cept for Cyprus and South Africa. In advanced math, only Austria lagged behind the U.S., and that difference was not statistically significant. In advanced science, which measured physics performance, U.S. students were dead last. These are the disappointing, if not novel, results of the third and final portion of the Third International Mathematics & Science Study (TIMSS), which were released last week. Earlier portionspublished in 1996 and 1997—ranked international student math and science performance at eighth grade and at fourth grade, respectively. Taken together, the studies suggest that U.S. students disengage from learning critical mathematics and science content as they progress through the school system. The results of the fourth-grade TIMSS study put U.S. students near the top, but they slipped somewhat by A new study reveals that U.S. high school eighth grade and bottomed out at the seniors lag well behind their internation- end of high school. That outcome has al peers in general science and math held true for years. The standings for U.S. achievement. In addition, the nation's 12th graders reported in the latest TIMSS most advanced high schoolers—those results don't differ significantly from taking precalculus or calculus and those those reported in similar studies in the taking physics—performed abysmally 1960s and the 1980s. when compared with students in most Speaking at a meeting of the National other countries. Council of Jewish Women last week, In tests of both general math and gen- President Bill Clinton expressed his diseral science, U.S. students scored lower appointment with the results. "There is than students in all countries tested ex- something wrong with the system that ^mmHm^^^^mm^^ we are using to teach [U.S. students]." National Science U.S. students scored poorly Foundation Director on general science test Neal F. Lane says the Difference from international average news, though unwelSweden come, is instructive. Netherlands "We know that the Iceland fourth-grade results Norway were more favorable. Canada I believe there is a New Zealand connection between Australia those results and Switzerland [NSF's] initiation in Austria the early 1990s of Slovenia Denmark math and science edGermany ucation reform efFrance forts. . . . The majoriCzech Republic ty of 12th graders Russia tested [for TIMSS] U.S. . . . would not [as Italy yet] have been exHungary posed to those reLithuania form interventions." Cyprus The TIMSS data South Africa are the culmination of -150 -60 -50 -40 -30 -20 -10 10 20 30 40 50 60 a three-year study that Note: Students were tested in final year of secondary school. Source: National Center for Education Statistics tested some 500,000 students in 41 coun-
rector Joseph Mendelson III tells C&EN. The minimum value of Diversa's contributions to Yellowstone is estimated at $175,000, according to WFED. Diversa President, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer Terrance J. Bruggeman says the agreement with Yellowstone is similar to those the company has in place in Iceland, Costa Rica, and Indonesia. Recently, he notes, the European Union asked Diversa to provide a case study of its approach. "They see this as a model arrangement that they should consider for adoption through European Union countries." Mairin Brennan
U.S. high school seniors flunk science, math test
tries in 30 languages. Asian countries, whose students typically score high, chose not to participate in this study. The endeavor was coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Education Achievement and funded by the National Center for Education Statistics and NSF. One bright spot: The U.S. was one of three countries in which male students did not perform significantly better than female students in mathematics general knowledge. Although there was a gender gap in general science knowledge in the U.S., as in all other nations except South Africa, the U.S gender gap was one of the smallest. Linda Raber
Monsanto pays farmers for cotton crop losses Monsanto is paying out several million dollars to reimburse Mississippi farmers who had planted Monsanto's Roundup Ready seed for their 1997 cotton crop losses. The farmers claim that Roundup Ready cottonseed, genetically engineered to be resistant to Monsanto's Roundup glyphosate herbicide, failed to perform as expected and produced plants with deformed or missing cotton bolls. About 50 farmers have filed complaints with the Mississippi Department of Agriculture & Commerce (MDAC). Now that the final crop reports are in and Monsanto has had the opportunity to review 60 to 70 complaints, it is offering settlements to about 45 farmers. Although "it's fairly clear that it is an extremely isolated [situation]—and most likely the result of some adverse weather conditions that were going on in the area—the reality is that these are our customers, and we've got to help them when we can," says a Monsanto spokeswoman. Robert McCarty in the Bureau of Plant Industry, MDAC's regulatory division, says the affected farms are located primarily in the Mississippi Delta region. He notes that it was not an unusual year for weather in the state, despite poor conditions early in the season that reduced initial plantings, followed by extremely good weather later in the year. Actually, "it was the highest cotton yield [per acre] in the state's history since 1866," he says. Payments are being based on a comparison of farmers' 1997 yields with a five-year average for the same area. Monsanto, and its marketing partner Delta & MARCH 2, 1998 C&EN 11
n e w s of t h e w e e k Pine Land (D&PL) of Scott, Miss., sold about 800,000 acres' worth of Roundup Ready cottonseed in 1997, the product's first year on the market. The affected acreage in Mississippi is equal only to about 1% of all the Roundup Ready cottonseed planted, according to Monsanto. Monsanto hopes that the settlements will resolve the issue and avoid a state arbitration hearing scheduled for March 17. However, reports, which neither Monsanto's spokeswoman nor state officials could confirm, are that some farmers have found the settlements inadequate and are refusing to accept them.
