GOVERNMENT & POLICY CONCENTRATES
WHITE HOUSE CREATES IP ADVISORY PANELS President Barack Obama issued an executive order last week establishing two advisory committees designed to improve the federal government’s intellectual property (IP) enforcement efforts. The order “confirms the Administration’s commitment to creating jobs and improving the economy by strengthening the enforcement of IP laws, the laws designed to protect and foster America’s inventiveness and creativity,” says Victoria A. Espinel, the U.S. IP enforcement coordinator. The order establishes a Cabinet-level advisory committee composed of the heads of the departments responsible for intellectual property enforcement, including the Departments of Justice, Homeland Security, Commerce, Health & Human Services, State, Treasury, and Agriculture, as well as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative. It also establishes another panel consisting of representatives from the agencies responsible for designing and carrying out the White House’s strategy for stopping theft of IP. The committees, Espinel says, will encourage innovation by focusing and intensifying the Administration’s efforts to combat IP theft in the U.S. and abroad.—GH
EPA has submitted its plan for a congressionally mandated study of hydraulic fracturing to its independent Science Advisory Board for review. Agency scientists are studying this method of natural gas drilling “to better understand any potential impacts it may have, including on groundwater,” according to EPA. The study will examine the safety of the hydraulic fracturing technique being used to unlock natural gas from shale nationwide. The process involves injecting mixtures of water, sand, and chemicals at high pressures deep underground to extract gas from shale rock formations. Environmental activists warn Natural gas drilling practices are under heavy scrutiny.
A plan proposed by the House of Representatives Appropriations Committee last week would cut nearly $75 billion from President Barack Obama’s fiscal 2011 request. A partial list of programs whose budgets could be trimmed—including several science agencies—was released by committee Chairman Harold Rogers (R-Ky.) as a start to what will be a contentious debate over passing the federal budget for the fiscal year that started on Oct. 1, 2010. Among key science agencies targeted are the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Energy’s Office of Science, and the National Science Foundation. The proposed cuts for these agencies are $1.0 billion from NIH’s $32.2 billion reMORE ONLINE quest, $1.1 billion from DOE’s $5.1 billion Science Office request, and $139 million from NSF’s $7.4 billion request. Although the House may have the votes to pass such cuts, it is unlikely they can clear the Senate. Congress will have to finalize the 2011 fiscal budget soon, however, as the current stopgap federal funding measure expires on March 4. If the budget isn’t approved by that date, Congress will have to pass another stopgap measure to keep the government operating.—SRM
that gas can escape out of poorly designed and secured wells, causing risks of explosion and water contamination. And they warn that chemicals used in fracturing can pollute nearby water sources. The process is regulated by state and local governments, but some Democratic lawmakers want to empower EPA to regulate the practice. Study findings are expected to be made public by the end of 2012.—GH
NIH CHARTS PATH TO GENOMIC MEDICINE NIH’s National Human Genome Research Institute outlined its vision for the future of genomics in a strategic plan released on Feb. 10. The plan, published in Nature (DOI: 10.1038/nature09764), focuses on research activities related to understanding genome structures, the biology of genomes, the biology of disease, advancing the science of medicine, and making health care more effective. It calls for creating more comprehensive databases of genomic and other “-omic” information, as well as the tools to mine that data. The plan also calls for routine use of genomics in clinical applications, such as screening newborns, and new technologies to better explain interactions between genes and the environment. “Researchers around the world are SHUTTERSTOCK
EPA PREPARES TO STUDY DRILLING RISKS
REPUBLICANS PROPOSE BUDGET CUTS
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FEBRUARY 14, 2011
working toward a future when health care providers will use information about our individual genomes to better diagnose and treat disease,” NHGRI Director Eric Green said in a statement. “While significant challenges remain to our understanding of how the genome operates in health and disease, there are enough examples to say with confidence that genomics research will lead to important advances in medicine.” The plan comes on the 10th anniversary of the publication of the draft sequence of the human genome.—BEE
CPSC EXTENDS STAY ON LEAD TESTING The Consumer Product Safety Commission has extended its stay on regulations requiring third-party testing for lead in all children’s products until Dec. 31. The testing, which is mandated by the 2009 Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, must prove that all components used to make children’s products are tested and certified to be free of lead. Manufacturers have fought implementation of this rule because of its huge cost. In announcing her vote to extend the stay on testing until the end of this year, commission Chairman Inez M. Tenenbaum emphasized that companies are still required to fully comply with the law’s restrictions on lead content in their products and other safety provisions.—DJH
