Aims to explore whether emotional intelligence (EI) is a useful yardstick in measuring and understanding the``promotion readiness'' of middle managers in a global organisation. If the personal attributes and social abilities that reflect high emotional intelligence can be understood and assessed, then not only do we gain a new perspective on management development but steps can be taken to develop these activities to enhance people's potential. The article concludes with a glimpse into the future and how EI may contribute to developing managers in the new century.

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Despite secondary measles transmission occurring on 19% of international flights carrying infectious people, risk was not clearly related to seating proximity, and contact tracing was ineffective, especially given delays in diagnosis, notification and accessing flight manifests. We recommend that direct contact tracing to identify susceptible people exposed to people infected with measles on aeroplane flights should not be undertaken routinely, and other strategies should be considered.

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Managing public concerns relating to chemical exposures can consume substantial public health resources, particularly as the scientific basis around these issues is often contentious. Toxicology remains underrecognized as a public health discipline in Australia, although Australian toxicologists are making significant contributions from academia, government, and the commercial sector toward assessing the level of risk and protecting the community from environmental hazards. Internationally, the growth of environmental toxicology and the promotion of sound science in risk assessment as a basis for making regulatory decisions have been, to some extent, driven by the outcomes of the 1992 UNCED Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio Summit) and its Chapter 19 Agenda 21 activities. The promotion of safe chemical management practices and the need for global strengthening of capabilities in toxicology are among the initiatives of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS), which was formed after the Rio Summit to manage these programs. This article describes some of the initiatives in capacity building that marked the development of environmental toxicology in Australia since 1992 in response to these international environmental health initiatives.

There are many contaminated soil sites in Australia. Contamination may be from human activities (eg, smelters, industrial waste dumps, old gasworks) or from naturally occurring sources (eg, surface mineralisation). Concentrations of contaminants may vary markedly across a site. Their distribution may be localised or quite extensive. Common contaminants include lead, arsenic, cadmium, petrol and diesel products, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. People living on or near a contaminated site will often be concerned about potential effects on their health. Assessing their exposure potential and/or measuring levels of biological markers often allays concerns, but occasionally confirms them (eg, elevated blood lead levels and subtle cognitive effects have been found in some people living near the Port Pirie lead smelter).

A number is a number is a number … and yet exactitude should not be confused with accuracy. This article describes some of the philosophical underpinnings of the methods of health risk assessment.

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