Biographical Sketch for Peter L. deFur
Dr.
Peter L. deFur provides consulting services to federal, state and local agencies
and private groups. Dr. deFur is chair of the Board of the Science and
Environmental Health Network (SEHN), President of the Association for Science in
the Public Interest, and recently completed a term on the National Research
Council Board on Environmental Studies and Toxicology (BEST).
Dr. deFur is an Affiliate Associate Professor in the Center for
Environmental Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University where he conducts
research on environmental health and ecological risk assessment.
Dr. deFur received B.S. and M.A. degrees in
Biology from the College of William and Mary, in Virginia, and a Ph.D. in
Biology (1980) from the University of Calgary, Alberta.
He was a postdoctoral fellow in neurophysiology in the Department of
Medicine at the University of Calgary. Dr.
deFur held faculty positions at George Mason University and Southeastern
Louisiana University before joining the staff of the Environmental Defense Fund
(EDF) in Washington, DC. At EDF,
deFur was involved in policy issues that include habitat preservation and
quality, wetlands regulations, water quality analysis and risk assessment.
In the last two years, deFur has participated in
workshops on the Precautionary Principle and published book chapters and journal
articles on the Principle. He is
presently involved in several projects for SEHN on the Precautionary Principle.
Dr.
deFur has extensive experience in risk assessment and ecological risk assessment
regulations, guidance and policy. He served on the NAS/NRC Risk Characterization
Committee that released its report, Understanding Risk in June 1996.
Dr. deFur has served on numerous scientific reviews of EPA ecological and
human health risk assessments, including the assessment for the WTI incinerator
in Ohio and EPA’s Ecological Risk Assessment Guidelines.
deFur served on EPA’s Endocrine Disruptor Screening and Testing
Advisory Committee (EDSTAC), and presently serves on the task force implementing
EDSTAC recommendations.
Dr.
deFur was appointed to BEST of the National Academy of Sciences/National
Research Council in 1996. He is on
the Board of Directors of the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana, and peer
reviewer for several professional journals.
He has published numerous peer reviewed articles, invited perspectives
and review articles for the public on subjects ranging from habitat quality to
wetlands, toxic chemical and risk assessment.
Dr.
deFur has experience in the area of endocrine disrupting chemicals, specifically
dioxin and related compounds and comparative endocrinology. During the past ten years, deFur has been extensively
involved in scientific, regulatory and policy concerning the generation, release
and discharge of dioxin related compounds.
He has published a number of papers on regulation and policy aspects of
these compounds, considered in many ways prototype endocrine disruptors. Dr.
deFur has been extensively involved in the EPA reassessment of dioxin since
1991.
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