CMA, EPA program to tackle orphan dumps The Chemical Manufacturers Association last week announced that it is developing a pilot program in cooperation with EPA to deal with the problems of "orphaned" hazardous waste disposal sites. These are waste dumps that have been abandoned or for which blame cannot be fixed for other reasons. The heart of the pilot program will be a new hazardous waste technical center that will be set up at CMA headquarters in Washington, D.C. According to Robert A. Roland, CMA president, the program will make chemical industry experts available at no cost to regulatory agencies that deal with public health and safety problems involved at such waste sites. Roland told a luncheon meeting of the Chemical Communications Association in New York City that "industry scientists and engineers can provide technical and scientific assessments of hazardous waste disposal site problems and can explore
alternative approaches and resources that governmental authorities may choose to use in cleaning up or neutralizing these dumps." The pilot program will begin at a few orphaned dump sites chosen by EPA. The technical center's team will go to the site and provide EPA with advisory services, technical assessments, and evaluations of alternative steps that can be taken to manage specific wastes at the site. The group will get involved with orphaned sites only when its assistance is requested by EPA or a state regulatory authority. When the government agency identifies a specific site and requests the center's services, CMA will choose a group of scientific and technical experts from member companies. About 10 people will serve on this group as an advisory team under the government agency's direction. Roland says that the pilot program will operate for six months and then will be evaluated to see if it is to continue. Carl A. Gosline, who was formerly CMA's director of environmental programs, will become the center's director. •
Goyan named to head FC The first pharmacist to head the Food & Drug Administration has been named by Health, Education & Welfare Secretary Patricia Roberts Harris. The new FDA commissioner will be Jere E. Goyan, 49, dean of the school of pharmacy at the University of California, San Francisco. Goyan, who is also a professor of pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry at UCSF, has served as dean there since 1967. He received both his B.S. degree and Ph.D. (1957) in pharmaceutical chemistry at the San Francisco university. Goyan is the immediate past president of the American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy and is a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. As FDA commissioner, Goyan will lead 8000 employees and have an annual budget of more than $300 million. He succeeds Donald Kennedy, who resigned in June to return to Stanford University. In making the announcement, HEW Secretary Harris praised Goyan as "a distinguished leader in the field of pharmacy who has shown himself to be both an eminent scientist and an excellent administrator. Since becoming dean of the University of California school of pharmacy, he has developed the school into one of the most respected in the nation." 6
C&EN Sept. 17, 1979
One of Goyan's major professional interests is pharmaceutics, the way that drugs are dissolved, absorbed, and excreted in the body. He first pursued research in this area when he was on the faculty of the University of Michigan from 1956 to 1963. Immediate reaction to Goyan's appointment was muted, largely because many in industry and the consumer movements are not familiar with him. Lewis A. Engman, president of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association, notes that "he appears to hav$ excellent credentials,
Goyan: scientist and administrator
and we look forward to working with him." Sidney Wolfe, director of the Health Research Group, a Ralph Nader affiliate, says that although he doesn't know him, he believes that the UCSF pharmacy school under Goyan's leadership has become "very innovative" in advancing the status of pharmacists as related to making decisions on the choice of drugs. D
Ford Foundation report raps energy policies A new report, sponsored by the Ford Foundation and prepared by Resources for the Future, a Washington, D.C.-based research organization, criticizes recent government energy policies for tending toward the "quick fix" and politically easy measures. This policy, the report says, has delayed development of real answers to the nation's energy problems. The report, "Energy: The Next Twenty Years," asserts that the world is not running out of energy. It says that although the potential remains for short-term crises, there will be no future shortages or gaps in supply if U.S. energy policy and planning are improved and if prices are allowed to rise to a more appropriate level. Thus, one of the reports chief recommendations is the rapid decontrol of oil and gas prices. It also says that utility prices should be adjusted to reflect real costs, and that there should be greater flexibility in pollution control laws. And, as has been said before, the report points out that conservation is one of the largest, cleanest, and quickest "new" energy sources. Among the recommendations contained in the report are that the government's energy policy rely primarily on the private sector to develop and deploy new technologies; prepare contingency plans to deal with disruptions in world oil markets; maintain the nuclear power option and continue efforts to reduce unresolved problems, such as disposal of nuclear wastes; work to improve the environmental acceptability of coal; and encourage development, marketing, and use of solar energy. The report, which took 18 months to prepare, was put together by 19 experts in energy economics, law, physics, engineering, geography, health, and administration, including S. William Gouse, chief scientist at Mitre Corp., and John C. Sawhill, president of New York University, who headed the former Federal Energy Administration. It is published by Ballinger Publishing Co. of Cambridge, Mass. Price is $9.95. •
