iPRI-ENVIRON collaborative research partnership

Date:08-01-2012

ENVIRON CEO Steve Washburn and Peter Boyle, President of the International Prevention Research Institute (iPRI), are pleased to announce a collaborative research partnership between ENVIRON and iPRI, based in Lyon, France.

The collaborative research partnership with iPRI and its global network of epidemiology and public health experts will complement ENVIRON’s ability to serve clients in understanding complex human health issues, especially in Europe, and add an additional layer of research capability to the firm’s existing epidemiological and public health expertise.

In addition to providing high-level human health risk consultation, the iPRI-ENVIRON research collaborative will organise and host state-of-the-art symposia, prepare client reports and scientific publications, and conduct sponsored epidemiological research and critical reviews of the published scientific literature on key topics.

One of the partnership’s first projects is the development of a mechanism to evaluate the contribution of environmental exposures to the risk of chronic disease. According to Dr. Boyle, “Current methods of such evaluation have several limitations, including a narrow focus on cancer risks, allowing inadequate time to evaluate all the evidence in detail and lacking any notion of impact on the community.”

The new iPRI-ENVIRON approach will be transparent and differ from existing evaluations in several key ways including a two-step process that starts with a public meeting where stakeholders have an opportunity to present their arguments and make written submissions, followed by a comprehensive evidence-based evaluation by an expert committee. Meta-analyses and quantitative risk assessment will be applied to determine the relevance of various hazards on community health. The first evaluations will be completed by the end of the year.

Washburn added, “The combination of iPRI’s internationally renowned network of epidemiologists with ENVIRON’s strength in product stewardship based on quantitative health risk assessment will serve clients and support science-based public health decision-making globally.”