News of the Week ploratory. He notes, however, that besides predicting the physical behavior of various kinds of coal inside gasifiers, the technique could be useful in studying how the minerals in coal catalyze gasification, liquefaction, and combustion. D
Buildup of strategic materials resuming For the first time in 20 years, the U.S. is reviewing and updating its stockpile of strategic raw materials and has begun by ordering the purchase of 1.3 million lb of cobalt. According to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the office responsible for the stockpile as well as U.S. preparedness for any type of natural or man-made disaster, the cobalt purchase is the start of a restructuring of the $15 billion stockpile. FEMA expects to spend about $100 million for fiscal 1981. Purchases planned under the updating program will be stretched out over the next five years, and FEMA officials expect to spend about $2.4 billion to bring stockpiles of materials up to mandated levels. The change in policy recognizes that U.S. needs for these materials have shifted over the years, and that
disruption of supplies—as experienced recently with both cobalt and bauxite—from foreign nations is now a more serious problem than it was in 1960. Other priority materials for which acquisitions are being considered are aluminum oxide, bauxite, niobium, manganese dioxide, nickel, platinum group metals, tantalum, titanium, vanadium, natural rubber, and agricultural chemical intermediaries. Not included are manganese and chrome because adequate supplies of these already are stockpiled. Acquisitions for the stockpile are made by the General Services Administration. Funds for making the purchases may be found by selling materials for which large stockpiles are on hand but not needed, such as for tin and silver. Paul Krueger, FEMA assistant associate director in charge of the stockpile, says the purchase program will try to act as a stabilizing force on the material markets. "These acquisitions involve materials that have cyclical markets in many cases," Krueger says, and purchases made at any given time would have to be in moderate amounts. In addition, GSA's purchases can include barter arrangements to exchange items in excess for those of which there is a shortage. •
Mediterranean cleanup g >ts funding Some $12 million will be spent in the next three years to improve the quality of the Mediterranean Sea. The funding was agreed at a six-day ministerial meeting in Cannes, France. The bulk of the money will be contributed by 17 of the 18 countries that border the sea, as well as by the Commission of the European Communities. (Albania consistently has refused to participate.) Funding also will be provided by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), and by other specialist UN agencies such as the World Health Organization and the Food & Agriculture Organization. The action is the latest in a series of moves that have taken place within the past 10 years aimed at reversing the trend of pollution in the Mediterranean and improving the quality of the water and of the life of those who share it. Key steps in the progress were adoption of the Mediterranean Action Plan in 1975, and the signing the following year in Barcelona of the Convention for the Pro8
C&EN March 23, 1981
tection of the Mediterranean Sea against Pollution, commonly referred to as the Barcelona Convention. More recently, the countries involved adopted a protocol in Athens to combat continuing pollution from land-based sources. UNEP has played a prominent role in the effort and will continue to do so. "This conference showed that the nations involved recognize the problem and are determined to do something about it," said Stjepan Keckes, director of UNEP's oceans program at the close of the Cannes meeting. "I sincerely believe that in 10 to 15 years there will be a vast improvement, with things getting better gradually every year. We have had complete agreement on an agenda for the next three years." Athens has been selected as the headquarters of a group that will direct activities of the Mediterranean Action Plan. The decision led Marinos Yeroulanos, a leading Greek environmentalist, to comment that "Athens becomes the environmental capital of the Mediterranean." D
More firms set genetic engineering ventures Several pairs of companies have chimed in recently with joint announcements about genetic engineering activities, including Genentech and Monsanto, Molecular Genetics and American Cyanamid, and Collaborative Research and Green Cross Corp. of Japan. In the first of these, Genentech, South San Francisco, and Monsanto, St. Louis, will develop animal growth hormones for use in agriculture. Genentech scientists recently received permission from the National Institutes of Health for plans to scale up production of bovine growth hormone by means of recombinant DNA technology. Genentech scientists also are producing by this technology human-type growth hormone for clinical testing. The agreement between Monsanto and Genentech calls for the genetic engineering firm to do initial R&D toward producing growth hormones from various species, followed by joint efforts to develop commercial scaleup. Then Monsanto is expected to undertake safety and efficacy testing responsibilities. Monsanto also is expected to develop means for efficiently administering the hormones to animals. In the second arrangement, New Jersey-based Cyanamid plans to purchase for $5.5 million a 20% equity share in Molecular Genetics, which is located in Edina, Minn., and does research in genetic engineering using recombinant DNA technology. The investment reflects Cyanamid's steady movement into life sciences research during the past five years, with overall R&D spending in this area exceeding several hundred million dollars, according to James G. Affleck, chairman and chief executive officer. In the third agreement, Collaborative Research, based in Waltham, Mass., will provide Green Cross Corp., based in Osaka, Japan, with "commercial quantities" of fibroblast interferon produced from human cells grown in tissue culture. Green Cross currently is testing leukocyte interferon for efficacy in treating virus infections of the eye. Following preliminary successful tests, the company is seeking to obtain regulatory approval from the Japanese government for limited use of the antiviral protein, according to a spokesman from Collaborative Research. D
