| Jump to class report on genetically modified crops | Links to useful Internet sites | NetQuiz |
Genetically engineered wheat graces the cover of C&E News, America's premiere trade weekly for the chemical industry. In the past 100 years, agriculture has undergone a technological revolution comparible in scope and importance to the Industrial Revolution. Crops in America, Europe, and much of Asia are grown with the aid of fertilizers, pesticides, and many gallons of fossil fuel--at the cost of ecological consequences we are only now beginning to understand. The U.N. projects that in 25 years the population of the Earth will top 10 billion. How can we increase food production without destroying the environment on which agriculture depends? |
Welcome to the Home Page of Chemistry and Public PolicyChem 191--Fall 1999Prof. Marya Lieberman (mlieberm@nd.edu)Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry University of Notre Dame The focus of this course is on the intersection between scientific knowledge and policy-making. What do scientists mean when they say they know something? When does scientific knowledge help make policy decisions, and when not? How can non-scientists inform themselves about technological issues? The course is divided into three five-week sections: Cars, Toxicity and the Law, and Agricultural Chemistry. Each topic will be explored through lecture, readings, experiments, discussion, problem-solving, and special projects.
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| Course syllabus | Problem sets | Lab manual (pdf file)
Population Modeling Lab (pdf file) |
How to read and print pdf files |
Cars
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Automobile exhaust is linked to photochemical smog in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles. Tough emissions standards and other regulations have improved air quality in most cities. Now some scientists claim that our use of gasoline, coal, oil, and natural gas is causing global climate change. Are they right? If so, what can be done, and at what costs?
Now available: the Hearing Schedule (HTML document which also contains IMPORTANT information about the project). To find out more about the first project, download the detailed and the project description (pdf file)
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Toxicity and the Law
Leaded paint and DDT, which were once in common use, are banned from sale in the US. Our society has historically accepted many environmental risks in return for economic or social benefits, but at some point the risk outweighs the benefits. How are risks and benefits measured? Who decides when the risks outweigh the benefits? And lastly, what recourse does our legal system offer people if they are harmed by pollutants?
Cerrito v. Mount
Agricultural Chemistry
Unit syllabus
Unit 3 project: Technical report on genetic engineering of food crops
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations needs to work out a set of regulations for biotechnology, ASAP. An international conference has been scheduled to meet at the University of Notre Dame over the next 3 weeks. Its goal is to create a report to provide technical background and policy recommendations for a vote by the General Assembly. Examples of this kind of report include the Issues in Ecology report on the nitrogen cycle and the IPCC executive summary of global warming.Project description (html file)
Jump to Issues in Ecology and download the PDF file of volume 1: Human alteration of the global nitrogen cycle.
See the summary of this reading (from in-class group discussion)
Women harvesting rice in Tanzania--picture from FAO database
Funding for the development and maintainance of this website is provided by the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation (SG-98-014) and by the National Science Foundation (DMR-98-75788).
