Problem Formulation in Food Safety Assessments conducted by the European Food Safety Authority RSI investigators recently provided advice to the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) on the problem formulation step in the EFSA scientific assessment approach shown in the figure below.  The recommended problem formulation framework is designed to translate the mandate into well-formulated assessment questions and sub-questions, and select the…

RSI’s Dr. Emma Hartnett chaired the recent Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meeting on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA). The focus of the week-long event held March 11 to 15, 2019, was the update and consolidation of technical guidance documents to allow for a more current and coordinated approach to assessing microbiological hazards in food. For further information…

Adverse effects of drugs among the elderly should be given special attention when considering a pharmacological intervention. Two recent papers using large electronic health records have explored the impact of drugs with anticholinergic properties. The first, “Associations between Anticholinergic Burden and Adverse Health Outcomes in Parkinson Disease” view here used a HealthFacts database (Cerner Corporation, Kansas…

Quinolones, are a class of widely used and popular powerful antibiotics with broad coverage. RSI investigators, Mohamed Taher, Franco Momoli, Donald Mattison and Daniel Krewski, recently published a series of three papers on investigating the risk of acute liver failure (ALF) following systemic administration of quinolones, based on a synthesis of evidence from available clinical…

Drs. Daniel Krewski and Franco Momoli recently contributed to an environmental research paper entitled: Cell phone use and the risk of glioma: are case-control study findings consistent with Canadian time trends in cancer incidence? The paper was published in Environmental Research (Elsevier). The paper seeks to advance the discussion regarding the controversy as to whether…

Leading up to February 11 and 12, 2020, Risk Sciences International had the privilege of assisting Health Canada in its organization of the Country Foods Forum. The event attracted a number of experts in country foods risk assessment from across Canada. Participants and speakers represented a broad cross section of stakeholders ranging from scientists to…

Working with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Alberta, Risk Sciences International conducted a wide-ranging review of aging and cognitive decline, with specific focus on aging physicians and fitness to practice.  The publication in Aging & Mental Health documents domains of cognition that decline with older age, concerns with relying on physician self-reported competency, challenges with cognitive screening in older physicians, and a general data gap linking cognitive levels and fitness to practice.

RSI and Engineers Canada are partnering to offer an online version of the introductory workshop on the PIEVC Protocol for infrastructure climate risk and vulnerability assessment. Online Workshop: Integrating Climate Risk into Infrastructure Development: The PIEVC Protocol April 2, 4, 9, 11, and 16, 2019;  11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. EST This workshop  will provide participants…

Risk Sciences International has launched The Global Risk Census. The goal of the Census is to provide insights into important risks that need to be confronted now and in the future. These insights will be of great value to decision-makers, policy-makers and indeed to all stakeholders affected by a myriad of local, regional or global…

RSI’s Emma Hartnett has been selected to be part of the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Microbiological Risk Assessment (JEMRA) Roster of Experts for a term of 5 years (2018 to 2022). JEMRA is an international scientific expert group that is administered jointly by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and…