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Medical Research Program Backed Proposed international medical research program w i l l counter Soviet threat, Merck president teus Congress S O V I E T RUSSIA is moving into the im
portant vacuums on the health front. To meet tin's Soviet health offensive will require mobilization of all of America's medical resources, inch ici in g the pharmaceutical and medicinal chemical industry." So said John T . Connor, president of Merck, before the House Subcommittee on Health and Safety. Now before the committee is a bill ι S.J.Res. 41) called the International Health and Medical Research Act of 1959. The bill would create a national institute for international medical r e search in the National Institutes of Health with a n annual authorization of $50 million. The Senate has already passed the bill. Congress should approve this bill, Mr. Connor says, for these reasons: • It will give n e w vigor to U. S. foreign policy in t h e "currently devel oping and infinitely more complex phase of the cold war." * It will bring new research knowl edge to U. S. medical scientists. • Health Offensive. In the proposed program, top priority should go to pro grams for the newly developing coun tries of the world, Mr. Connor says. These are t h e areas where help is urgently needed. And these are t h e areas of sharpest competition with t h e Soviet medical offensive. All signs point t o increased Soviet activity in the health problems of these countries, Mr. Connor says. Soviet health teams are in North Africa a n d South Asia; hospitals are provided for Ethiopia, Burma, a n d Indonesia. Another sign: The U.S.S.R. h a s more doctors per capita than t h e U. S., is training n e w doctors a t a rate more than double that in the U. S. Many of these doctors are trained in the languages a n d cultures of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America. W h a t does this rising supply of doctors mean? According to M r . Connor, re ports from inside t h e Soviet Union indi32
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John T. Connor . . . vacuums on the health front . . . cate plans to send about 2000 of these doctors to t h e newly developing coun tries each year. • G o Slow with Reds. Cooperation with the Soviets would hf£ ]$art of the proposed international program. This could lead to better understanding be tween the L r . S. and U.S.S.R., Mr. Connor says. In fact, cooperation might encourage "creeping capitalism" within the Soviet Union as t h e Soviets see the value of personal incentives and rewards. jvut cooperation with the Soviets should start on a small scale, develop gradually. Nil. Connor warns. W e should make sure that the plan is truly reciprocal. " W e must not lightly trade a w a y the important technical resources of our pharmaceutical and chemical industries." bargaining away U. S. re search knowledge, technical skills, and production know-how, would be hand ing over to the Soviets a valuable na tional asset. Another problem: propaganda. Successful u s e of live-virus polio vaccine on nearly 2 million Soviet school child ren, if the results are confirmed, could set a precedent for possible Soviet co
operation. Merck Sharpe & Dohme laboratories produced the seed material for the Soviet vaccine (C&EN, Aug. 10, page 2 3 ) . But already the Soviets are using the tests for propaganda in side the U.S.S.R. According to Mr. Connor, articles in ïzvcstia charge that large scale testing of the live vaccine is forbidden in the U. S. because of the "wolf law of capitalism" i.e.; Salk vaccine makers get huge incomes from the sale of then* killed-virus vaccine. M E W Approves. Arthur S. Flemming, Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, tola the committee b'» endorses the objectives of S.J.Res. 41. Pooling research activities and resources throughout the world is sure to produce constructive results. And the programs proposed under the bill should help promote peace. However, Mr. Flemming would like to see some changes in the administration of the proposed program. "This is not simply a research program to he carried out by a new institute in the National Institutes of Health. This is a new international program as well as a research program." On this basis, Mr. Flemming savs the authority for the program should b e \ested in the President, in this way, the international medical research program can be tied in with U. S. foreign policy in other international programs. The committee is now studying the bill and will probably report it favorabb'. And there is a good chance that the House will approve the bill before adjournment.
Science Awards Approved The House Committee on Science and Astronautics has approved a bill to award a National Medal of Science for "outstanding contributions to knowledge in the physical, biological, mathematical, and engineering sciences." This bill (H.R. 6288) is a completely rewritten version of an earlier bill bearing the same number—a bill to create a National Order of Science (C&EN, Aug. 10, page 3 6 ) . Under the new bill, each recipient of the science medal would receive Λ tax-free stipend of u p to $10,000. Medals would be awarded by t h e President, and no more than 20 medals could be awarded in one calendar year. To qualify, award winners must b e U. S. citizens or aliens who have a p plied for naturalization.
