of the Society for Risk Analysis

Useful links:
SRA
Foodrisk.org
 

We are a "specialty group" of the of the Society for Risk Analysis.

We used to be called the Food and Water Specialty Group but now we are called the Biological stressors Specialty Group

At its June 2, 2005 meeting, the SRA Council approved a proposal submitted by the Food and Water Specialty Group officers to amend the charter of the Specialty Group and redefine the Group as the SRA Biological Stressors Specialty Group.

Biological stressors represent a distinct category of hazards that share many common features. Unlike chemical or physical hazards, biological stressors:

• Grow, reproduce and die
• Disperse both actively and passively
• Interact with other biological populations in the ecosystem
• Evolve

The scope of the new SRA Biological Stressors Specialty Group includes: human pathogens transmitted via food, water, air, organs (including blood), and body fluids and excretions; zoonotic pathogens; biologically produced disease agents; plant and animal pathogens; plant and animal pests; invasive species; and invasive genetic material.

Examples of each of these include:

Human pathogens transmitted via food: Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes
    via water: Cryptosporidium parvum, Vibrio cholerae
    via air: Bacillus anthracis, Mycobacterium tuberculosis
    via blood and other organs: Hepatitis C, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) agent (via cornea transplant)
    via other body fluids and excretions: norovirus (vomit), Staphylococcus aureus (pus)

Zoonotic pathogens: pathogens transmitted from animals to humans such as the West Nile Fever virus, avian influenza A (H5N1) virus

Biologically produced disease agents: allergens, mycotoxins, seafood toxins

Plant pathogens: Phakopsora pachyrhizi (the fungus that causes Asian soybean rust), tobacco mosaic virus (e.g., in tomatoes)

Animal pathogens: Classical Swine Fever (Hog Cholera) virus, Newcastle disease virus (e.g., in poultry)

Plant pests: Ceratitis capitata (Mediterranean fruit fly), nematodes

Animal pests: Cochliomyia hominivorax (screw-worm fly, an ectoparasite of warm-blooded animals), Haematobia irritans (hom fly, a bloodfeeding pest of cattle)

Invasive species: Dreissena polymorpha (zebra mussel), Pueraria montana (kudzu)

Invasive genetic material: promiscuous plasmids that confer antibiotic resistance.