Do Pesticides (Including Herbicides, Fungicides, Insecticides and Synthetic Fertilizers) Affect Our Health? What is the Science and How Can We Reduce Our Exposure?"

Do Pesticides (Including Herbicides, Fungicides, Insecticides and Synthetic Fertilizers) Affect Our Health?　 What is the Science and How Can We Reduce Our Exposure?"

By Speakers: Meryl Colton and Rachel Danford.

Meryl Colton is an Environmental Health masters student at the Harvard School of Public

Health. Meryl focuses on exposure assessment, which is the study of measuring, tracking, and controlling pollutants in the environment. She currently works on two research projects that aim to evaluate the effects of green housing renovations on indoor air quality. Part of this research involves measuring pesticides inside the home.

Rachel Danford

is a doctoral candidate in the Environmental Conservation and Policy program at UMass-Amherst

and a Research Assistant at Silent Spring Institute. Her current work focuses on ethical and effective ways of conducting community-based participatory research, including reporting individual exposure results to participants in studies that measure personal exposures to pesticides, endocrine-disrupting chemicals, and allergens. Danford’s previous experience includes coordinating citizen science research in urban ecology, survey research in environmental attitudes and behavior, and work with the Urban Ecology Institute providing alternative pest control strategies to community gardeners in Boston, MA. She received her MS in environmental conservation and policy at UMass – Amherst and her ScB with honors in psychology from Brown University.

Cost: Free. Free Parking Available.