756 



7. The United States would also benefit by a set of international 

 standards ao;reed upon by WHO and the FAOi ( Food and Aoriculture 

 Organization) with respect to the amount of lieavy metals to be per- 

 mitted in edible foods. 



8. Severe protein-calorie malnutrition does not exist with sufficient 

 identifiable frequency in the United States to permit in-depth study 

 of malnutrition on development, especially the effect of prenatal and 

 postnatal protein malnutrition on earlv development and subsequent 

 learning ability. WHO, FAO, INCAP have both the methodology 

 and the observable populations at their disposal. Such studies are 

 already underway, but the importance of the results on possibly im- 

 paired future physical and mental health justifies a greater interna- 

 tional research effort. The economic considerations are important to 

 developed and developing countries alike. 



9. Populations for the study of groups and conditions resistant to 

 certain types of cauf^er and heart dipease are not available in sufficient 

 numbers in the United States. The WHO International Agency for 

 Research and Cancer nt Lyons, France, is an example of a WHO effort 

 which could be expanded on behalf of the developed nations. Cardio- 

 vascular diseases mav deserve a siimilar international approach for 

 the same reasons and for the same developed countries Avhere degenera- 

 tive diseases are among the leading causes of death. 



V. Summary, Conclusions, and Comments 



During the earh- history of man, famine, disease, and pestilence 

 in combination were essentially global for the then known world. 

 Pandemics raged on through the middle ages, at one time destroying 

 up to a quarter of the population. With only a slight change in the pre- 

 vailing biological conditions, the entire human race in Europe might 

 have been eliminated. 



Later, the provision of clean water and sanitary w^'xste disposal, to- 

 gether with geographic climatic conditions unfavorable and favor- 

 able to the prevalence of disease vectors, divided tlie world into lesser 

 and greater diseased parts. When this division was recognized, un- 

 organized efforts were taken to isolate and quarantine people and 

 materials against the introduction of disease from one area to another. 

 By 1851, Nation-States began formal coonerative efforts to control 

 the spread of communicable dtsease, but labored under the lack of 

 knowledge and under the distorting influence of the special interests 

 of commerce. 



After some 50 years of contimiing diplomatic efforts and gains in 

 the understanding of the cause of disease, modest, non-intrusive in- 

 ternational agreements were reached and a permanent organization 

 was set up to manage the control of communicable disease on the part 

 of the signatory nations. Two such organizations appeared on the 

 international scene almost simultaneously, shortly after the turn of the 

 20th century. These were the Office of International Hygiene in Europe 

 and the Pan American Sanitary Bureau in the New World. 



The world in 1900 A.D. was a relatively small one, commercially, 

 and so was its total human population. It was, however, relatively large 

 in reference to the barrier protection offered by the oceans and the 

 atmosphere, the limited amount of goods and people moving to and 



