The Chemical World This Week
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«Α8Η.Μβτοκ C O N C E N T R A T E S The Administration now favors immédiate passage of Sen· Muskie's air pollution control bill. Assistant Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare James M. Quigley, claiming that alleged Administration opposition to the bill (S. 306) expressed at earlier hearings (C&EN, April 12, page 25) was misinterpreted, says that the difference of opinion had been merely one of strategy and tactics, not of purpose. HEW believes the bill should be altered to give more flexibility in setting standards for auto exhaust emissions and setting a timetable for compliance. Sen. Muskie, anxious to get his bill through Congress, will rewrite the bill to accommodate HE W s views. The new bill will set broad guidelines for determining policy on exhaust standards. Actual standards will be set by HEW, a move favored by the auto industry. The Maine Democrat says his bill will be ready for Senate action early in May. Pesticide residues in the U.S. food supply are "insignificant from a health standpoint," according to the latest "total diet" studies by the Food and Drug Administration. Levels found in test samples were generally less than 1% of the safe legal tolerance, FDA says, adding that many of the most commonly used pesticides were not found at all. The studies are made on marketbasket samples of groceries collected from stores in three major U.S. cities. Groceries selected are representative of those that would make up a nutritionally satisfactory diet for an.average 16to 19-year-old boy. Even though FDA changed the testing procedure this year to make it even more sensitive, the latest tests showed pesticide residue levels lower than those of earlier studies. Another probe into the impact on the economy of federal spending for R&D is slated to open late next month. The investigation will be conducted by the Senate Subcommittee on Employment and Manpower. Sen. Gaylord Nelson (D.-Wis.) will chair the committee for these hearings. Under the present pattern of federal spending for R&D, the bulk of the money goes to New England, New York, and California. Sen. Nelson says he wants to find out why the present distribution pattern is what it is and if this is inevitable or useful; to what extent it promotes the development of some regions and hinders that of others; and to what extent it is the result of initiative—or lack of initiative—in given regions. Similar investigations have been con-
ducted by several House committees, but no pat solutions have been recommended to equalize the geographic distribution of federal R&D funds. An increase in patent fees has been approved by the Senate patent subcommittee. However, in approving the Administration-backed bill (H.R. 4185), which passed the House last month (C&EN, March 29, page 21), the committee knocked out a controversial provision which would have required payment of maintenance fees at regular intervals during the life of a patent. According to committee chairman Sen. John L. McClellan (D.-Ark.), such fees "would result in considerable uncertainty as to the current status of a patent and would present administrative problems to the Patent Office." He also pointed out that it was not appropriate to make such a basic change in the fee structure while his committee is making a general review of patent laws and procedures to decide if changes are needed to solve Patent Office problems. To increase Patent Office revenues from the current $8.9 million to about $23.4 million, the Senate version of the bill would hike filing fees from $30 to $65 and issuance fees from $30 to $100. The Federol Trade Commission wants to set up an Office of Federal-State Cooperation. Purpose of the proposed office, for which FTC is seeking funds this year, is to "develop programs of effective cooperation between FTC and state agencies responsible for enforcing state antitrust, antideceptive practice, and consumer protection laws. A Joint Congressional Committee on Research Policy has been proposed. Creation of such a committee was one of the final recommendations of the now-defunct Elliott committee (C&EN, Jan. 18, page 31 ). H.R. 7158, introduced by Rep. James C. Cleveland (R.-N.H.), a member of the Elliott committee, would set up the joint committee. It would be composed of nine Senators and nine Representatives. Function of the committee would be to make a continuing study of the overall emphasis of federal R&D programs, to studyways of coordinating research programs of federal agencies, and to give advice on legislation affecting research to standing committees of Congress. However, in view of the opposition to this proposal expressed earlier by the chairmen of committees with research responsibilities, chances are slim that the bill will be passed. APRIL
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