[ RadSafe ] Naval Health Research Center's Birth and Infant Health Registry
James Salsman
james at bovik.org
Thu Sep 29 04:21:10 CDT 2005
Is anyone interested in joining this Freedom of Information
Act request? It's been stalled almost a month now.
To: "Goad, Robert LT" <AO at nhrc.navy.mil>
CC: Ryan at nhrc.navy.mil, co at nhrc.navy.mil....
Subject: Re: Your Supplemental FOIA Request of 18 July 2005
Dear Lt. Goad:
I am in receipt of Captain Dukovich's August 11 response
to my supplemental FOIA request of July 18, directing me
to contact you in case of further questions.
My requests #5, for the BIHR schemata, and #7, for records
pertaining to February 1991 combat-deployed Operation
Desert Storm veterans, were intended to request the
electronic records describing and populating the BIHR
database, respectively.
Are there any reasons that those electronic records should
be withheld? I have included below some of the "Procedural
Requirements" excerpts from the Department of Justice's May
2004 Freedom of Information Act Guide, which may be of some
help. If the requested electronic records are releasable,
then please forward them by email to me, with the redactions
described in the Supplemental request, if need be. If you
have any questions about this, then please phone me at
650.793.0162. Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
James Salsman
--- Department of Justice May 2004 Freedom of Information Act
Guide "Procedural Requirements" excerpts follow ---
"With the passage of the Electronic Freedom of Information Act
Amendments of 1996, the FOIA now defines the term 'record' as simply
'includ[ing] any information that would be an agency record . . . when
maintained by an agency in any format, including an electronic format.'...
"Prior to the enactment of the Electronic FOIA amendments, several
courts held that agencies do not have to ... aggregate computerized data
files so as to effectively create new, releasable records. More than one
court ruled, though, that agencies may be required to perform relatively
simple computer searches to locate requested records, or to demonstrate
why such searches are unreasonable in a given case.
"Consistent with these latter cases, and to promote electronic database
searches, the Electronic FOIA amendments now require agencies to make
'reasonable efforts' to search for requested records in electronic form
or format 'except when such efforts would significantly interfere with
the operation of the agency's automated information system.' The
Electronic FOIA amendments expressly define the term 'search' as meaning
'to review, manually or by automated means, agency records for the
purpose of locating those records which are responsive to a request.'...
"When an agency denies an initial request in full or in part, it must
provide the requester with certain specific administrative information
about the action taken on the request -- including an estimate of the
amount of denied information, unless doing so would undermine the
protection provided by an exemption. Additionally, the Electronic FOIA
amendments require agencies to indicate the amount of information
excised at the point in the record where the excision was made, wherever
it is 'technically feasible' to do so...."
-- http://www.usdoj.gov/oip/procereq.htm
----- original request -----
Lieutenant Dean Goad
Freedom of Information Act Officer
Naval Health Research Center
SUPPLEMENTAL FOIA REQUEST
Fee waiver requested
Expedited review requested
Dear Lt. Goad:
Thank you for your response below. After careful consideration
of the information you sent on July 1st, I am also requesting,
pursuant to the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C.
§ 552, access to and copies of the following nine categories of
records of the DoD Birth and Infant Health Registry:
1. All records indicating that uranium is a developmental toxicant.
2. All records suggesting that uranium may be a developmental toxicant.
3. All records indicating that uranium is a reproductive toxicant.
4. All records suggesting that uranium may be a reproductive toxicant.
5. All records describing the schemata of the D.o.D. Birth
and Infant Health Registry, including a complete description
of all database tables, the number of rows currently populating
each table, the description and data type of each column in
each table, and the total number of bytes in the textual
representation of the entire database.
6. All records indicating whether Birth and Infant Health
Registry data are capable of indicating which subsets belong
to 1991 combat-deployed Operation Desert Storm veterans.
7. All records describing, or which could be aggregated to
describe, the congenital malformation rates of children
fathered by 1991 combat-deployed Operation Desert Storm
veterans (other than the three BIHR Annual Reports records
sent on July 1st), including pertinent database table rows,
along with a unique identifier for each row if any information
in that row is redacted, a complete description of any
redaction performed on any row and/or any column, and a
complete description of the table columns and of the row
selection criteria used in excerpting the data responsive to
this request.
8. All records of studies by Department of Defense Birth and
Infant Health Registry personnel, and/or collaborators, and/or
corresponding researchers into the congenital malformation rates
of children fathered by 1991 combat-deployed Operation Desert
Storm veterans, other than any records sent to me on July 1st.
9. All records describing any reproductive toxins other than
uranium to which 1991 combat-deployed Operation Desert Storm
veterans might have been exposed in above-average quantities.
I would like to receive the information in electronic format, by email.
