Chemical world This week are also attempting to Chemical world This l they their academic personnel "forced and hurried judgment with inadequate, premature or uncon firmed scientific input admixed with political and industry pres sures." To remedy this the committee calls for an agencywide understand ing that good science is the funda mental basis for effective decision making by a consumer protection agency. Other recommendations on the committee's long list include the need for better science plan ning, improved management and communication practices, and wider use of outside scientists on councils and committees. On balance, committee member Willard Krehl points out that the agency fundamentally is doing a sound job within the budget avail able. The committee itself notes that the agency is doing an extra ordinary job in many ways. It adds, however, that FDA faces "enormous responsibilities for con sumer protection and the public health but with limited resources, constricted perspective, and little solid constituency in the public and medical and scientific establish ments." CHINA:
No theoretical research
bring into closer contact with ordinary work ers, he says. Within the context of their work, for example, this might mean that scientists "would have to accept suggestions about techni cal matters, when appropriate, from untrained laymen." It also means that scientists spend part of their time at unskilled labor. Most of the research work the U.S. biologists saw was either bio logical or medical—primarily be cause that is what they asked to see, but also because most Chinese R&D is in these fields. Agriculture con sumes about 80% of the total labor force, Dr. Galston points out, "so, clearly, that is where they have to put their major emphasis." Research in North Vietnam is similar in quality and direction to that in China, Dr. Signer notes, al though North Vietnamese scien tists "haven't had that explicit push to shift the focus" from theoretical to applied research. The most im pressive thing about North Viet nam's research, he believes, is that there is any research at all, consid ering the country is at war. The most notable difference in scien tific research between China and North Vietnam, Dr. Galston adds, is that the Vietnamese have had to disperse their universities because of aerial bombing. In sum, the travelers found the scientific establishments of both countries to be relatively sophisti cated. For example, the research centers have good, modern (Chi nese-produced) equipment and the libraries are well stocked and up to date. To an American, Dr. Gal ston says, "it is perfectly clear that basic science as we understand it is proceeding slowly while they at tend to practical questions," but "one has to give them a lot of points for attacking their problems very straightforwardly."
"There is now no such thing as purely theoretical research" in the People's Republic of China, says Dr. Arthur W. Galston. Instead, most university curriculums have been restructured so that the research of every department deals with practical problems, such as indus trial and agricultural production. All the work, he says, is develop mental or is short-term research aimed at specific, applied goals. Dr. Galston, professor of biology at Yale University, is in a unique position to discuss the status of Chinese science. He and Dr. Ethan Signer, associate professor of bi ology at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, have just returned EMPLOYMENT: from a 32-day visit to China and Drug screen for job seekers North Vietnam. Traveling at their own expense, the two biologists It's not news to chemistry and visited scientific, academic, agricul other science graduates that job tural, and industrial facilities. prospects are dimmed this year by They also talked with the leaders the depressed state of the economy and lower levels of research spend of both Communist countries. The strongest impression of the ing. For many new graduates, a trip, Dr. Signer says, was the effect history of drug use that is turned of the cultural revolution on sci up in pre-employment investiga ence. Not only are the Chinese tions may close the doors remain making academic work more rele ing open. This warning comes vant to the problems of society, but I from George R. Wackenhut, presi14 C&EN JUNE 7, 1971
ι dent of Wackenhut Corp., Coral Gables, Fla., one of the three larg est security companies in the U.S. "These college students have worked and studied for years for the day when they can leave school and start their careers. Now they may find that in the desire to keep step with their peer group, they have seriously damaged their ca reer potentials by experimenting with and using drugs," he says. Together with Pinkerton, New York City, and William J. Burns In ternational Security Services, Briarcliff Manor, N.Y., Wackenhut specializes in the security guar*d business, but the three companies also provide clients with pre-em ployment security checks. Wackenhut Corp. estimates that 80°/o of medium- and large-size com panies in this country have prob lems with employee drug abuse. As a result, the company says, many companies have issued strict guidelines in dealing with employ ment and drug use. In particular, pre-employment screening intensi fies as companies try to detect his tories of drug use. Because indus try now recognizes the large in crease in the use of drugs on cam pus, particular attention is paid to college graduates, Wackenhut says. Interviews with neighbors and associates are one source of infor mation. Occasionally, a polygraph examination is useful to determine truthfulness of the applicant about drug use, the company says. A Wackenhut spokesman points out the potential temptation for drug-using employees to sell pro prietary information of chemical processes or details of bids on en gineering projects, for example, to raise money for buying drugs. The firm says it has encountered among client companies some un derstanding in cases of drug experi mentation, but at many companies there is a policy to summarily re ject applicants with drug use his tories. This policy is easier to en force this year because companies have so few positions to fill. Burns International notes that use of interviews with third parties for pre-employment checks are limited by recent legislation de signed to restrict credit checks. The company stresses that poly graph examinations can pick up his tories of drug abuse, though recent drug use can be detected in pre-em ployment physical examinations.
