Abstract
The importance of purifying water has been recognized since the time of the ancient Egyptians, however, waterborne diseases, such as cholera and typhoid, continued to cause illness and death on a significant scale until the early 20th Century.  The introduction of chlorine disinfection and filtration in the early 1900s has almost completely eradicated these waterborne outbreaks in industrialized nations.  It was not until the 1970s that significant drawbacks of chlorine disinfection were realized: the production of cancer-causing chemical by-products.  Many of these chemicals are now controlled and regulated in drinking water, but these regulations have forced many drinking water treatment plants to switch from chlorine to alternative disinfectants.  Although these alternative disinfectants are now widely used in the United States and in Europe, there is little information on the DBPs they produce.  Are they safer or more harmful than those formed by chlorine?  What exactly is in the drinking water that we consume?

To answer these questions and to ultimately determine if there are harmful DBPs that should be minimized, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been carrying out comprehensive studies aimed at identifying all detectable disinfection by-products (DBPs) from these alternative disinfectants and from chlorine.  Mass spectrometry has played a key role in the discovery of these previously unknown chemicals.  The current state-of-knowledge of DBPs and their health effects will be presented, in addition to an historical perspective of DBPs and how many of them are formed.  Mass spectrometry is also starting to play a role in the identification of microorganisms that have been responsible for recent outbreaks of illness.  Cryptosporidium and Giardia are two resistant microorganisms that have been caused several outbreaks, including an outbreak in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where 100 people died.  Recent developments in matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) and atmospheric pressure ionization (API) MS have enabled the identification of protein and other biomarkers that can be used to identify pathogens.  Traditional biochemical methods are also being improved to measure these organisms, but mass spectrometry is showing promise and may be the future of this area.  An overview of both traditional methods and new, emerging mass spectrometry methods will be presented.

Background
(not available yet)

Meeting details

Date:	Thursday	October 18, 2001
Time:	6:30 pm	Social hour (no-host cocktails)
	7:00 pm	Dinner
	8:15 pm	Presentation (free, no reservations required)
Dinner:	Buffet:	Spring Rolls, Sweet & Sour Pork, Szechewan Beef, Sliced Chicken with Garlic Sauce, Honey Braised Shrimps with Walnuts
	includes	Sauteed String Beans, and Fried Rice
Cost:	$20-25	BAMS members.  Reservations required by 11:00am on Thursday October 17, 2001

Note: 2001 dues need to be paid to obtain member price.  Dues ($20) may be paid while registering for dinner.

Maps & directions
Panda Restaurant
30 W Angela St
Pleasanton, CA 94566
(925) 484-4880
Yahoo Map

If anyone is interested, the November 15th meeting of the Proteome Society at Exelixis is titled: Mass Spectroscopy Methods for Proteomic Analysis. Interested speakers should submit a 3-5 sentence description to Cara Wykowski by Monday October 8th at carawykowski@proteome.org. Questions can be answered at 415-860-5998.

Proteome Society meetings are free and open to the public. Please visit the web at www.proteome.org

The San Francisco Bay Area Mass Spectrometry discussion group was formed in 1980 to provide a regular gathering for people interested in mass spectrometry and allied topics. BAMS currently has a membership of about 280 individual and 20 corporate members, and meets 8-10 times per year for a midweek dinner and lecture.  Meetings attract between 30 and 90 people, and are held at a restaurant or hotel in the bay area convenient for our speaker.  We usually convene at 6:00pm for cocktails, dinner at 7:00pm, and lecture at 8:15pm.

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Last update: 10/17/01.