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Women in Cancer Research Women in Cancer Research (WICR) will dissolve as an independent organization and become a council in the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR). In essence WICR is going back to its roots. According to Mary Jean Sawey, immediate past president of WICR and research associate professor of radiation oncology at Temple University Medical School, several years ago many female scientists felt they needed a vehicle to promote advancement of women in cancer-related biomedical research. They didn't want to be just another committee in the AACR, so they formed an independent, incorporated organization in 1988, though they also retained AACR membership. Since then WICR has provided mentors and role models for younger scientists. It has also helped women gain more power in the AACR by holding leadership positions, giving talks, and chairing meetings. "We have formed quite a power base and have had an impact in the last 10 years," she explains. The two organizations have integrated informally. "Changes in the AACR have made the merger a win-win situation," comments Sawey. WICR as an AACR council will have more resources available, such as administrative support, funds, and an infrastructure. The AACR benefits from having a strong group with experience in promoting women in science. --Nadia S. Halim GM Food Gets Double Endorsement In mid-April, spurred as much by an ongoing trade war with Europe as by compelling scientific evidence, the congressional Committee on Science Subcommittee on Basic Research released a report singing the praises of genetically modified food (GMF). A week earlier, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) National Research Council had advocated some of the same principles in its own report on GMF. Both the congressional and the NAS reports emphasize that GMF is no more dangerous than food produced through plant breeding. While calling for further research, both downplay concerns about the possibility of genetically introducing potential allergens or toxins into plants. The reports also recommend that the Environmental Protection Agency, Food and Drug Administration, and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) update existing GMF regulations to reflect current scientific understanding. Oversight and risk assessment efforts, say the reports, should focus on plants and the environment into which they're introduced rather than on the methods used to produce those plants. Subcommittee chairman Nick Smith (R-Mich.) and his colleagues suggested that the United States should not allow Europe and Japan to prevent widespread acceptance of biotechnology and slow the spread of American products without valid scientific evidence. Susanne Huttner, director of the Systemwide Biotechnology Research and Education program for the University of California system, noted that the USDA has studied 5,000 field trials of genetically engineered plants without noting any problems. She claimed that such findings, although available to the public, haven't been cited enough. "The most encouraging thing about this report is that it strongly discourages further discussion of scientifically unfounded claims of risk," said Huttner. "Instead it asks the question, how can we best apply this new science?" --Eugene Russo

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Nadia Halim

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May 2000

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