SCIENCE-THE DARK SIDE 253
At the end of the 1970s, the McGovern report succeeded in prodding
the government to produce its first-ever dietary guidelines, which were
rumored to promote a message similar to that of McGovern's commit-
tee. At about the same time, there were widely publicized government
debates about whether food additives were safe, and whether saccharin
caused cancer.PLAYING MY PART
In the late 1970s I found myself in the middle of this rapidly changing
environment. By 1975 my program in the Philippines had ended, and
I was well into my experimental laboratory work here in the United
States, after having accepted a full professorship with tenure at Cornell
University. Some of my early work on aflatoxin and liver cancer in the
Philippines (chapter two) had garnered widespread interest, and my
subsequent laboratory work investigating nutritional factors, carcino-
gens and cancer (chapter three) was attracting national attention. At
that time, I had one of only two or three laboratories in the country do-
ing basic research on nutrition and cancer. It was a novel endeavor.
From 1978 to 19791 took a year-long sabbatical leave from Cornell to
go to the epicenter of national nutritional activity, Bethesda, Maryland.
The organization that I was working with was the Federation of Ameri-
can Societies for Experimental Biology and Medicine, or FASEB. Six in-
dividual research societies made up the federation, representing patholo-
gy, biochemistry, pharmacology, nutrition, immunology and physiology.
The FASEB sponsored the annual joint meetings of all six societies, and
upwards of more than 20,000 scientists attended. I was a member of two
of these societies, nutrition and pharmacology, and was particularly ac-
tive in the American Institution of Nutrition (now named the American
Society for Nutritional Sciences). My principle work was to chair, under
contract to the Food and Drug Administration, a committee of scientists
investigating potential hazards of using nutrient supplements.
While there, I also was invited to be on a public affairs committee
that served as liaison between the FASEB and Congress. The commit-
tee's charge was to stay on top of congreSSional activity and represent
our societies' interests in dealings with lawmakers. We reviewed poli-
cies, budgets and position statements, met with congressional staffs,
and held meetings around big, impressive "boardroom" tables in dis-
tinguished, august meeting rooms. I often got the feeling I was in the
citadel of science.