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Spheres of Influence
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| The Threat of Things Biological
Dan C. VanderMeer Abstract
 Just as medical science developed the tools to conquer infectious diseases such as smallpox and polio, a new generation of biological public health risks emerged, such as Ebola virus, HIV/AIDS, Lyme and Legionnaire's diseases, and deadly new strains of E. coli and Staphylococcus bacteria. How does the public know which of these threats are most urgent? How do policy makers and elected officials decide how to distribute funds for control and research? They seek advice from physicians, scientists, and health and environmental protection officials, who are working to develop risk assessments to provide advice, set public health priorities, and design interventions. Differences between assessing the risks to human health from biological, chemical, and physical agents--once considered discrete domains--are beginning to blur. Both the public policy approaches to these problems and the scientific methods to assess risk have already converged in recently developed proposals to improve food safety and assess the threat from biological warfare agents.
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