rm of sugar without impacting consumption, including phosphate food additives, protective sealants, and fluoride delivery through expanded community water programs, topical application, and addition to sugar, salt, or flour . The research priorities identified by the NIDR Caries Task Force Steering Committee in October 1969 (Table 3, column C) are strongly aligned with ISRF’s submission (Table 3, column E), with the notable exception of developing a model to identify the cariogenicity of foods.
During fall 1969, the Nixon administration focused on biomedical research policy and showed signs of interest in supporting the NCP . In January 1970, Caries Task Force Chairman Scherp submitted the report A National Caries Program of the National Institute of Dental Research: Ten-Year Program of Research and Development  in response to a request from the Office of the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare for a detailed plan for developing dental caries interventions . Scherp’s report was based on the work of the NIDR Caries Task Force Steering Committee at its October meeting . Later that month, the Assistant Secretary for Health indicated that President Nixon would endorse the program .
Launch of the National Dental Caries Program, 1970–1971
During his February 1970 budget message, President Nixon announced support for “substantial increases in research on cancer, heart disease, serious childhood illnesses, and dental health—where current findings promise significant advances for the future” . A line item in the budget allocated US$5 million (US$30.6 million in 2014 dollars) for the NCP in fiscal year 1971 .
In February 1970, after President Nixon’s public endorsement of the NCP but before the NIDR officially released the NCP research priorities, ISRF mailed its report International Sugar Research Foundation Special Report: Dental Caries  to its Scientific Advisory Board. The ISRF report began, “The correlation between sugar and dental decay—a practical concern of the sugar industry for many years—may become a purely academic issue within the foreseeable future,” then described the work ISRF leaders had invested to influence the NCP . ISRF President Ross had collaborated with the NIDR Caries Task Force Chairman Scherp and had submitted a report created by ISRF staff on dental caries research priorities directly to the NIDR Caries Task Force:
Dental caries has been a constant worry to many consumers of sugar and sugar products. To some scientists, dental caries and sugar are considered almost “synonymous.” ISRF, in its concern about this image, has supported research to uncover many of the unknowns, and has kept in close communication with other institutions which concentrate on such research. The National Institute of Dental Research, of the U.S. Public Health Service’s National Institutes of Health, is the most prominent U. S. organization conducting dental caries research on a broad scale. Last year the Institute formed a Dental Caries Task Force to work “toward the goal of virtually eliminating tooth decay in the United States.” Dr. Philip Ross, ISRF President, met with the Dental Caries Task Force and has worked closely with its Chairman, Dr. Henry W. Scherp. Dental Caries Research—1969, prepared several months ago by the staff of ISRF, reviewed current knowledge of the subject and was submitted to the Task Force for its consideration. 
The NIDR Caries Task Force held its conference on dietary research priorities one month later (Table 1) . At the NIDR Role of Human Foodstuffs in Caries Workshop Conference, Caries Task Force Steering Committee member Basil Bibby presented a paper, “Methods for Comparing the Cariogenicity of Foodstuffs,” which reviewed the status of research on experimental models to identify food products harmful to teeth . These models were important, according to Bibby, because it was “desirable to have a relatively speedy and economical method of evaluating cariogenicity, especially of snack-type foods, so that parents can be warned against the more destructive products” . Bibby’s presentation summ