...contributions of the individual authors; their works speak for themselves. However, I can help place their work in historical context and provide some biographical background that they are too modest to attempt to squeeze into the conventional author's footnote.

In various guises, the issues that our contributors address have generated debate and inspired proposals for reform since the 1970s, when Congress concluded a decade of feverish legislative activity now embodied in such laws as the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act, (1) the Clean Air Act, (2) the Occupational Safety and Health Act, (3) the Clean Water Act, (4) amendments to the federal pesticide law, (5) the Toxic Substances Control Act, (6) the Safe Drinking Water Act, (7) and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, (8) to name just some of the health and safety landmarks of that era. The administrative actions these laws authorized or, just as frequently, mandated, drew heavily upon still-emerging scientific disciplines--toxicology, epidemiology, environmental monitoring, and quantitative risk assessment, among others. This heavy reliance on scientific research and analysis generated new but still unresolved questions about the administrative process. Where should agencies turn for the evidence they need? How can they assure the relevance and integrity of the evidence they sought out or were proffered? How can interested parties and ordinary citizens be assured that officials will evaluate the evidence honestly and competently? What role should reviewing courts play in overseeing agencies' handling of scientific evidence? The list of unresolved questions goes on.

The issue of judicial responsibility first came to the surface in a series of decisions, perhaps more aptly described as debates, by the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in which Chief Judge David Bazelon and Judge Harold Leventhal ventured competing visions of the appropriate judicial role. (9) For Bazelon, the courts' responsibility began and...

NOTE: All illustrations and photos have been removed from this article.



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