CLIMATE CHANGE
CREDIT: BRITT ERICKSON/C&EN
▸ Paris Agreement to take effect in November
SUSTAINABILITY
Societies recommend ways to address helium shortage
The global climate change accord clinched in December 2015 in Paris will officially take effect in early November. That’s because after a favorable vote by the European Parliament last week, the European Union officially became a partner to the deal. In the Paris Agreement, the EU and 185 individual countries vow to restrain their greenhouse gas emissions. To take effect, the international agreement required at least 55 countries accounting for 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions attest that they have laws or regulations that will put them on a path to meet their pledges. On Oct. 5, the accord surpassed those thresholds, with 72 countries and the EU, which collectively produces 56.75% of global greenhouse gases, as partners, the United Nations says. The EU joins China, the U.S., and India as partners to the pact, leaving Russia as the only one of the world’s top five greenhouse gas emitters that hasn’t formally joined. The accord will enter into force on Nov. 4, the UN says.—CHERYL HOGUE
entities,” which include universities, small businesses, individual inventors, and nonprofits. PTO plans to finalize the new fee structure during the summer of 2017.—GLENN HESS, special to C&EN
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
PUBLIC HEALTH
▸ U.S. patent office seeks higher fees for 2017
▸ Congress pushes to delay kratom ban
The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) plans to increase patent application fees next year to help it cover operational costs that are nearing the $3 billion mark. The last fee hike was in 2013. “The proposed fee adjustments are needed to provide the office with a sufficient amount of revenue to recover its cost of patent operations, while maintaining momentum toward achieving strategic goals,” PTO says. The fee increases are projected to produce approximately 5% more revenue each fiscal year once fully implemented, according to the office. Among the 205 proposed adjustments, the filing fee for large entities, such as big corporations, for utility patents—which protect new inventions or improvements on existing inventions—would rise to $300, a $20 increase. The examination fee for large entities would rise to $760, an increase of $40. Discounts remain available for “small
The U.S. government, Congress, and scientific societies need to preserve the availability of liquid helium before the research enterprise is permanently damaged, a report says. Unstable pricing and unpredictable availability of liquid helium is hurting basic research, primarily work involving low temperatures. As a result, institutions and scientists are starting to abandon research areas that require liquid helium, according to the report from the American Physical Society, the Materials Research Society, and the American Chemical Society, which publishes C&EN. The White House should develop plans and fund research into ways to conserve and recycle helium, the report says. Congress should require that funds from Federal Helium Reserve sales support academic researchers’ efforts to limit helium consumption. The Bureau of Land Management, which oversees the U.S. helium reserve, should clarify rules that give federal researchers access to its helium stocks and create a way to get the helium to these users for the current price. Scientific societies should help university users determine if capital investments could help reduce their helium usage, the report adds.—ANDREA WIDENER
Dozens of U.S. lawmakers are questioning the Drug Enforcement Administration’s intent to ban the medicinal herb kratom. DEA announced in August that it would
classify two active components in the plant—mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine—as Schedule I narcotics, which have no acceptable medical use, effective Sept. 30. But DEA has yet to finalize that decision because a vocal group of kratom users say the drug has helped them recover from opioid addiction and that they use it to treat chronic pain, depression, and anxiety. Late last month, 51 members of the House of Representatives sent a letter to DEA and the White House Kratom users rally Office of Managein front of the ment & Budget, urgWhite House in ing administration September to keep officials to delay the drug legal. the ban on kratom and give the public a chance to comment on the planned action. More than a dozen senators also sent two letters to DEA pointing out that the use of emergency scheduling authority is intended for “new and previously unknown illegal synthetic street drugs.” DEA’s use of this authority on a natural substance is unprecedented, they write.—BRITT
ERICKSON OCTOBER 10, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
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