A proposal to establish a World Health Research Centre has been under discussion by the executive board of the world health organization. The proposal was prepared by M. G. Candau, MD, the WHO director-general, in collaboration with more than 30 scientists.
According to the report the centre would be devoted to the investigation of health problems "of major importance to the world as a whole which are not likely to be explored adequately by national efforts." Impelling reasons for the study, the report said, were:
The potential dangers of chemical contamination of air, water, and foodstuffs inhaled or ingested by large population groups;
The possible ill effects of new medicaments and biological products given to or inoculated into millions of people each year throughout the world;
The emergence of new nations with special health problems;
The need to improve communications on health and biomedical research;
The insufficient use of mathematics, physics, chemistry, and engineering