The Council of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) established
the "Committee on the Challenges of Modern Society" (CCMS) in 1969. The
CCMS was charged with developing meaningful environmental and social
programmes for solving existing problems and developing long-range goals
for environmental protection. In 1983, at the Fall Plenary of the CCMS,
the Norwegian delegate Dr. H.C. Christensen, proposed a Pilot Study on
"Risk Management of Chemicals in the Environment". A draft proposal,
written by Dr. Kari Kveseth of the Center for Industrial Research in
Oslo, was presented. Dr. Christensen also informed the participants at
the meeting that Norway was willing to act as the Pilot Country. The
project was initially planned for 3 years, but it was later extended
through 1987. The inaugural meeting was held in Oslo in April 1984 with
participants from Denmark, Greece, France and Italy, in addition to
representatives from several Norwegian institutions. The attendees
concluded that a Pilot Study, as delineated in the draft proposal, would
be useful, and it was decided to work out a detailed project plan based
on the proposal.