DOB ARCHIVES -7- Attachment A February 12, 1970 Dear Doctor Tompkins: I am enclosing a copy of the letter which Secretary Finch sent to Senator Muskie regarding the testimony of Drs. Gofman and Tamplin. You will note that the Secretary, as Chairman of the FRC, has recommended that the Council "institute a careful review and evaluation of the relevant scientific information that has become available in the past decade."' It will be appreciated if you will undertake the necessary steps to initiate this reevaluation along the lines recommended in the enclosed letter. Sincerely yours, sgd---Jesse L. Steinfeld, M.D. Surgeon General, USPHS Enclosure Dear Senator Muskie: This is in reply to your letter of December 1 pertaining to the testimony of Drs. Gofman and Tamplin for the hearings of the Subcommittee on Air and Water Pollution on November 18. Gofman and Tamplin, in reaching their conclusion that the Federal Radiation Council guidelines should be ''reduced now to 0.017 rads or even less,'' used an approach similar in principleto that used by expert advisory groups (e.g., ICRP, NCRP, FRC) in developing radiation protection standards and guidelines. This approach is based on the assumption of a direct linear and non-threshold relationship between dose and biological effect. In contrast to Drs. Gofman and Tamplin, however, these expert groups generally agree that this approach probably overestimates the risks, but is the prudent one to use in the formulation of radiation protection guides.