News of the Week tive law judge Daniel E. Louis recently recommended that the state go ahead with its plan to dredge contaminated river sediment and place it in a landfill. "The judge found dredging is the most appropriate remedy/' says R. W. Groneman, spokesman for the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). "He rejected as unacceptable an alternative proposed by GE to leave the PCBs in place. Biodégradation has an uncertain outcome and uncertain time course." The dredging project still must be approved by the state's hazardous waste siting board and DEC commissioner Thomas Jorling. Their decisions are expected by Jan. 3, 1989. The project would remove about 360,000 cubic yards of river sediment at a cost of about $40
million—half from the state and half from the federal government. "GE's position is not so much to oppose the dredging, but we think there may be a better way to remove PCBs that's more in tune with nature," says GE corporate press representative Jack Blatty. Because of an earlier settlement with the state and an agreement with the federal Environmental Protection Agency, GE is not liable for the cost of the dredging project. However, once the PCB-laden sediments are moved to a landfill, GE may be considered a potentially responsible party under Superfund, says EPA Region II specialist Herman Phillips. "GE is still not off the hook," he says. "Whatever gets dredged out of the river may be addressed by Superfund." Pamela Zurer
Genetically engineered mice to be marketed Early next year, Du Pont will begin marketing mice with cancer-causing genes (oncogenes) inserted into their cells. Aimed at cancer research, these animals—to be marketed under the tradename OncoMice—are the first to be commercialized under the first patent ever granted for genetically engineered animals (C&EN, April 18, page 12). The mice are expected to be useful for studies of cancer development, screening of anticancer drugs, and testing of compounds for carcinogenicity. Because the mice provide close models of cancer development, fewer animals may be needed for each such study than is now the case. The company, through its medical products department, will sell the mice initially to academic and government labs at less than commercial prices. Du Pont has not yet set pricing policies, but such sales to nonprofit labs may be at less than $50 per mouse. In a sense, the mice are seen as an additional research tool in a line of offerings that includes radiochemicals, lab centrifuges, and a DNA sequencer. The first mice to be shipped will bear an oncogene called Ha-ras. The company plans to introduce two other strains with the myc and neu 6
November 21, 1988 C&EN
oncogenes later in 1989. The oncogenes are linked to a deoxyribonucleic acid promoter sequence isolated from mouse mammary tumor virus. The promoter sequence triggers expression of the oncogene in response to hormones in lactating mammary tissues. Thus, although the oncogenes are located in every cell in the body, they lie dormant until the mice are bred, after which the mice will develop breast cancer within 90 days. The first mice in the strains to be marketed were created by genetics professor Philip Leder and research associate Timothy A. Stewart at Harvard Medical School, who patented the animals. Du Pont sponsored their work and so has exclusive rights to the patent. The two geneticists cloned the oncogene-promoter sequence DNA in bacteria cultures, injected the DNAs into fertilized mouse ova, and inserted the ova into uteri of surrogate mothers. The Harvard workers sent the mice to Charles River Laboratories, Wilmington, Mass., which will breed them and ship offspring under contract with Du Pont. Offspring will inherit the oncogenes without further need for genetic engineering. Stephen Stinson
DOD frets over R&D lag in superconductors Although superconducting materials hold significant promise for a wide range of military applications, the U.S. may well face the undesirable prospect of having to purchase such materials from foreign sources, notably Japan. That's what the future holds, according to a Defense Science Board task force, unless the Department of Defense substantially increases its R&D support for superconducting materials. The task force's report points out that the Japanese R&D effort in superconductors amounts to about $208 million in the current fiscal year. That amount is substantially more than the total $145 million devoted to supercondutor research by the U.S. government and U.S. companies combined in fiscal 1988. To remedy this situation, the task force recommends an aggressive superconductor R&D program that would more than double DOD's fiscal 1989 $120 million program by 1993. If that recommendation were accepted, it would commit DOD to spend $1 billion on superconductor research between 1988 and 1993. DOD, so far, has not indicated whether this recommended funding increase will be endorsed starting with its fiscal 1990 b u d g e t proposal. The task force says that DOD's R&D effort should be balanced between exploitation of old low-temperature superconducting materials and d e v e l o p m e n t of n e w hightemperature superconducting materials. Specifically, it recommends expanded efforts in superconductor theory and basic research to provide the fundamental understanding of the new materials needed to guide applied research. It also recommends a vigorous engineering model program that would demonstrate the substantial performance advantages achievable with superconducting materials. This includes engineering models of a space surveillance system, a mine detector, a hypersonic tank gun, an undersea magnetohydrodynamic propulsion system, and a millirïieter-wave radar. Janice Long
