G OVERNMENT & POL ICY CONCENTRATES
PTO TO OPEN THREE MORE FIELD OFFICES The U.S. Patent & Trademark Office (PTO) plans to open three more satellite offices in addition to the regional office that is scheduled to begin operating in Detroit on July 13. The new offices will be located in Dallas-Fort Worth, Denver, and California’s Silicon Valley. PTO says it plans to begin site procurement activity and establish a timeline for the three locations in the coming months. “By expanding our operation outside the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area for the first time in our agency’s 200-plus-year history, we are taking unprecedented steps to recruit a diverse range of talented technical experts, creating new opportunities across the American workforce,” PTO Director David J. Kappos says. PTO selected the locations after reviewing more than 600 comments from stakeholders regarding potential cities and regions for future satellite offices. A federal patent reform law enacted last September requires PTO to open at least three satellite offices around the country by 2014.—GH
OIL DISPERSANT EFFECTS UNKNOWN
STEPHEN LEHMANN/COAST GUARD
More than two years after the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig disaster, little is known about the effects of dispersants applied below the surface of water, says a report by
congressionalinvestiga- Oil dispersants were used in tors. Also, information large quantities is limited about the the aftermath effectiveness of disper- in of the April 2010 sants in chilly Arctic Deepwater waters, where much oil Horizon drilling occurs, says the explosion. Government Accountability Office report (GAO-12-585). “It’s stunning how little we know about the effect of dispersants just two years after using millions of gallons in the Gulf of Mexico” in response to the Deepwater Horizon explo-
FDA DISCLOSES DETAILS OF FOOD WRAPPER CHEMICALS DEAL BASF, Clariant, and DuPont have voluntarily stopped selling certain perfluorinated chemicals for use in food wrappers, FDA announced last week. This is the first public disclosure of the deal struck last year between FDA and the companies. The compounds help keep grease from seeping through paper and cardboard products used to hold or wrap food. The five chemicals affected by the action contain eight-carbon chains, which studies indicate can persist in the environment and can have toxic effects on humans and animals. In response to these data, FDA and the companies—which are approved to sell these compounds for this use—came to an agreement to stop distributing food-contact products containing the five chemicals as of Oct. 1, 2011, FDA says. Supplies of the grease-proofing agents and paper containing them “can be used until they run out” because exposures to the affected chemicals during that period will not affect public health, the agency states. FDA plans to survey manufacturers of food-contact products to determine whether they are still using grease-proofing agents with perfluorinated chemicals containing eight-carbon chains.—CH
sion, says Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), who requested the report along with Rep. Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.). “And whatever lessons we learned from the Gulf of Mexico are probably useless in the Arctic,” says Miller, the top Democrat on an environmental subcommittee of the House of Representatives Science, Space & Technology Committee. The report recommends that the federal Interagency Coordinating Committee on Oil Pollution Research ensure that priority is given to research on subsurface and Arctic applications of dispersants.—CH
BIOFUELS RESEARCH GETS FEDERAL SUPPORT The Obama Administration will boost its support for biofuels with a $62 million investment in research and production. The Navy, the Department of Energy, and USDA announced on July 2 that they will together put up $30 million for commercial-scale plants producing drop-in biofuels, which are fuels that can be used in existing vehicle systems without engine modifications. The federal investments require matching funds from companies that produce biofuel versions of jet or diesel fuels. In addition, DOE is providing $20 million in demonstration projects that aim to produce fuels from nonfood biomass feedstocks, waste-based materials, or algae. DOE will also provide $12 million to support eight research projects that use
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synthetic biology to design biological systems to better break down raw feedstocks and convert them into biofuels. “Our reliance on foreign oil is a significant military vulnerability,” says Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus. “This funding opportunity is an important step in accelerating an economically self-sufficient alternative fuels market.”—AW
MEMBERS OF CONGRESS BACK OPEN ACCESS Public-access policies can help improve the value of academic research and boost U.S. economic competitiveness, according to a letter from 13 members of Congress. Sent to the White House Office of Science & Technology Policy, the June 28 letter urges OSTP to “act quickly to make federally funded research more accessible to academics, university students, and the American taxpayer.” The letter states that public access to federally funded research is critical for transparency and for the U.S. to maintain its leadership role in science. “We believe simply that taxpayers who fund research should be able to have access to research results,” the Congress members write. They add that although they value the editorial contributions of the publishing industry, they “do not support keeping publicly funded research behind expensive pay walls that force the public to pay twice for access to research.”—SRM
