WE Watch sponsors Pesticides Lecture
Those Pesky Pesticides: Connectivity and Consequences
Dr. Jay Means, an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Toxicology in the Bren School at UCSB, will present a lecture entitled, “Those Pesky Pesticides: Connectivity and Consequences” on Saturday, October 10, 4:00 p.m. in Stacy Hall at St. Mark’s Church. This free event, followed by a reception, is one of a series of informative presentations sponsored by WE Watch.
We live in an age when we come into contact with thousands of natural and synthetic chemicals each year. They are in the air, water, soil and the foods we eat. Of the more than 80,000 chemicals in commerce today, one group- pesticides- is unique because pesticides are intentionally designed to be toxic. While these chemicals have benefits protecting our food supply and preventing the spread of certain diseases, pesticides have been shown to cause adverse effects on so-called non-target species of organisms like fish, birds, our pets and us. Humans work and live connected inseparably to ecological systems around us that bring us all into contact with the pesticides we use. The consequences of this contact are often unknown or underestimated and only rarely understood.
JAY C. MEANS
Dr. Means is a semi-retired university professor and administrator. Dr. Means was a Diplomat of the American Board of Toxicology [2007-2012] and is a Fellow of the Academy of Toxicological Sciences. Over the course of his career, Dr. Means has been involved in the development and application of trace analytical methodology to the analysis of environmental media using state-of-the-art instrumentation and has published over 120 peer-reviewed papers in the area of analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry and toxicology of organic chemicals in aquatic systems including groundwater, major river and lake systems, estuaries and coastal marine regions. He has been the principal investigator of dozens of grants and contracts totaling over $15 million dollars dealing specifically with the biogeochemistry, chemodynamics, and toxicological of trace metals, organic and organo-metallic substances in aquatic organisms, mammals and man. Dr. Means has an established research and publication record concerning chemodynamic processes that govern the fate and distribution of hydrophobic organics in aquatic and has worked with herbicides, hydrocarbons, PCBs and pesticides in these studies for over 40 years. In total, Dr. Means has advised 26 doctoral students and 14 Masters student in the fields of toxicology, and environmental chemistry. He is currently serving as an Adjunct Professor of Environmental Toxicology in the Bren School at UCSB.