Please waive any applicable fees. Thank you for waiving the fees
for my prior request. As before, Release of the information is in
the public interest because it will contribute significantly to
public understanding of government operations and activities. Please
see my petitions before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission pertaining
to licensing concerns surrounding pyrophoric uranium munitions
safety studies at 70 Fed. Reg. 32661 (June 3, 2005) and uranium
exposure rule making at 70 Fed. Reg. 34699 (June 15, 2005.) I do
not intend to relinquish my rights to allow the records responsive
to this supplemental request to be submitted to the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission Secretary and the N.R.C. Petition Review
Board associated with the aforementioned petitions, or the right
to recover the costs of submitting correct and beneficial
petitions, or the right to share the requested information without
undue financial burden.
If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all
deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also
expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise exempt
material. I, of course, reserve the right to appeal your decision to
withhold any information or to deny a waiver of fees.
As I am making this request as a strictly noncommercial author,
as an independent researcher, and as a petitioner with petitions
currently pending before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Because the requested information is of timely value, I would
appreciate your communicating with me by email or telephone
(650.793.0162), rather than by postal mail, if you have questions
regarding this request.
As before, Please provide expedited review because delayed disclosure
could threaten life because of the previously unconsidered
developmental and reproductive toxicity of uranium inhalation
exposure. I certify that these statements regarding expedited review
are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
I look forward to your reply within 20 business days, as the statute
requires.
Thank you for your assistance.
Sincerely,
James Salsman
> -----Original Message-----
> From: James Salsman
> Sent: Sunday, July 03, 2005 4:43 AM
> To: Goad, Robert LT; Ryan at nhrc.navy.mil
> Subject: Re: FOIA REQUEST - recommended response: Birth defects among inf
> ants of Gulf war veterans
>
> Dear Lt. Goad:
>
> Thank you for your response to my FOIA Request of 22 June.
> I was particularly interested in the reports on Birth Defects Among Infants
> Born to US Military Families, for which you sent me the 1998, 1999, and 2000
> Annual Reports. I was unable to find any data subsequent to 2001. Please
> let me know if I missed that.
>
> Dear Dr. Ryan:
>
> My request was for the congenital malformation rate of children born to
> combat-deployed 1991 Gulf War veteran parents for each of the years 1991
> through 2004.
>
> Why do the reports on Birth Defects Among Infants Born to US Military
> Families not include risk ratios for children fathered by combat-deployed
> 1991 Gulf War veterans?
>
> Sincerely,
> James Salsman
>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: James Salsman
>> Sent: Wednesday, June 22, 2005 3:17 PM
>> To: Ryan, Margaret CDR
>> Subject: Re: Birth defects among infants of Gulf war veterans
>>
>> Margaret A. K. Ryan, MD, MPH, CDR, MC, USN
>> Director
>> DoD Center for Deployment Health Research
>> Naval Health Research Center
>> PO Box 85122
>> San Diego, CA 92186
>> BY EMAIL
>>
>> FOIA REQUEST
>> Fee waiver requested
>> Expedited review requested
>>
>> Dear Dr. Ryan:
>>
>> Pursuant to the federal Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. § 552, I request access to and copies of all records of the Department of Defense Birth and Infant Health Registry project which indicate the congenital malformation rate of children born to combat-deployed 1991 Gulf War veteran parents for each of the years 1991 through 2004, and all records pertaining to the codes of ethics which govern the participation of activities complicit in the release of known reproductive toxins with indeterminate toxological profiles by physicians licensed in the United States Armed Forces.
>>
>> I would like to receive the information in electronic format, by email.
>>
>> Please waive any applicable fees. Release of the information is in the public interest because it will contribute significantly to public understanding of government operations and activities. Please see my petitions before the Nuclear Regulatory Commission pertaining to licensing concerns surrounding pyrophoric uranium munitions safety studies at 70 Fed. Reg. 32661 (June 3, 2005) and uranium exposure rule making at 70 Fed. Reg. 34699 (June 15, 2005.).
>>
>> If my request is denied in whole or part, I ask that you justify all deletions by reference to specific exemptions of the act. I will also expect you to release all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material. I, of course, reserve the right to appeal your decision to withhold any information or to deny a waiver of fees.
>>
>> As I am making this request as an author and this information is of timely value, I would appreciate your communicating with me by email or telephone (650.793.0162), rather than by postal mail, if you have questions regarding this request.
>>
>> Please provide expedited review because delayed disclosure could threaten life because of the previously unconsidered developmental and reproductive toxicity of uranium inhalation exposure. I certify that these statements regarding expedited review are true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief.
>>
>> I look forward to your reply within 20 business days, as the statute requires.
>>
>> Thank you for your assistance.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>> James Salsman
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