Taft Y. Toribara – författare

This is the twelfth in a series of conferences on environmental toxicity sponsored by the Department of Radiation Biology and Bio­ physics. The topics selected are intended to be of timely interest with a focus somewhat different from those with with similar titles. I would like to share with you some of the thought which went into the development of this year''s program. Everyone here is aware of the great amount of publicity being given to some phase of this year''s topic of "Polluted Rain", but I wonder how many of the younger generation realize how the entire world got into this kind of predicament. I can remember as a young­ ster that precipitation from the sky in the form of rain or snow was considered one of the ultimates in purity. That was in the era when a small number of automobiles were in use and the airplane was more of a curiosity in the developmental stage than anything of commer­ cial significance. Many homes used iceboxes for refrigeration, and summer cooling was accomplished by electric fans by the more afflu­ ent families.

This is the twelfth in a series of conferences on environmental toxicity sponsored by the Department of Radiation Biology and Bio­ physics. The topics selected are intended to be of timely interest with a focus somewhat different from those with with similar titles. I would like to share with you some of the thought which went into the development of this year's program. Everyone here is aware of the great amount of publicity being given to some phase of this year's topic of "Polluted Rain", but I wonder how many of the younger generation realize how the entire world got into this kind of predicament. I can remember as a young­ ster that precipitation from the sky in the form of rain or snow was considered one of the ultimates in purity. That was in the era when a small number of automobiles were in use and the airplane was more of a curiosity in the developmental stage than anything of commer­ cial significance. Many homes used iceboxes for refrigeration, and summer cooling was accomplished by electric fans by the more afflu­ ent families.

The principal emphasis of the Department of Radiation Biology and Biophysics is on biological problems. Techniques for measuring are considered very necessary but the development of them is usual­ ly left to someone else. Therefore it is a little unusual for the department to sponsor a conference which is devoted mostly to methodology. Environmental Pollution is a very popular topic now, and one notices that there are a number of scientific conferences devoted to the topic. Furthermore, part of every conference is devoted to measurements of pollutants. So the question becomes one of what should be different about our conference. To start with there are two unique features here: The first is the limited attendance which should provide more meaningful discussion; the second is the availability to the world of all the information in book form after the conference. We gave considerable thought to the contents of the conference which would take advantage of the unique features. Therefore, we decided to look to the future and present material here that is not in routine use. The search for pollutants has just begun, and their presence cannot be established without some means of detection. Many substances are not known to be toxic be­ cause no one has studied them. The necessary information can only be obtained if techniques for detection and measurement are avail­ able.