Japan, Stalled On Frontier Science Plan

Japan's effort to launch an international program in basic biological research has stalled again amid continued confusion over its specifics, according to U.S. and Japanese sources familiar with the project. The latest setback to the Human Frontier Science Program came earlier this month at the Venice economic summit, where Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone had been expected to unveil an official proposal. Instead, final details of the program remain under wraps, and the seven leaders of major industrial nations, in a single paragraph far down in the summit communiqué, issued only a general endorsement of the concept. "We welcome the initiative of the Human Frontier Science Program," the document said, noting that the feasibility study by Japan "will be continued, and we would be pleased to be kept informed about its progress." That progress has been fitful since early last year, when Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) revealed its plan for an international program of basic research into human biological functions. After the Science and Technology Agency weighed in with its own proposal, Nakasone ordered MITI, STA, the Ministry of Education and four other ministries to develop a unified plan that could be presented to other countries. The plan was not ready for last year's economic summit in Tokyo—and a week before this year's summit, the prime minister was quoted as saying the latest draft was still "too vague." The lack of domestic consensus reflects the different views of the ministries involved, as well as the tension between the political, economic and scientific motivations behind it. Politically, the program is in-tended to serve as a lightning rod for Western criticism that Japan has capitalized on basic research financed by other countries while making few contributions of its own. Yet some skeptics in Western Europe and elsewhere have complained that the program would enable Japan to pick the brains of foreign researchers in developing breakthrough products for Japanese industry. Searching for Subjects To forestall such criticism, "Japan has tried to pick fields without immediate potential commercial concern," according to Justin Bloom, a former U.S. science attaché to Japan. If Human Frontier research did result in new products, he said, Japan would likely have to share any commercial benefits with its research partners. Yet after reviewing drafts of Japan's proposal, some U.S. scientists have urged that Human Frontier research focus more specifically on such medical problems as cancer or AIDS. Others have suggested that the program address nutrition, agriculture and other problems critical to the Third World. Funding remains a problem: the total R&D cost of the program over 20 years is estimated at ¥1 trillion (about $7 billion), but with the Japanese government squeezed by a severe budget deficit, the Finance 'Ministry closely scrutinizes every request. Much research in Japan is supported by private industry—but the more basic the research and the more distant the payoff, Bloom points out, the less eager corporations will be to lend their support. Foreign observers have praised the project's goals but questioned its methods. The reaction reflects a desire to see how the program develops before jumping aboard with funding or other commitments. One big question is whether the program can survive Nakasone's departure from office later this year. "He has a personal interest in this field that may not be shared by his successor," said a U.S. State Department official. Since Nakasone failed to obtain a strong international endorsement for the program at this year's summit meeting and will be out of office next year, "normally [the program) might be considered to be finished," the official said. But he added that "a growing consensus" that Japan should step up its basic research efforts may pressure the next prime minister to retain the Human Frontier program to avoid having to start from scratch. The picture should become somewhat clearer by the end of the year, when budget figures for fiscal 1988 become available. Engel is a consultant in U.S.-Japan science and technology matters. Greene is on the staff of The Scientist.

Japan, Stalled On Frontier Science Plan

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