Daniel A. Bronstein

PERSPECTIVE: The National Environmental Policy Act at 35

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was signed into law by Richard M. Nixon on January 1, 1970; this year marks its 35th birthday. NEPA was the first of the major environmental statutes passed during the Nixon and Ford administrations. Its requirement that the environmental consequences of actions be evaluated before implementation has been copied by a number of states, some municipalities and tribal governments, and over 100 other jurisdictions around the world. We believe this is an appropriate time to look at some of the issues surrounding NEPA and make suggestions regarding future directions. The authors acknowledge the contribution of ideas by Helen Ingram, University of California, Irvine; Jo Ann Beckwith, Michigan State University; and Jon Allan, CMS Energy Corp. The Editorial Staff is grateful to Michael R. Thomas, Environmental Practice Advisory Board, for his role in obtaining this manuscript. A portion of this article first appeared as a letter to the editor in Science 307:674 (February 4, 2005).

Some ethical issues in toxicology

Abstract In May 1984 all Society of Toxicology (SOT) members having U.S. mailing addresses received a questionnaire concerning potential ethical problems in the practice of toxicology. This letter is to report on the results of that survey. As a preliminary matter it should be understood that the term ethics is being used to signify nothing more than a set of rules of behavior; it is in no way meant to be prescriptive. There are, in this sense, many types of ethical rules ( Frankena, 1973 ). Table 1 lists some examples of ethical rules. As can be seen, ethical rules can vary depending on the situation in which the individual is acting. The rules listed in Table 1 obviously are merely examples of some of the many rules that all of us as individuals follow at various times and in different situations. Ethical issues arise when two or more of the rules which an individual follows come into conflict. At that time a decision has to be made by the individual as to which of the rules will receive priority, i.e., which rules are more important than which other rules. The survey involved in this study was designed to get some rough idea of the rules given precedence by members of the Society of Toxicology.