OCT i 9 71 Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. BOARD OF TRUSTEES Stephen P. Duggan, Esq. Chairman Mrs, Louis Auchincloss Boris I. Bittker, Esq. John T. Booth Thomas Cashel, Esq. Dr. Rene J. Dubos Robert W. Gilmore Dr. Joshua Lederberg James Marshall, Esq. Ruby G. Martin, Esq. John B. Oakes The Rev. Channing E. Phillips Dr. Gifford B. Pinchot Charles A. Reich, Esq. John R. Robinson, Esq. Laurance Rockefeller J. Willard Roosevelt David Sive, Esq. Dr. George M. Woodwell Edwin M. Zimmerman, Esq. John H. Adams, Esq. Executive Director 36 WEST 44TH STREET NEW YORK, N.Y. 10036 212 986-8310 Washington Office 1600 TWENTIETH STREET, N.W. WASHINGTON, D.C. 20009 202 387-2855 October 15, 1971 Dr. Joshua Lederberg Department of Genetics Stanford University School of Medicine Stanford, California 94305 Dear Dr. Lederberg: John Adams has asked me to reply to your letter of October 7, 1971 since I wished to bring to your attention an item on X-rays which appeared in the Federal Register for October 8, 1971. Turning first to the concerns you express on your posi- tion as a member of the Board of Trustees, I think that it is generally recognized that membership on a Board does not imply complete support for each organizational action by ev- ery trustee. As you know the minutes reflect which Trustees attended each meeting and the taking of any particular suit or project indicates only that a majority of those voting when the action was considered support the measure. If you wish to abstain or dissent on any particular proposal, the minutes can reflect that. For instance, Mr. Zimmerman has abstained from taking part in the consideration of at least two suits which raised possible conflicts of interest with clients re- presented by his law firm and the minutes so state, I hope you do not feel that the Council has exploited its relationship with you by prominently associating your name with any action of which you disapprove. If there are particular suits or projects on which you would like to re- gister dissent, please let us know. I hope that you could let us have your opinion before Board action on a proposal is taken, We value the Trustees! opinions highly and those of the scientific members are particularly crucial to lawyers who sail uncharted seas in moving into environmental ques- tions involving issues beyond their technical expertise. The HEW announcement in the Federal Register involves just such a question of expertise, As you can see, it teuches a part of the X-ray problem that Nancy Smith was considering this summer and raises scientific issues which & simple lawyer cannot analyze intelligently. It is impor- tant that proposals of this sort be analyzed and commented on by competent members of the public. I very much hope that you or your students could submit such comments to HEW on this proposal, If you think that a covering letter or any legal analysis of such comments would be helpful, the staff would be happy to provide it. I regret that I have had to write this letter on paper, but I have asked my secretary to type across the page so that at least we save resources at the margin. urs sincerely, Man. bE AM/js Enclosures