Title: INT 97-28  NSF/Tokyo Report: US-Japan Seminar: Pesticides and the
          Future - Minimizing Chronic Exposure of Humans and the Environment
Date: 6/30/97

The National Science Foundation's offices in Tokyo and in Paris periodically
report on developments abroad that are related to the Foundation's mission.
These documents present facts for the use of NSF program managers and policy
makers; they are not statements of NSF policy.

Special Scientific Report #97-20  (June 23, 1997)

US-Japan Seminar: Pesticides and the Future - Minimizing Chronic Exposure of
Humans and the Environment

The following report was submitted by Dr. Ronald J. Kuhr, Dept. of Entomology,
Box 7613 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC 27695-7613. Dr. Kuhr, in
conjunction with Professor Naoki Motoyama, Faculty of Horticulture, Chiba
University, Chiba, Japan, helped organize this U.S.-Japan seminar. The
workshop was held May 26-30, 1997 in Kisarazu, Japan. The workshop was jointly
sponsored by NSF and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
This project is one of the joint projects supported under the U.S.-Japan
Cooperative Science Program. Dr. Kuhr can be reached via email at:
ron_kuhr@ncsu.edu

Seminar Report

A very successful Joint United States-Japan Seminar was held on May 26-30,
1997 at the Okura Akademia Park Hotel and Kazusa Akademia Hall in Kisarazu.
The seminar was jointly sponsored by NSF and the Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science and was titled "Pesticides and  the Future: Minimizing
Exposure of Humans and the Environment".

The seminar brought together over 30 speakers from both countries with
expertise in a variety of disciplines related to the topic.   Although efforts
continue toward reduction or elimination of  pesticide chemicals in the
management of pests in agriculture, public  health and the urban arena,
chemicals will continue to be one of the  main weapons in control of insects,
weeds, nematodes, plant diseases,  etc. for some time to come.  While
considerable information is known about the acute toxicity of these compounds,
information on the chronic effects from exposure to minute amounts of
pesticide residues in food, water, air and soil is often very limited.  The
seminar approached the topic from several different vantage points including
pesticide epidemiology, new modes of action to minimize nontarget exposure,
bioremediation of contaminated areas, molecular biology of the modes of action
and detoxication of pesticides, and the dynamics of pesticide movement in the
environment.

As world leaders in the manufacture and use of pesticides, the two countries
must cooperate in the search for safer pesticides with minimum chronic effects
on humans and the environment.  Discussions during the seminar helped to
remove the barriers of distance and language and should lead to new
cooperative research efforts across country lines and discipline lines.

Below is an agenda for the seminar:

1997 UNITED STATES - JAPAN JOINT SEMINAR

Pesticides and the Future:  Minimizing Chronic Exposure of Humans and
the Environment

Monday Evening, May 26 - 	Welcoming Reception
4:00-6:00	Welcoming remarks from Drs. Naoki Motoyama and Ronald J.
                   	Kuhr, Seminar Organizers

Tuesday Morning, May 27 - Epidemiology of Pesticides
8:30-9:10	Herbicides and Gallbladder Cancer in Japan  - Dr. Masaharu
  		Yamamoto, Niigata University, Japan
9:10-9:50	Integrated Method for Evaluating the Cancer Risk and
                Noncancer Risk due to Pesticides - Dr. Junko Nakanishi,
                Yokohama National University, Japan
 9:50-10:05	Break
10:05-10:45  	Pesticides and Cancer - Dr. David F. Goldsmith,
                Public Health Institute, USA
10:45-11:25  	Pitfall of Epidemiology - An Evaluation of the Recent
                Study on a Pesticide and Cancer Relationship - Dr. Seiya
                Yamaguchi, University of Tsukuba/Environmental and
                Occupational Health Institute, Japan
11:25-11:40  	Lack of Preneoplastic Changes and Induction of CYP2B11 in the
                Liver of Dogs Treated with CNP - Dr. Yasuo Ohno, Nat.Institute
                of Health Sciences, Japan
11:40-11:55     Role of Epidemiology in Carcinogenic Risk Assessment - Dr.
                Naohito Yamaguchi, National Cancer Center Research Institute,
                Japan
12:15-1:45      Lunch

