I would like to promote the concept of a partnership of insurance companies, physicians and hospitals in deploying a basic framework for an electronic medical records system that is affordable.

• We all recognize that in recent decades, many important achievements have helped create a cleaner, healthier environment, yet our national needs in environmental health are not being fully met.
• While the Environmental Genome Project does not seek to assign allele frequencies, we are aware of the importance of accurate allele frequency estimates for future epidemiologic studies and the large sample sizes such estimates will require.
• It is important to consider whether the sample size selected by the Environmental Genome Project will provide sufficient power to discover most alleles relevant to gene-environment interactions.
• One of the responsibilities faced by the Environmental Genome Project is to provide the science base upon which society can make better informed risk management decisions.
• The infrastructure for linking environmental health and public health is not working as well as it should.
• Moreover, environmental health at the local level has become narrowly focused, very much defined around regulations and the attendant regulatory debates.
• We all recognize that in recent decades, many important achievements have helped create a cleaner, healthier environment, yet our national needs in environmental health are not being fully met.
• To maximize our potential to enhance our health and our knowledge, we should remain open to new understanding and evolving technology or resources that might inspire a change in our approach to these important questions.
• The infrastructure for linking environmental health and public health is not working as well as it should.
• Moreover, environmental health at the local level has become narrowly focused, very much defined around regulations and the attendant regulatory debates.