Fredrickson 23 Sept 78 
- 2 - 
Stanford. They certainly know about earthquakes - but they have never 
raised the seismic issue as a possible complicating danger. But 
there is nothing in the Guidelines, the draft Environmental Impact 
Statement or in the minutes of the Administrative Panel which addresses 
this question. And yet they consider themselves as persons who are 
concerned with safety!" 
Since that statement was made, the Administrative Panel has 
made some tentative probings in that direction, but by their own 
admission to me in the May 1978 meeting it by no means deals with 
the problem in depth. Dr. David Hogness is one of your senior advisors. 
He is also a Stanford scientist. He listened to my comments in 
February 1977. Yet I still have not seen him take the lead - or in 
any other way - deal with this matter. If there have been activities 
by him or others which are not generally known I would greatly appreciate 
being directed towords them and , if need be, retract my criticism. 
And of course your office has also drawn upon the expertise of Drs 
Paul Berg and Stanly Cohen, eminent scientists who also seem to have 
ignored this issue. 
The issue of containment remains an important one - although 
I believe it lies in the^Maginot Line philosophy. But granting the 
validity of that approach nevertheless, it is important for your office 
to understand the thinking of people 3,000 miles away on this matter. 
School construction, hospital construction emergency regulations of 
all sorts are all predicated on meeting earthquake standards. The 
thinking of many people frequently returns to this subject again and 
again. It is difficult to people living at a distance to comprehend 
the pervasive nature of this problem. But your own title includes the 
word "National" and puts the responsibility on your shoulders ythe 
necessity of considering such local considerations - while in truth 
seismic disturbances do occur with regularity along the entire 
California coast - from Los Angeles to San Francisco. 
1. MISTAKES 
A fundamental premise of the workings of your office and of your 
Advisory Panels is that intelligence is put to work and mistakes are 
thereby avoided. That thinking is, in the main, true. But it is not 
entirely true. In February 1977, I stated, 
"Mistakes do happen, and in truth must be expected in research. 
Santayanna said, "He who ignores history is condemned to repeat it". 
Let us review the origins of the two greatest advances in the therapy 
of infectious diseases - antibiotics and vaccines. Thye did NOT begin 
thru intelligent, planned experiments, thru serendipity or even thru 
accident. They resulted from mistakes - outright stupid mistakes. 
Fleming left his Petri dish uncovered and Pasteur let his culture go 
bad. If Fleming and Pasteur could make mistakes, then certainly the 
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