The featured speaker was Dr. Philip Landrigan, a pediatrician at the Mount Sinai Medical School in New York City. Landrigan is also chair of the Center for Children's Health and the Environment.

Speakers were Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., son of the late New York Senator Robert Kennedy, and an attorney for the Hudson River Keepers and National Resources Defense Council, State Senator Michael Balboni, State Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, and others.

One of the topics covered by Robert Kennedy, who spoke first, was the rise of ‘biostitutes, and "confusionists" scientists hired by certain industries because they will say that some pollutants are not dangerous. Kennedy likened these scientists to those once hired by tobacco companies because they would say that nicotine is not addictive.

Kennedy said that three of his six children have asthma or severe food allergies. Noting that, "I come from a huge family," -a line that drew a laugh from the audience- he said food allergies and asthma were almost non-existent in earlier generations of his family. The same was true with his wife's family, he said. Kennedy said that is what prompted him to look for other factors that might be causing his kids' health problems. "Where does this come from"? was a question he said he and his wife asked.

Both State Senator Mike Balboni, a Republican and Adelphi alumni who teaches a course here and Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, a Democrat, spoke about the dangers of pesticides. Balboni and DiNapoli spoke about how they worked together in a bipartisan way to pass a law that notified residents of a neighborhood if some kind of harmful pesticide has been used. They also have introduced a bill to require dentists to recycle the mercury that is used in fillings.

A video screened by Patti Wood the Executive Director of Grassroots Environmental Education covered pollution in the U.S. and other parts of the world. One topic focused on how old school buses that do not meet pollution standards affect students.

Landrigan who spoke last stressed that "children are not little adults" and lamented the fact that so much medical testing that concerns them uses two hundred pound men as subjects His presentation included a chart showing that even though infectious diseases are down, chronic diseases like asthma, have increased dramatically.

Landrigan also spoke about the so called "9/11 cough" that developed in people who were near the collapsing towers. Calling it the "most concentrated environmental disaster of recent history," he discussed the extreme pollution called by the burning fuel and the debris.

Landrigan whose lecture was interrupted by a fire drill, deadpanned "I thought a little fresh air would do us some good" when everyone returned.