Dr. Robert A. Michaels, founder and principal scientist of RAM TRAC Corporation, is a toxicologist specializing in assessment and management of environmental risks potentially posed to human health.
Michaels recently was appointed Co-Editor-in-Chief (with attorney Mark Heinzelmann) of the recently renamed Environmental Claims Journal. The name change to JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RISK, IMPACT, AND CLAIMS (JERIC) reflects 38 years of evolution of the journal's unique scope and identity, which is at the intersection of environmental and public health sciences with insurance and legal claims.
Like all successful journals, JERIC grows and adapts, shaped by emerging science, professional practice, and the perspectives of its editors and contributors. The new name reflects this growth, and the journal’s new forest green cover is more ecological, as recommended by Howard M. Tollin, Esq., JERIC's outgoing Editor-in-Chief of 12 years, and architect of the Journal’s current incarnation. As author of the introductory editorial, Michaels expressed gratitude to attorney Howard Tollin for his long-time leadership and vision, and to publisher Taylor and Francis for its editorship vision, combining the perspectives of a scientist and an attorney.
The scope of JERIC extends beyond insurance and legal claims. Environmental claims — whether insurance-related, legal, or regulatory — do not arise in isolation. They are the downstream result of a sequence: environmental risks may give rise to impacts, and impacts to claims. The Journal's new title embraces this full continuum, making explicit what long has been implicit in its pages. It invites expanded interest and, hopefully, expanded readership.
Environmental risks, impacts, and claims may stem from substances or other stressors that typically may be present, or that are introduced into, natural, agricultural, or occupational settings (among others). Such stressors may originate from biological processes, as often is the case in epidemiology, or from agricultural, commercial, or industrial activities. In complex settings, impacts may arise from multiple sources. Accordingly, scientific assessment and apportionment of the sources of risk and impact remain central challenges for resolution of insurance and legal claims.
Whether naturally occurring or anthropogenic, environmental stressors may pose risks to ecosystems, to public health, and/or to occupationally or socially exposed populations. Risks may materialize as straightforwardly measurable or difficult-to-measure health and/or environmental impacts, documented through qualitative or quantitative environmental, occupational, and health risk assessments. In turn, impacts may generate economic damages, insurance claims, and legal actions, together acting toward determining and apportioning responsibility, allocating liability, securing just compensation, and identifying risk management options.
By explicitly recognizing risk and impact alongside claims, the Journal affirms its commitment to spanning the full gamut of component environmental issues — from sources and exposures to consequences, accountability, and resolution.
Accordingly, readers are referred to its updated Aims and Scope statement [https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/becj21/about-this-journal#aims-and-scope]. This broader framing better reflects the multidisciplinary and unique nature of JERIC's scope, and may foster deeper connections between scientists and attorneys, regulators and administrators.
All are welcomed to visit JERIC's new incarnation, Volume 38 on the Internet, by clicking on https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/becj21.