By E-mail and fax

Dean Alfred Sommer
Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
615 N. Wolfe Street
Baltimore, MD 21205

Dear Dean Sommer:

I am writing as an alumnus of the School of Public Health (MHS '83) to express my disappointment with the fund-raising brochure I received accompanied by your letter dated January 6, 1999.

The brochure appears to equate some of the greatest public health achievements ever with some of the best examples of "junk science" ever. This is outrageous.

The brochure rightfully highlights:

• the discovery of vitamins D and A by E.V. McCollum
• the work of David Bodian, Isabel Morgan and Howard Howe in making polio vaccines possible;
• the engineering of the chlorination of water supplies in every municipal system in America by Abel Wolman;
• the masterminding of the smallpox eradication campaign by D.A. Henderson; and
• your discovery that vitamin A can inexpensively save children's lives.

But the brochure also highlights "Jonathan Samet's landmark work on radon exposure, air pollution and tobacco use [that] allows us all to breathe easier."

"Landmark?"

Samet has made a career out of weak association epidemiology, attempting to link residential radon exposure with lung cancer, air pollution with premature mortality and environmental tobacco smoke with lung cancer.

While Samet certainly deserves credit for succeeding with questionable statistics developed from dubious data, somehow this does not rate with eradicating small pox, chlorinating water supplies or other notable public health accomplishments.

To the extent Samet's work in the highlighted areas endures, it will be because of political appeal, not scientific merit or public health consequence.

The Johns Hopkins School of Public Health has an unparalleled record of achievement. If Samet's work is representative of the significance of Hopkins' current efforts, perhaps it's time to rethink the School's mission.

I urge this brochure be withdrawn immediately.

Sincerely,

Steven J. Milloy
Publisher, Junk Science Home Page