February 14, 1969

Mr. John P, Sheffey

Executive Director

Atlantic-Pacific Interoceanic Canal Study Commission
726 Jackson Place, N.W.

Washington, D. C. 20506

Dear Mr. Sheffey:

Thank you for your letter of February 4. I do not think that the Science
article, and certainly my own, had any intention of depicting you as
callous about the bioenvironmental issues. For my part, I was mainly con-
cerned that these matters would have a regrettably low priority in funding
the preparatory studies, and I am happy to know of the urgent efforts that
you are making in the same direction.

As you may gather from my own article,on the subject, I would hardly describe
myself as an alarmist, and I have to agree that it is difficult to know
exactly what lines of research will enable one to draw solid conclusions
about the long-term consequences of cutting and, for that matter, not cutting
the canal. This kind of uncertainty {s itself a consequence of the very
limited depth of insight that we have in many aspects of marine biology.

I would like to be able to follow this issue from time to time in my writing
and would be happy to receivedfrom you any amount of detailed material that
may be developed under your auspices.

Sincerely yours,

Joshua Lederberg
Profesaor of Genetics