develop new weather-disease databases, linked nationally and internationally , that are interdisciplinary in content and accessible to all interested researchers, and to link existing databases maintained by independent groups of scientists. The report points out that, while there are electronic data sets to be found all over the world, few of the existing databases are either coordinated or designed to be used in conjunction with others. Finally, the report calls for the drafting of a shared terminology to unite scientists separated by language and discipline, and for scientific journals to publish weather-disease articles that straddle traditional disciplinary boundaries. The report also urges graduate and …