Commentary: Health Effects of Air Pollution: Some Historical Notes

As I understand the objectives of this symposium, they are at least 2-fold: to describe some of the advances in the environmental health sciences in the past 40 years, and to acknowledge some of the roles of the Institute of En? vironmental Medicine in these scientific advances. This is a pleasant task and the occasion for a happy anniver? sary celebration. In my comments on air pollution, I expect to emphasize what is known to all of you?that environmental health sciences differ significantly from other health sciences in the extent to which they are intertwined with important public policy issues; in fact, the directions and progress of environmental health science research are often driven by public policy concerns and needs. The history of the Environmental Medicine Institute and the career of Nor?