News of the Week exist. They are stable, small com- exposure outside the symptoms de- This program will last three years. pounds that can be produced in large scribed in the Soviet outbreak." The other $10 million will go for 100 quantities in large-scale fermentation In short, he says that the rapid salary support grants for junior facilities. Such facilities do not exist onset of the symptoms described by teaching faculty in engineering fields. in Southeast Asia, the State Depart- the refugees "doesn't jibe with any- This part of the program will last five ment says, but they do exist in War- thing we know about these mycotox- years. The grants will be made to 66 saw Pact countries, which have been ins, b u t . . . we don't have information U.S. colleges and universities. researching mycotoxins for decades. on exposure to humans of extremely The grants lean heavily toward Outbreaks of mycotoxin-related dis- high amounts. But then again, from chemical engineering. Of the 100 eases and deaths have occurred peri- the government reports, we don't teaching fellowships, 34 will be for odically in the Soviet Union, the most know the levels that were involved" in chemical engineering, 17 for earth serious in 1944 when 10% of the pop- the alleged "yellow rain" attacks. D science, 15 for mechanical engineerulation of Orenburg, near Siberia, ing, 10 for civil engineering, eight for died. According to fairly recent work petroleum engineering, six for mining of U.S. scientist Chester Mirocha at engineering, three for electrical enthe University of Minnesota, the Exxon grants to aid gineering, and seven in other fields. putative agent in that outbreak was engineering education Under the faculty assistance program, T2 toxin. 37 grants will go to chemical engiPurified trichothecenes are color- Exxon last week announced a $15 neering, 20 for mechanical engineerless compounds, but the refugees of million education grant program de- ing, 13 each for petroleum engineeralleged chemical warfare attacks signed to encourage students to con- ing and earth science, seven for civil consistently report "yellow rain," or tinue toward graduate degrees and engineering, six for mining engineershowers of yellow powder that coat all enter teaching rather than leave ing, and two for electrical engineering. village structures, vegetation, and school for industry immediately upon One will go to computer science and people caught below. A State De- receiving their bachelor's degrees. one to industrial engineering. partment official says the "consisThe teaching fellowships will begin In this way Exxon is hoping to help tency of the reports and the symp- alleviate a shortage of instructors in in the 1982-83 academic year. The toms noted from rural people as far universities at the same time that faculty assistance awards will be apart as Southeast Asia and Afghan- engineering enrollments are swelling. granted next spring to allow engiistan are rather striking." And the The program is in addition to Exxon's neering departments to plan for the combination of symptoms, which in normal educational grants program, following school year. rapid sequence include itching and which amounts to about $22 million Exxon says that it hopes other skin blistering, dizziness, nausea, per year. corporations will join in support of coughing of blood-tinged material, The grants will be divided into two the program and that if it is successvomiting of massive amounts of parts. The first will be $5 million to ful, Exxon may increase its own conblood, and death within hours to provide 100 teaching fellowships. tribution. D those directly under the attack, cannot be attributed to mustard gas, nerve agents, or riot control or inca- Science faculty activities charted pacitating agents. (The yellow color could be crude extracts of the toxins, University scientists and engineers I the most time teaching, grading paa marker or a carrier.) spend, on the average, one third of pers, advising students, and planning These acute symptoms, however, their weekly professional time in re- classes. are not similar to those attributed to search, one third in teaching and Psychologists and engineers are the the alimentary toxic aleukia syn- teaching-related activities, and one most actively involved in earning drome that felled the Russians in fifth in administration, professional outside income. "Although faculty 1944, says a government mycotoxin activities, and public service. The [members] have traditionally engaged expert who asked not to be named. In remainder of their professional time in such activities," NSF notes, "such animals, the three mycotoxins found is spent in professional development supplementary income may have on the single analyzed sample are (about 8%) and earning outside in- become more important because of potent toxins, but T2 is the strongest come (about 9%), according to a sur- the declining purchasing power of skin irritative; deoxynivalenol causes vey by the National Science Foun- academic salaries." The most popular severe vomiting and nivalenol is a dation. outside income-producing activity is slightly stronger hemorrhagic agent NSF surveyed full-time faculty writing. than the other two. Internal hemor- members in 20 scientific and engiNSF asked survey participants to rhaging is a unique effect of these neering fields at doctorate-granting keep daily records of the time they toxins. institutions for a 12-month period spent on various professional activities for seven consecutive days. To This government research chemist beginning Nov. 1,1978. says that all toxicity information on The survey revealed that physical, make the responses representative for these three toxins has "been devel- environmental, and life scientists an entire year, the samples were disoped from oral ingestion by animals devote "more than average shares" of tributed evenly over a 52-week periof contaminated foods or feeds. We their professional time to research. od. The responses were weighted to have no information on the toxicology Faculty in psychology and the math- represent the activities of faculty by inhalation or by topical applica- ematical and social sciences spend nationwide by field, type of institution, and rank. tions other than the skin lesions de- less time than average in research. veloped from topical contact. There A complete report including results When it comes to "instructional is no evidence that pure toxins will activities," however, the figures for for faculty at bachelor's- and masproduce the symptoms noted.... these two major groupings were ex- ter's-degree-level institutions will be There is no information on human actly reversed. Mathematicians spend I forthcoming, the foundation says. D 8
C&ENSept. 21, 1981
