On the evening of Monday, 28 February 1983, a sumptuous and meticulously organized dinner took place in Washington, D.C., on the initiative of the National Research Council (NRC). The list of 129 handpicked guests was drawn up with the collaboration of Edwin Behrens of the American Industrial Health Council. This list included twenty-seven key figures from the U.S. Congress, including several senators, and twenty-four industrial personalities, including Richard Leet, chairman of Amoco Chemicals Corporation; Barclay Morlay, chairman and executive director of Stauffer Chemical Company; and Hunter Henry, chairman of Dow Chemical Company.¹ With this event, the NRC inaugurated a new