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Washington - A proposal for a permanent body to stimulate biotechnology research and its commercial applications has triggered political tug-of-War over the right to shape federal policy. The Senate is expected to act a early as this spring on a bill (S. 1966) to set up a National Biotechnology Policy Board with 20 members drawn from government agencies, industry and academia. The board would be a permanent body within the executive branch and would produce a report every two years, beginning

OTTAWA -Scientists are cautiously optimistic that Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney will deliver on a promise to spend an additional $1.3 billion Canadian ($ 1.014 billion U.S.) on federal science and technology initiative over the next five years. Mulroney made the announcement to 200 business and university leaders last month in Toronto at a federally sponsored conference called to solicit their advice or developing a new national science and technology strategy. A portion of the funds

Volume 2, #3The Scientist February 08, 1988 Law Sets Nonmilitary Data Rules AUTHOR:TED AGRES Date: FEBRUARY 08, 1988 Washington - A new law gives a civilian agency the authority to set standards on access to unclassified data, including scientific and technical information. The law ends a long debate over how to protect certain types of computerized data and wrests control of such decisions from the military. "We're very pleased," said Kenneth B. Allen, senior vice president

London - A new government policy has brought into sharp focus a simmering row between British academics and the Department of Health and Social Security on the integrity of their research findings. The immediate problem stems from new contract language specifying that publication of findings "is subject to the proper consent of the secretary of state, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld." Under the terms of the old contract, which covers social policy research commissioned by the

OTTAWA - A new federal law extending patent protection on new drugs will lead to a doubling of R&D spending over the next decade, Canada's pharmaceutical manufacturers have promised. But this $1.4 billion (Canadian) commitment, made through the 64- member Pharmaceutical Manufacturers' Association of Canada, has met with some skepticism. PMAC President Judy Erola acknowledged the problem when she testified last fall that "some have said that the industry has never invested this kind of money in

WASHINGTON - Terry B. Kinney Jr., administrator of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), hopes that his retirement this spring will be accompanied by an end to the criticism that the agency has lagged behind other federal science agencies in its use of peer review for awarding grants. The issue, which has dogged the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food and agricultural research programs for years, came into sharp focus last year in a National Research Council report that criticized several

News Critics Skeptical of USDA Biotech Meetings AUTHOR:DANIEL GROSSMAN Date: FEBRUARY 08, 1988 WASHINGTON - The Department of Agriculture is hoping that a series of meetings this spring will demonstrate its desire to learn more about biotechnology research and strengthen its role in federal regulatory efforts. But some observers view the four regional conferences as a slick way to promote existing programs. "It seems like a lot of this business is a cynical way of getting public approval fo

EUGENE, Ore. - For six days last month defense witnesses testified that Roger Smith Troen made a "choice of evils" when he participated in the October, 1986 theft of about 125 research animals from a University of Oregon psychology laboratory (see THE SCIENTIST December 14, p.1). On the seventh day, Lane County Circuit Judge Edwin Allen said he would hear no more of it. The lengthy pretrial hearing failed to convince Allen that a seldom-used state law of evidence should apply to Troen's animal

WASHINGTON - Well paying graduate fellowships are needed to attract more American-born engineering students, according to a new report from the National Research Council. The report tackles the controversial issue of the growing presence of foreign-born engineers in U.S. universities, both as students and faculty, and the parallel drop in the number of Americans pursuing advanced degrees in the field. Its subtitle, "Infusing Talent, Raising Issues," emphasizes its decision to avoid racial or e

WASHINGTON--Once more, with feeling. That's how officials at the U.S. National Academy of Sciences seem to view a cooperative agreement with the Soviet Academy of Sciences. They hope the new five-year agreement will lead to a more productive exchange of scientists than occurred under a nearly identical two-year pact that would have expired in April. The impact of perestroika and glasnost was visible in our discussions," said NAS President Frank Press on his return from Moscow after signing th

Alvey Provides Model for Collaboration BY JOHN STANSELL LONDON - The Alvey program in advanced microelectronics leaves a legacy of cooperative research that promises to outlast the completion of its last individual project later this year. Begun in June 1983, Alvey proved to be a model for government- university-industry collaboration, for joint efforts among competing companies, and for cooperative research throughout Europe. It has also received high marks for luring top scientists back to

Paris - The founder of the International Center for Theoretical Physics has called for extending the concept to other disciplines and eventually creating an International Center for Science. Abdus Salam has proposed a loose federation of new and existing international bodies that would study basic and applied science and science technology problems of interest in the developing world. (For an interview with Salam, see page 20.) The group would include the ICTP in Trieste as well as new or exis