CAREERS
NATURAL PRODUCTS
▸ Top 10 research fields for postdocs employed at U.S. federal laboratories
Uniform EU regulation of cannabidiol sought
National laboratories and other federally funded research and development centers supported 2,696 postdoctoral researchers in 2015, up slightly from 2013, according to an NSF survey. This table shows the top 10 fields for these postdocs.—ANDREA
WIDENER
FIELD OF RESEARCH Physics and astronomy Chemistry Materials and metallurgical engineering Earth, atmospheric and ocean sciences Biological sciences Computer sciences Mechanical engineering Other sciences Chemical engineering Electrical engineering
2015 # OF % OF POSTDOC TOTAL 746 27.7 432 16.0 216
8.0
212
7.9
177 115 112 111 89 70
6.6 4.3 4.2 4.1 3.3 2.6
Note: Percentages do not add to 100 because only the top 10 fields are shown. Source: NSF Survey of Postdocs at Federally Funded Research and Development Centers
PESTICIDES
Countries in the European Union should harmonize regulation of products that contain cannabidiol (CBD), a nonpsychoactive component of marijuana and industrial hemp, says the European Industrial Hemp Association, an industry group. CBD is found in a growing number of products including dietary supplements, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. Such products are increasingly popular because of CBD’s purported health benefits, including treatment for cancer, pain, anxiety, and neuromuscular disorders. Currently, the EU has OH “only a tenuous patchwork of CBD regulation,” the hemp industry group says. For example, regulators in the U.K. and Germany recently classified OH CBD as a drug. In a position paper released on Oct. 27, the hemp business group suggests a threeCannabidiol tiered approach to regulating products containing the compound. “At high doses, CBD can be a medicinal product” and should be regulated as a drug, the group says. But “at physiological doses, CBD should be regarded as an over-the-counter product or a food supplement,” the industry group advocates, arguing that “low CBD concentrations and doses should be allowed in food products without any restrictions.”—BRITT ERICKSON
cials played in the IARC glyphosate review,” he writes in an Oct. 25 letter to McCarthy. Smith also raises concerns about EPA’s decision to postpone a meeting of the agency’s Federal Insecticide, Fungicide & Rodenticide Act Scientific Advisory Panel—a group of outside scientists—about the safety of glyphosate.—BRITT ERICKSON
▸ Congress probes EPA’s role in glyphosate study
PHARMACEUTICALS
The chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Science, Space & Technology Committee is raising concerns that EPA is not using sound science to review the safety of the herbicide glyphosate. Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) is asserting that EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy misled Congress in June regarding the agency’s role in a 2015 report by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). That IARC study concluded that glyphosate is probably carcinogenic to humans. McCarthy testified at a June hearing that no EPA officials were involved in that IARC study. But documents suggest that EPA did play a role, Smith says. “You either purposefully attempted to mislead the committee or … you have been misled by your staff about the role that EPA offi-
FDA has awarded 21 new clinical trial research grants totaling more than $23 million over the next four years to boost the development of products for patients with rare diseases. The targeted diseases include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, cystic fibro-
▸ FDA awards grants for rare disease research
sis, and congenital muscular dystrophy. The grants are intended to encourage the clinical development of drugs, biologics, medical devices, and medical foods. “The grants awarded this year will support much-needed research in 21 different rare diseases, many of which have little, or no, available treatment options,” says Gayatri R. Rao, director of FDA’s Office of Orphan Products Development. FDA received 68 grant applications for this fiscal year. Among the research organizations that were awarded grants are Columbia University Health Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, TaiMed Biologics USA, and Santhera Pharmaceuticals. Since the creation of the clinical trials grant program in 1983, FDA says that approximately $370 million has been spent on financing more than 590 clinical studies.—GLENN HESS, special to
C&EN
BY THE NUMBERS
2015 global
153 GW Source: International Energy Agency
growth in renewable electricity capacity, accounting for more than half of new power capacity around the world.
OCTOBER 31, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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