Subject: NIH, Public Particpation (fwd)
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 152826 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Roy L. Beavers" <rbeavers@llion.org>
To: emfguru@hotmail.com
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......Bill and Gretchen, Many thanks for the following. I think
everybody should see it. Possibly some of our people in the D.C.
area can take in this meeting. Bert??......Actually, I have a
pretty good opinion of Donna Shalala (Secty. of Health). I might
rate her on a par with Janet Reno as the two top people in the
Clinton Administration. But I fear that this EMF "thing" is too
far down in the Bureaucracy for her attention. It shouldn't be!!!
It will perhaps be a much bigger health matter than lead, asbestos,
dioxin, perhaps even tobacco -- within about another decade. It
is clearly coming fast. And no attempt is even being made to
measure its potential consequences.....guru......
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 14:43:52 -0500
From: Bill Curry & Gretchen Fleming
To: "Roy L. Beavers"
Subject: Public Particpation
Roy,
so much has been said about the lack of responsiveness of the Federal
Agencies such as NIH to public needs and perceptions that I thought I should
send you this announcement. This came to my wife at her office and she
forwarded it to me.
Incidentally, I will send you an abridged version of my notes on the
Tucson meeting as soon as I get them in order. I have more than 10 pages of
hand written notes, so I will need to condense them for your readers. Bear
in mind that I only attended half of the meeting. The only way I could a
cheap air fare was to come home on the 15th, instead of the 17th. Staying
the full time would have cost me $350 more airline fare. Isn't it crazy the
way airline pricing is done!
[Bill, sorry, I left the above para in on purpose. I'm sure the "cost"
considerations are big for most all of us "activists." Of course, these
meeting costs are no problem for the RICH health bureaucracies and their
_expense account_ PhDs, etc......The real BIG SPENDERS at these meetings
are the vested interests!......As usual, only the public is (but for
sacrifices like yours) unable to attend.......We eagerly await your Tucson
report!!!.....guru....]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
National Institutes of Health
Working Group on Public Participation in NIH Activities; Notice of Meeting
The Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of Health (NIH),
announces a meeting on public participation in NIH activities. The meeting
is scheduled for September 23, 1998, from 9:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.,
Conference Room 10, Building 31C, Sixth Floor, 9000 Rockville Pike,
Bethesda, Maryland. At the meeting, individual public participants invited
by the NIH will discuss future activities and responsibilities of the
proposed NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives, and the NIH
Offices of Public Liaison. The NIH is the lead Federal agency that provides
major support for medical research leading to the improvement of the
nation's health. The NIH Director's Council of Public Representatives will
serve as a forum for discussing issues and concerns and exchanging
viewpoints that are important to NIH policies, programs, and research
priorities. The NIH Offices of Public Liaison are expected to strengthen
collaboration between the NIH and the public.
Establishment of the Director's Council of Public Representatives and the
Offices of Public Liaison were recommendations from the National Academy of
Sciences Institute of Medicine's report--Scientific Opportunities and Public
Needs: Improving Priority Setting and Public Input at the National
Institutes of Health. The full text of the report is available on-line at
the following site of the Institute of Medicine, National Academy of
Sciences: http://www.nap.edu/readingroom/books/nih/. Future activities will
follow from the NIH's Office of Public Liaison and the Director's Council of
Public Representatives.
The entire meeting is open to the public; however, seating is limited and
will be on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be an overflow room
available to listen to and view the proceedings of the meeting. Individuals
who plan to attend and need special assistance, such as sign language
interpretation or other reasonable accommodations, should notify the contact
person listed below in advance of the meeting.
Individual public participants invited by the NIH will be asked to express
their views on matters related to the following:
Director's Council of Public Representatives
What should be the responsibilities and activities of the
Director's Council of Public Representatives?
What is the role of this Director's Council of Public
Representatives as compared to the role of other NIH Advisory Councils?
Describe some activities that could be undertaken by the
Director's Council of Public Representatives to encourage and improve public
participation in NIH programs.
What processes, mechanisms, and criteria should be used for
identifying appropriate candidates to serve on the Director's Council of
Public Representatives?
The NIH Offices of Public Liaison
What should be the responsibilities and activities of the NIH
Offices of Public Liaison?
Should all of the Institute-level Offices of Public Liaison
perform the same activities?
How should the activities of the OD Office of Public Liaison
differ from those of the Institute-level Offices of Public Liaison?
How should NIH make the existence of the Offices of Public
Liaison known and to whom?
How should the Offices of Public Liaison reach out to draw the
public into NIH activities?
What programs and activities should the Offices of Public
Liaison consider that have been particularly successful in providing public
viewpoints to the NIH?
Additional Questions
What should be the relationship between the Offices of Public
Liaison and the Director's Council of Public Representatives?
What programs from other research agencies or organizations
could serve as models for either the Director's Council of Public
Representatives or the Offices of Public Liaison in involving the public
more effectively in NIH activities?
What do various segments of the public need and want to know
about the NIH's activities, research, and operations that could be imparted
through the Director's Council of Public Representatives or the Offices of
Public Liaison?
How can the Director's Council of Public Representatives
and/or the Offices of Public Liaison help in conveying this information to
those segments of the public?
Identify activities to disseminate information about and from
the Offices of Public Liaison and the Director's Council of Public
Representatives to the appropriate public audiences.
Discussion of these questions will help NIH in identifying people to serve
on the Director's Council of Representatives and will be used by the
Director's Council of Public Representatives and the Offices of Public
Liaison to identify activities and frame the issues for
discussion at future public meetings.
Public comments and requests for additional information should be mailed to
Ms. Anne Thomas, Associate Director for Communications, National Institutes
of Health, Building 1, Room 344, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Dated: September 2, 1998.
Anne Thomas,
Associate Director for Communications, NIH.
Archive provided courtesy of WaveGuide, http://www.wave-guide.org
Reprinted with permission of Roy Beavers, http://www.feb.se/EMF-L/EMF-L.html