Office of Associate Director for Interagency Programs: Summary Statement

Collaboration between Soviet and American environmental health scientists is carried out under the auspices of two cooperative agreements between the United States and the Soviet Union. Under the Medical Science and Public Health Cooperative Agreement, scientists from both countries are conducting joint research on heart disease, cancer, arthritis, influenza and acute respiratory diseases, and health problems associated with environmental pollution. The Director, NIEHS, is U.S. Coordinator for the environmental health activities under the Health Agreement. 1977 was the fifth year of formal collaboration in environmental health research between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. The first year was concerned largely with establishing working relationships and agreeing on areas of joint study. Joint research efforts were initiated in the second year of the Agreement and involved exchange visits between scientists of both sides. The research results developed during the second and third year of cooperative research were presented by American and Soviet scientists at a symposium in Riga, Latvia, in December 1974. The results of this symposium were published in 1976 in both the United States and the Soviet Union. Scientific results from cooperative research during 1975 and 1976 were presented at a second joint symposium held in Marineland, Florida in De-, cember, 1976. The results of this meeting will be published during 1978 in both the United States and the Soviet Union. Current collaborative research efforts are divided into four problem areas aimed at developing methods for the quantitative evaluation of, predicting, and studying the long-term biological effects of environmental chemical agents and studying the biological effects of physical factors in the environment. By the end of 1977, over 45 scientific papers will have been published by American and Soviet scientists on the results of environmental health research conducted under this Agreement. The Agreement on Cooperation in the Field of Environmental Protection between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. is aimed at addressing the most important aspects of problems of the environment, including the study of pollution and its effects on life. A number of agencies participate in this Agreement which is under the general direction of the Administrator, EPA. The Director, NIEHS, serves as HEW representative to the agreement and as cochairman of the working group for one of its areas, the Biological and Genetic Effects of Pollution. Effort in this area has been focused on the mutagenic potential of environmental contaminants, the toxic effects of heavy metals in the environment, and the potential environmental health hazards associated with the extraction, processing and utilization of oil from shale. During 1977, program activity under this agreement consisted of the third joint workshop on Basic and Practical Approaches to Environmental Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis held in San Francisco, and the first joint workshop on Health Effects of Oil Shale Development, held in Denver, Colorado.