March 8, 1965

The Hon. Byron Rumford

Member of the Assembly

State Capitol

Sacramento, California 95814

Dear Mr. Bumford:

I was dumfounded to read a recommendation from the Legislative Analyst to
curtail activities of the Bureau of Maternal and Child Health. This is so
regressive I can still hardly credit it. Both the Hereditary Defects Unit
and the Perimatal Mortality Studies are doing a pioneering job in areas of
vital concern to California citizens. There is no reasonable way in which
their functions can be taken over by any activity outside the State govern-
ment. To cut back on them would be an abdication of responsibility of a
kind that can only lead in the long run to the negation of the authority of
State government and its replacement by Washington. Meanwhile, it is the
health of our own young citizens that will bear the penalty. The preventive
functions that these units can develop would pay for themselves many times
over even by the measure of tax savings. This recommendation is so short-
sighted I can hardly believe it was made on an informed basis, nor that it
can receive a moment's credit by your committee.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg
Director, Kennedy Laboratories
for Molecular Medicine

Same letter to:

Willie L. Brown (San Francisco County)
Milton Marks (San Francisco County)
Don Mulford (Alameda County)