Closure of RTP Microwave Bioeffects Laboratory

To Whom It May Concern:

This is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. I hereby request the following records:

All internal agency communications related to the closure in 1986 of the EPA's program based in Research Triangle Park dealing with the health effects of non-ionizing radiation.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 20 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Harun Krasna

Janice,

Thank you very much for the heads up before any final action on this request. It is not too surprising that the day-to-day correspondence is long gone. What I can tell you for sure without my notes in front of me is that the EPA RTP's Health Effects Research Laboratory (HERL) had a non-ionizing radiation study program that began in the late 1970s and was formalized in the 1980s. This nonionizing radiation research was part of a larger multi-agency initiative called "Program For Control of Electromagnetic Pollution of the Environment: The Assessment of Biological Hazards of nonionizing electromagnetic radiation." Between 1982 and 1986 the program (which was operational @ RTP, though possibly elsewhere as well) underwent a struggle for funding to remain operational, before shutting down in 1986, whereupon much of the research and/or operational programs seem to have been transferred to some combination of the Department of Commerce and Walter Reed Hospital. The program appears to have been briefly revived in 1991 only to again struggle for funding until 1995, when the EPA underwent a major reorganization and the HERL and several other research laboratories were consolidated under the National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (NHEERL).

It is the end of the 1982-1986 operation of what may have have colloquially been called the "bioeffects laboratory" which I am interested in. I hope the above is able to help you locate responsive records.

Sincerely,
Harun Krasna