Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1983. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
The New York Times - December 13, 1983
Dr. James O. Mason, who took over last week as the 10th director of the agency, believes that of the "pressing problems that we need an immediate solution to," AIDS is "a number one problem."
But he added, "I don't think we can turn our backs for a moment on risk assessment in the field of environmental and occupational health."
Federal research into acquired immune deficiency syndrome is coordinated by a special task force at the Atlanta-based Center for Infectious Disease - one of several centers working on a multitude of health projects.
Criticism of the Government's AIDS effort - charging that too little money has been spent and too few researchers have been hired - has come from advocates of homosexual rights and even from Capitol Hill.
"I suspect that this nation is doing pretty well all you can rationally expect it to do," Dr. Mason said Friday.
"It's natural to say, 'Is everything that could be done being done?' But I think there has been a very determined and dedicated response."
Dr. Mason said he has found "nothing but total sympathy for getting the job done" from his bosses in the Department of Health and Human Services. And he disagrees strongly with a frequent charge that since AIDS preys on homosexuals, the Government has dragged its feet in the attempt to stop its spread.
"I've never sensed that it makes any difference who's dying," he said. "A death is a death. And at least at C.D.C., our job is to control disease, not to get into the process of saying is one life worth more than another."
Throughout an interview, Dr. Mason returned repeatedly to the topic of environmental health hazards, such as dioxin.
"The responsibility has been given to the C.D.C. in risk assessment," he said. "That's an area where I think the public deserves a lot more information than it has had in the past.
"What is the risk of low-level radiation? What is the risk of toxic chemicals? I think that there's almost a fear and dread of some of these environmental hazards, and in many cases, it's justified."
But the problem, he said, is "trying to put it in the context of 'this toxin' or 'this low-level radiation' in relationship to other hazards that we deal with on a daily basis."
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