PESTICIDES
▸ Minnesota restricts neonicotinoids Minnesota now has the toughest restrictions in the U.S. on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides. When imposing these controls, the state claimed that the chemicals “present toxicity concerns for honeybees, native bees, as well as other pollinating insects.” In an Aug. 26 executive order, Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton (D) directed the state’s agriculture department to require pesticide applicators to show a “verification of need” before they spray neonicotinoids. “Bees and other pollinator populations have been in
decline in Minnesota and across the country due to a variety of pressures including habitat loss, pesticides, diseases, and parasites,” the order states. A special review initiated in late 2013 by Minnesota’s agriculture department found evidence that neonicotinoids can be deadly for bees and other pollinators. The order doesn’t limit the use of seeds coated with neonicotinoids because the state does not have the authority to do so. Environmental groups are urging the state to adopt new legislation that would allow it to impose such restrictions on coated seeds as well as the dust released when treated seeds are planted.—BRITT ERICKSON
CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
▸ Syria and Islamic State used banned agents Syrian troops and Islamic State militants carried out chemical weapon attacks in the war-torn country during 2014 and 2015, say the United Nations and a global chemical weapons watchdog group. Syrian President
RESEARCH FUNDING
U.S. business R&D spending up in 2014 U.S. companies increased investment in R&D in 2014 to $341 billion, up 5.6% from 2013, according to a new National Science Foundation report on business research spending. The vast majority of R&D output—78%—went to development, followed by applied research with 16% and basic research with 6%. Most of the R&D dollars came from inside the businesses, but some of the money was provided by other companies or the federal government. As might be expected, the largest businesses invested the most in R&D—companies with more than 25,000 employees devoted $122 billion to R&D in 2014. Chemical-related manufacturers spent $66 billion in 2014, the report shows, with 85% of that coming from pharmaceutical companies’ R&D units. Compared with companies from other industries, pharmaceutical companies had among the highest R&D intensity, a measure of the amount of R&D a company performs compared with its domestic sales. In 2014, pharmaceutical and medical companies spent $16.6 billion on capital expenses, assets that will last longer than a year. Overall, chemical-related companies employed 1.75 million U.S. workers, including 172,000 just working in R&D. Nationwide, companies employed 1.51 million U.S. workers in R&D.—ANDREA WIDENER
Bashar al-Assad’s air force was responsible for at least two chlorine gas attacks against opposition-controlled towns in April 2014 and September 2015, say the UN and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). Chlorine’s use as a weapon is prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international treaty that Syria joined in 2013. That year, Syria agreed to dismantle and destroy its stockpile of chemical weapons. The UN-OPCW team also concludes that the Islamic State was “the only entity with the ability, capability, motive, and the means to use sulfur mustard” in Aleppo in August 2015. Also known as mustard gas, this material too is banned as a chemical warfare agent. The UN-OPCW team says that since December 2015, it received more than 130 new reports of chemical weapons use in Syria. It says 41 claim the use of chlorine, 13 sarin, 12 mustard gas, and four VX nerve gas, and 61 of the allegations involve other toxic chemicals.—GLENN
HESS, special to C&EN
RESEARCH FUNDING
▸ European universities call for more basic science Horizon 2020, the European Union’s plan for research and innovation, should focus
more on investigator-initiated research collaborations and less on technology development, the League of European Research Universities (LERU) says. The Horizon 2020 framework guides the 80 billion euros in research funding available from the EU over seven years, starting in 2014 and ending in 2020. A report from LERU says
Most of the EU’s calls for grants since 2014 have been focused on applied research. most of the calls for grants since 2014 have been focused on applied research that was ready to be turned into technologies, rather than basic research collaborations. “This compromises opportunities to pursue the most innovative, collaborative discovery research,” says Peter Lievens, a professor at the University of Leuven and the report’s author. “It can skew scientific projects toward short-term applications and can lead to risk-averse approaches to economic and societal impact.” LERU calls for a more balanced distribution of research funding throughout the duration of Horizon 2020.—ANDREA WIDENER SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 | CEN.ACS.ORG | C&EN
21
