NSERC CREATE Training Program in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA)

加拿大人面临着越来越多的环境污染物的潜在健康风险。例子包括进口玩具中的铅、家用塑料中的双酚a、从尾矿中偶然摄入的砷，以及来自布朗菲尔德和汽车排放等来源的城市污染。政府、科学家和公众需要了解受污染的土壤、水、空气、食品和消费品对人类和生态系统造成的危险，以及如何管理这些风险，以保护人类和生态健康。 评估和管理风险需要具有公共卫生科学，环境毒理学和相关加拿大法律法规专业知识的专业人员。然而，目前还没有一个全面的风险评估培训计划教学生这三个领域。事实上，在环境科学、公共卫生科学和法律之间存在着巨大的知识差距。通常来自多个学科的研究人员获取和研究用于风险评估的数据，但他们很少参与整个风险评估过程（估计，管理和传达风险），而且他们很少合作。 一个杰出的加拿大专家小组已经聚集在一起，制定了一个创新的培训计划，以解决这一差距。它将培养一批新的专业人员，他们了解评估和管理环境污染物对人类和生态系统构成的风险的整个过程。这也将是第一个探讨加拿大环境法律和规章以及风险评估员在法律的框架内的作用的培训方案。被称为NSERC创建培训计划在人类和生态风险评估（HERA），这个国家，多学科的计划将培训学生评估污染的网站和有毒物质在我们的环境所构成的公共卫生风险。

Canadians face an ever increasing number of potential health risks from environmental contaminants. Examples include lead in imported toys, bisphenol-a in household plastics, incidental ingestion of arsenic from mine tailings, and urban pollution from sources such as brownfield sites and automobile emissions. The government, scientists, and the public need to know the dangers that contaminated soil, water, air, foodstuffs, and consumer products pose to humans and the ecosystem and how to manage these risks to protect human and ecological health. Assessing and managing risk requires a professional with expertise in public health sciences, environmental toxicology, and relevant Canadian laws and regulations. Currently, however, no comprehensive risk assessment training program teaches students about all three areas. In fact, there is a large knowledge gap between the environmental sciences, public health sciences, and the law. Usually researchers from several disciplines acquire and study data used for risk assessment, but they are rarely involved with the entire risk assessment process (estimating, managing, and communicating the risk), and they rarely collaborate. An outstanding group of Canadian experts has come together to develop an innovative training program to address this gap. It will train a new class of professionals who understand the entire process of assessing and managing the risk that environmental contaminants pose to humans and ecosystems. It will also be the first training program to explore Canada's environmental laws and regulations and the role of risk assessors within the legal framework. Called the NSERC CREATE Training Program in Human and Ecological Risk Assessment (HERA), this national, multidisciplinary program will train students to assess the public health risk posed by contaminated sites and toxicants in our environment.