— GOVE RNMENT & PGLiC ' —
CONCENTRATES NHGRI funds functional study of human genome The National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH awarded the first set ofgrants to identify all the parts of the human genome that are crucial to biological function. The three-year, $36 million project called the Encyclopedia of D N A Elements (EN CODE) will involve an international consortium of scientists in academia, industry and government. It has two components. One group of awards—expected to total approximately $28 million in funding over the three-year period—will support studies on the large-scale application of existing technologies for determining functional elements of the human genome. Eight grants were award ed in this area. The second group of concurrently funded research projects will develop new or improved technologies for finding func tional elements in genomic DNA. Six grants were awarded in this area and are expected to total approximately $7.8 million in fund ing over three years. The ultimate goal, according to Elise A. Feingold, program director for ENCODE, "is to create a reference work that will help researchers fully utilize the human sequence to gain deeper understanding of human biology as well as to develop new strategies for preventing and treating disease."
Runaway process led to accident, Safety Board says Inadequate management practices and deteriorating equipment were to blame for a runaway accident on Oct. 13, 2002, at First Chemical Corp., Pascagoula, Miss., says the Chemical Safety & Hazard In vestigation Board in a report re leased last week. The board, an independent agency that in vestigates chemical accidents, says the out-of-control process involved mononitrotoluene (MNT), which is explosive at high temperatures. Operators thought the process had been shut down weeks before the ac cident, but valves used to shut off steam to a distillation tow er had deteriorated, heating 1,200 gal of MNTand blowing the top off the 145-foot-tall dis tillation tower. Although the ex plosion sent projectiles into the air and resulted in a fire that burned for three hours, only three workers were injured be HTTP://WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
cause the accident took place before dawn on Sunday. The board notes that M N T is a re active chemical not covered by federal process safety rules. The board also notes that, at the time, the company was a mem ber of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers As sociation and had asserted that it was performing hazard analy ses to comply with SOCMAs voluntary codes. However, the company had not done so. Con sequently, the board urges SOCMA and the American Chemistry Council to toughen oversight of their Responsible Care safety codes.
Report assesses academic research impact
mance." The study evaluated the relationship between aca demic research and industrial performance in the areas of net work systems and communica tions; medical devices and equipment; financial services; aerospace; and transportation, distribution, and logistics serv ices. The study found that the first three areas experience a significant impact from aca demic research, whereas the last two see only a modest in fluence. These five sectors were chosen for their significance to the economy with regard to sales and employment, their ex tensive use of technology, and their expected growth rates. The full report is available on line at http://www.nap.edu/ books/0309089735/html.
China sends man into space Last week, China joined the U.S. and Russia as the only countries that have successful ly sent a human into space. The mission lasted less than 24 hours and allowed Chinese taikonaut Lt. Col. Yang Liwei —a 38-year-old former fighter pilot— to circle Earth a reported 14 times, eventually landing safely in Inner Mon-
FDA panel okays silicone implants An FDA advisory panel has recommended, in a split 9 - 6 vote, that the agency approve the use of silicone breast im plants, with certain conditions. Inamed Corp. had applied to FDA to sell the devices, which have been essentially banned since 1992. T h e panel said FDA should make sure that women are completely in formed of possible risks from the implants and that Inamed should do a 10-year follow-up study on women receiving them. Although FDA is not re quired to follow the recom mendations of its advisory pan els, it usually does. A final decision on approving silicone implants may take several months.
GOVERNMENT & POLICY ROUNDUP • On a vote of 16-2, the Sen ate Environment & Public Works Committee last week ap proved the nomination of Utah Gov Michael O. Leavitt (R) to become EPA administrator. The nomination now moves to the full Senate for a final vote.
More collaborations are needed between universities and industry to maximize the benefit of academic research on industrial performance, says the National Academies report "The Impact of Academic Re search on Industrial Perfor
golia. "This launch is an im portant achievement in the his tory of human exploration," said NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe in a press release. "The Chinese people have a long and distinguished history of explo ration. NASA wishes China a continued safe human space flight program."
• Lead and lead compounds should be listed as reasonably anticipated to be human car cinogens in the National Toxi cology Program's next report on carcinogens, a panel of NTP's Board of Scientific Counselors
recommended last week. The classification will be decided af ter final reviews at N T Ρ and by the secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services.
• Margaret 0'K. Glavin has been appointed FDA assistant commissioner for counterterrorism. Glavin is an expert in food safety who has held a num ber of positions in USDA and was most recently a visiting scholar at the Washington, D C , think tank Resources for the Future. C & E N / OCTOBER 2 0 , 2003
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