"We want to make our science responsive to the American people.  I don't know how we can find out what the American people want without going out and talking to them. The town meetings are designed to solicit community input into the NIEHS research agenda and to help ensure that the NIEHS portfolio of research is responsive to the needs of the American people. I am deeply committed to the these meetings. The agenda planned by the Environmental Health Sciences Research Center is an excellent one. We look forward to the opportunity to participate in this town meeting which addresses an issue which is of great interest at the local and at the national level."