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Dr. John P.
Giesy is Distinguished Professor of Zoology at Michigan State University
in East Lansing,Michigan, where he is also a Professor of Veterinary Medicine
and on the faculties of the Center for Integrative Toxicology and a
member of the National Food Safety and Toxicology Center. Prof. Giesy is
a world leading ecotoxicologist with interests in many aspects of
ecotoxicology, including both the fates and effects of potentially toxic
compounds and elements, particularly in the area of ecological risk
assessment. He has conducted research into the movement, bioaccumulation and
effects of toxic substances at different levels of biological organization,
ranging from biochemical to ecosystem. Prof. Giesy has done extensive research
in the areas of metal speciation, multi-species toxicity testing,
biochemical indicators of stress in aquatic organisms, fate and
effects of PAHs, halogenated hydrocarbons, including chlorinated
dibenzo-dioxins and -furans, PCBs and pesticides. Prof. Giesy
discovered the phenomenon of photo enhanced toxicity of organic
compounds, such as PAHs. His studies include both laboratory and field as well
as mesocosm studies and apply tools from molecular biology to ecosystem-level.
He was the first to discover perfluorinated compounds in the
environment, an important new class of environmental contaminants.
Currently, Prof. Giesy and his research group are actively studying the toxicity
and reproductive effects of organic compounds, with special emphasis on herbicides,
chlorinated dioxins and perfluorinated compounds. Studies are
being conducted in the field and laboratory on frogs, fish, fish eating
birds and mammals in the
