Jean Halloran
Director, Consumer Policy Institute
Office of Public Information
Consumers Union
101 Truman Avenue, Yonkers, NY, 10703
914-378-2437

Areas of Expertise: Genetically engineered food, pesticides, organic food, chemical accident prevention, and toxic chemicals in the urban environment.

Biography: Jean Halloran became Director of the Consumer Policy Institute, a division of Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports magazine) in 1982. She has twenty years of experience dealing with public health issues. She has developed and supervised projects on food safety, pesticides, biotechnology, hazardous pharmaceuticals and pesticides in international trade, sustainable agriculture, toxic chemicals and air pollution, as well as housing and health care for elderly and poor consumers.

During the last several years, she has been directly involved in policy analysis and public education related to biotechnology, including the dairy drug recombinant bovine growth hormone. She also co-authored the recent Consumers Union book Pest Management at the Crossroads, which discusses how to move the United States toward Integrated Pest Management, an approach that minimizes pesticide use.

Ms. Halloran came to the Consumer Policy Institute in 1981 to direct the Regulatory Information Network project, whose goal was to help consumer groups participate in federal regulatory decisions on issues such as reducing lead in gasoline.

In 1979-80, Ms. Halloran was on the staff of President Carter's Council on Environmental Quality. From 1972 through 1979, she was Research Director of INFORM where she supervised projects on air pollution in the steel industry, workplace pollution in copper smelting, and environmental and consumer impact of land development projects.

Ms. Halloran’s experience as an administrator includes overseeing public education projects, preparing research reports, writing citizen education materials, organizing conferences, forums and workshops, and doing press work. She has been in charge of projects funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Administration on Aging, and numerous private foundations.

Jean Halloran received her B.A. with Honors in English Literature from Swarthmore College in 1967.