Oregon House Bill 2909 passed unanimously through the Oregon House last month and is about to be considered by the Oregon Senate. On April 29, Steven A. Shea, PhD, Director of CROET, and John Mohlis, Executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council and co-chair of the Oregon Management and Labor Advisory Committee, provided testimony in support of the bill to the Oregon Senate Business & Transportation Committee. That committee has now recommended to the Senate to pass the bill. If this bill passes the Senate, the name change will officially occur in the late summer, 2013.

The Center for Research on Occupational and Environmental Toxicology (CROET) was established by the Oregon Legislature in 1985. CROET’s mission is to promote health and prevent disease and disability among working Oregonians and their families during their employment years and into retirement. The current name does not fully encompass all of CROET’s outreach, research and education activities. Changing CROET’s name to the broader “Oregon Institute of Occupational Health Sciences” will more accurately describe the activities and vision of the center, potentially will help with obtaining research funding and with faculty recruitment, and will help the public more accurately recognize what we do.