Annual Symposium Takes Closer Look at the Environment and Hormones

Recent headlines announcing trace amounts of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, anti-convulsants, mood stabilizers and sex hormones, in the nation"s drinking water highlight the global interest and concern about the connections between contaminants in the environment and the hormonal systems of humans and animals.

The Center for Bioenvironmental Research (CBR) at Tulane and Xavier Universities is exploring what new questions and problems have arisen related to endocrine disruption (which could led to adverse biological effects in animals and humans) and their implications for the relationship between the built and natural environments. The CBR will host its seventh annual symposium on the Environment and Hormones (e.hormone 2008) April 13-16 with a focus on this topic.

E.hormone features four days of programmatic and social activities attracting leading scientists, policy makers, and concerned citizens from throughout the world. This year"s program will give a special focus on the CBR"s efforts to help the Holy Cross/Lower 9th ward recover along energy efficient, sustainable lines in the context of the CBR"s Sustainable Urban Ecosystem (UrbanEco) Initiative.

The scientific sessions of e.hormone, featuring cutting-edge talks by leading researchers, will take place April 14 through April 16 in the J. Bennett Johnston Health and Environmental

Research Building auditorium. On April 15 from 5 to 8 p.m., there will be a symposium celebration in the Holy Cross/Lower 9th ward to highlight and celebrate this neighborhood"s efforts to recover sustainably post-Katrina. On April 16 from 11:45 to 12:15 a.m. there will be a symposium session entitled, How Trends in Preschool Lead Exposure Explain Subsequent Trends in Crime and Education. This symposium will be open to the public.

For details on the e.hormone program, visit:http://e.hormone.tulane.edu/eh.html or contact Charles Allen at 504-988-6612 or callen3@tulane.edu.