What's in a name? The argument for changing the name of IAEMS and its affiliated societies

We identify trends over the past decades in membership in societies affiliated with the International Association of Environmental Mutagen Societies (IAEMS), and we also highlight findings in a recent review by Claxton et al. [Environ Health Perspect, in press] regarding the numbers of papers published per year using genetic toxicology assays. These analyses reveal a decline or at best a static level of membership in IAEMS-affiliated societies, as well as a decline in the number of papers published per year using genetic toxicology assays-with the exception of those using comet assays, which already have begun to plateau. In contrast, toxicogenomics and computational toxicology are becoming increasingly prominent relative to environmental mutagenesis research in most research institutes, reflecting the ascendancy of these areas of environmental toxicology. We conclude that changing the name of IAEMS and its affiliated societies to reflect these changes might enhance membership and publication by welcoming a broader range of scientists into these societies. Although various names are possible, we think that changing the name of these societies to "Environmental Genomics Society" may help to make our societies more attractive to a broader range of scientists, resulting in an increase in membership and an acceleration of the incorporation of genomic methods into environmental research.