GOVERNMENT CONCENTRATES Justice opposes compensation for Tris losses James F. Merow, chief of the Justice Department's court of claims section, urged a House subcommittee not to enact legislation that it is considering to provide federal compensation for losses suffered by manufacturers when the Consumer Product Safety Commission banned the use of Tris, a flame retardant previously used on children's sleepwear. Merow says the department opposes enactment because the type of claim involved is one in which the courts consistently have denied government liability; it would amount to preferential treatment; and there was no actionable "fault" by the government causing the loss.
Consumer agency adopts carcinogens policy The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) early this month adopted what it calls a "strong, new policy" to deal with carcinogens in consumer products. CPSC says the new program will assist industry by making clear what procedures it will use to evaluate data on suspected carcinogens. The commission is taking a hierarchical approach similar to that currently proposed by OSHA for regulating carcinogens. Under the new CPSC guidelines, potentially troublesome chemicals will be assigned to one of four classifications: substances for which there is human or animal data suggesting carcinogenicity; chemicals that have been studied by short-term in vitro tests; substances that have only limited evidence of carcinogenicity and chemicals belonging to families of compounds known to cause cancer; and compounds previously classified into one of the other categories but no longer believed to be carcinogenic.
CPSC accused of not protecting consumers After a 15-month investigation, Congress' General Accounting Office has concluded that the much criticized Consumer Product Safety Commission does not act promptly and efficiently in protecting consumers from hazardous products. GAO singles out two cases, one involving a smoke detector shown to be a fire hazard itself, and another of an artificial fireplace log containing asbestos, as instances of CPSC's failings. GAO says, for example, that in the case of the smoke detector CPSC did not alert the public promptly about the hazard, took too long to evaluate the gravity of the hazard, and did not follow its own procedures for monitoring its recall campaign. A CPSC spokesmen says that the findings are based on old problems at the agency that have since been corrected.
HEW orders changes in FDA drug review Based largely on the recommendations of the HEW Review Panel on New Drug Evaluation (the so-called Dorsen panel), HEW Secretary Joseph Califano announced early this month a series of actions that FDA will undertake to improve the way it goes about reviewing new drug applications. The proposed changes include strict new guidelines governing meetings between industry representatives and FDA
employees; increased efforts to detect unwanted patient side effects from drugs already approved; increased public participation in FDA advisory committees; and stepped-up recruitment of top-quality FDA scientific staff members. The changes are based on FDA shortcomings outlined last year by a panel of nongovernment experts headed by Dr. Norman Dorsen of New York University's law school.
Three compounds not carcinogenic As part of its continuing carcinogenicity testing program, the National Cancer Institute early this month released carcinogenicity reports on three compounds—endosulfan and pentachloronitrobenzene, both agricultural pesticides, and 1-nitronaphthalene, a dye intermediate. NCI did not find any of the three to be carcinogenic in rats and mice fed the compounds for as long as 82 weeks.
House votes $4.8 billion for energy R&D The House has approved funding totaling $4.8 billion for fiscal 1979 energy R&D, an amount that is $62.7 million above the budget request and $387 million above fiscal 1978 levels. Big winners are liquid-metal fast breeder reactor R&D, up $185 million over the budget request to $465.3 million; solar energy, up $114 million to $411.3 million; and geothermal energy, up $26 million to $152.7 million. These increases were somewhat offset by decreases in the budget request such as funding for weapons activities R&D that was cut $32 million to $2.1 billion but included funding for the neutron bomb.
Committee raises agricultural R&D budget The House Appropriations Committee has not gone along with agricultural R&D fiscal 1979 budget cuts proposed by the Administration in January. It has restored the $16.5 million in funding and 475 positions at agricultural research service labs around the country that the Administration had wanted to eliminate. In addition, the committee approved $109 million for Hatch Act funds administered under the Cooperative State Research Service, the same amount available in fiscal 1978 and an increase of $11 million over the budget request; and $9.5 million for cooperative forestry research, the same as the amount available in fiscal 1978 and an increase of $950,000 over the budget request.
Washington roundup • Dr. Thomas A. Dillon, a 33-year-old chemical physicist, has been named deputy director of NBS. He previously held the post of deputy director of the nuclear research and applications division of the now defunct Energy Research & Development Administration. • EPA is checking ah ocean dumping ground off the Maryland and Delaware coast that was last used 20 years ago to store about 14,500 50-gal drums of radioactive wastes. It aims to determine the condition of the barrels and if any material has leaked. June 26, 1978 C&EN
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