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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE ws

NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
2101 CONSTITUTION AVENUE WASHINGTON, D.C. 20418

 
     

DAVID A. HAMBURG, M.D.
PRESIDENT

October 19, 1979

Joshua Lederberg, Ph.D. foil aa ¢ d

President

The Rockefeller University
1230 York Avenue

New York, New York 10021

Dear Josh: ’

I am writing to invite you to serve on the Institute of Medicine's Committee 4
for a Planning Study for an Ongoing Study of Costs of Environment-—Related Health
Effects.

The Assistant Secretary for Health of the Department of Health, Education, and
Welfare has requested the Institute of Medicine to conduct a one-year planning study
for an ongoing study of costs of environment-related health effects, mandated by
P.L. 95-623. The ongoing study would identify and quantify the health effects and
health costs associated with environmental hazards, and ascertain the extent to which
reducing such hazards might reduce associated health effects and costs. Biennial
reports required by the law would include identification of data deficiencies and
recommendations for eliminating such deficiencies and for facilitating studies of
effects of environmental substances on humans.

The planning study will yield a detailed plan for the ongoing study and reports.
Major goals of the planning study are: 1) to describe the basic information require-
ments for the ongoing study, and to suggest ways of assuring that needed data are
available for assessing health effects and health costs, 2) to provide a design for
the ongoing study and assess the feasibility of meeting the various requirements of
the law, 3) to recommend administrative arrangements for carrying out the ongoing
study, including means of insuring participation of other National Academy of Sciences
units, government agencies, and research organizations, and 4) to recommend steps to
maximize the usefulness of the biennial reports.

The committee that I am asking you to serve on will be assisted by the Insti-
tute's professional staff and the research resources available to it. The staff will
provide relevant background information.

Although the Academy does not provide consultant fees to members of our study
committees, all travel expenses incurred while attending committee meetings will be
reimbursed, and subsistence expenses will be provided.
I sincerely hope you will accept the task of assisting in the guidance of
this important effort. I would appreciate your completing the "Potential Sources
of Bias" form which is required from each NAS-IOM committee member. Please bring
this completed form with you to the first committee meeting, when it will be dis-
cussed further.

My thanks for your immediate written response to this invitation.

With sincere regards,

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