Tuesday Afternoon, May 27 - Chronic Effects of Pesticides on Health
2:00-2:45	Plenary Lecture - Nicotine: Old and New Topic - Dr. Izuru
                Yamamoto, Tokyo University of Agriculture, Japan
2:45-3:25	Chronic Effects of Exposure to TCDD - Dr. Fumio Matsumura,
                University of California, Davis, USA
3:25-4:05       Effect of Ingestion of 20 or 40 Pesticides in Combination at
                ADI Levels on Carcinogenesis in Rats - Dr. Nobuyuki Ito,
                Nagoya City University, Japan
4:05-4:20       Break
4:20-5:00       Herbicides and Olfactory/Neurotoxicity Responses - Dr. Mary
                Beth Genter, University of Cincinnati, USA
5:00-5:40       Cancer as a Disease of Environment and a Disease of Genes -
                Dr. Toshio Kuroki, Showa University, Japan

Wednesday Morning, May 28 - Safer Insecticides
8:30-9:10	Biological Properties of Chloronicotinyl Insecticide
                 Imidaclorprid - High Selectivity and Safer Use in the
                 Practice - Dr. Koji Iwaya, Nihon Bayer Agrochem K. K., Japan
9:10-9:50	Spinosad and Related Compounds - Dr. Gary D. Crouse,
                 DowElanco, USA
9:50-10:05	Break
10:05-10:45  	Fipronil and Related Compounds - Dr. Daniel B. Gant,
                 Rhone-Poulenc, USA

10:45-11:25  	Genetically Engineered Bt Products - Dr. Takashi Yamamoto,
                 Novartis, USA
11:45-1:15	Lunch

Wednesday Afternoon, May 28 - Discussion and Tour of Local Area

Thursday Morning, May 29 - Bioremediation of Pesticide Residues
8:30-9:10	Use of Insect Genes in Bioremediation - Dr. R. Michael Roe,
                North Carolina State University, USA
9:10-9:50	Engineering Microorganisms Capable of Efficient Degradation of
                 Chlorinated Environmental Pollutants - Dr. Kensuke Furukawa,
                 Kyushu University, Japan
 9:50-10:05	Break
10:05-10:45  	Use of Fungi in Bioremediation - Dr. James D. Stahl, Intech
                One-Eighty Corporation, USA
10:45-11:25  	Organic Sorption/Biodegradation of Pesticides - Dr. Donald
                 E. Mullins, VPI&SU, USA
11:45-1:15	Lunch

Thursday Afternoon, May 29 - Biochemical and Molecular Biology of
     Pesticides
1:30-2:15	Plenary Lecture - Potential of Recombinant
                Baculoviruses as Insect Control Agents - Dr. Bruce D. Hammock,
                University of California, Davis, USA
2:15-2:55       Molecular Action Mechanism of Nonfungicidal Anti-blast
                Chemicals - Dr. Isamu Yamaguchi, The Institute of Physical and
                Chemical Research (RIKEN), Japan
2:55-3:35       Cytochrome P450 and Human Toxicity -
                Dr. Ernest Hodgson, North Carolina State University, USA
3:35-3:50       Break
3:50-4:30       Molecular Mechanisms of Herbicide Resistance - Dr. Hideo
		Ohkawa, Kobe University, Japan
4:30-5:10	Oxidative Phosphorylation and Pesticides - Dr. Robert M.
                 Hollingworth, Michigan State University, USA

Thursday Evening, May 29 - Banquet

Friday Morning, May 30 - Pesticide Ecology/Dynamics
8:30-9:10 	Prediction of Pesticide Behavior in Paddy Field Using
		Simulation Model - Dr. Kazuhiro Takagi, National Institute of
                 Agro-Environmental Sciences, Japan
9:10-9:50 	Long Distance Air Transport of Pesticides - Dr. James N.
                  Seiber, University of Nevada Reno, USA
9:50-10:05	Break

10:05-10:45     Assessing the Side-effects of Pesticides on Soil Ecosystems -
                Dr. Hiroki Yamamoto, Shimane University, Japan
10:45-11:25     Sustainable Agriculture and Pesticides - Dr. Raymond Forney,
                Du Pont, USA
11:25-12:05     Assessment of Overall Pesticide Effects on River
                Ecosystems - Dr. Shigehisa Hatakeyama, National Institute for
                Environmental Studies, Japan

Friday Afternoon, May 30 - Concluding Luncheon
12:15-1:30	Lunch/Concluding Remarks from Drs. Ronald J. Kuhr and Naoki
                Motoyama, Seminar Organizers