Despite the problems, the company anticipates increased sales of Roundup Ready cottonseed in 1998. D&PL says it has enough Roundup Ready cottonseed on hand to plant 5.35 million acres, or roughly 38% of all U.S. cotton acreage planted last year. However, D&PL announced last week that it was withdrawing about 400,000 acres' worth of Roundup Ready cottonseed from the market because of "quality assurance" issues. According to Monsanto, the quality issues with these varieties are not related to genetic engineering or to the varieties used in Mississippi. Ann Thayer
Anthrax events hike scientific interest Anthrax became a household word last week. The U.S. was on the brink of war with Iraq, in part over that country's potential ability to wage biological warfare. In Las Vegas, two men were arrested for possessing what were thought to be vials of deadly anthrax. A Soviet defector declared that the former Soviet Union's massive offensive bioweapons program produced hundreds of tons of anthrax. The defector, who now goes by the name Kenneth Alibek, believes that relics of that program, masked as defensive research, 12 MARCH 2, 1998 C&EN
exist in Russia today. Some U.S. scientists cite a paper in the December 1997 issue of the British journal Vaccine [15, 1846 (1997)] as possible evidence of a continuing offensive program. In this paper, Russian scientists describe how they genetically engineered an anthrax organism that is resistant to Russia's vaccine. U.S. Army scientists have requested samples of the new organism to determine whether it is also resistant to the U.S. vaccine. They also want to study how it causes disease, a mechanism that is likely to differ from that of naturally occurring anthrax. As the week progressed, a fragile diplomatic solution kept the U.S. out of war. The vials seized in Las Vegas were determined by researchers at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) in Frederick, Md., to contain anthrax vaccine used to inoculate farm animals, not germ warfare When anthrax spores (top) are inhaled, they convert to vegetative forms (bottom) agents. And other USAMRIID researchers that release toxins. were still awaiting samples of the Russian bioengineered anthrax. University of Maryland Biotechnology InIn what is likely a first, a Russian team stitute, College Park. Zilinskas, who also headed by A. P. Pomerantsev at the State was a United Nations weapons inspector Research Center for Applied Microbiology in Iraq, believes the Russians "are workin Obolensk, near Moscow, has successful- ing for an effective vaccine, one that ly inserted two nonanthrax genes into a could displace theirs and ours." naturally occurring disease-inducing strain Matthew Meselson, a Harvard Universiof anthrax. "There is some concern about ty biochemist and biological warfare exputting foreign genes into a fully virulent pert, says the Russian scientists are studystrain," says Arthur M. Friedlander, chief of ing the "natural variation of anthrax USAMRIID's bacteriology division. strains" to try to understand why some Even if the Russian researchers had not strains are more virulent than others. set out to design an agent of warfare, what "Their work is important, it is very good." they made could be used for such purpos- And to counter nefarious implications, he es. But, Friedlander stresses, the Russian points out, "it has been published in Eneffort "is a laboratory phenomenon, and glish and has been freely discussed." whether this new organism can be [made In a related paper in the most recent into a weapon] is another issue." Making a issue of the Proceedings of the National weapon is technically difficult. Academy of Sciences [95, 1224 (1998)], Louisiana State University epidemiolo- Hugh-Jones and coauthors find evidence gist Martin E. Hugh-Jones believes the for at least four strains of anthrax in tisRussian team has a nonwarfare agenda. sues taken from the 1979 victims of an The Russian scientists have long argued anthrax outbreak in the then-Soviet city for the need for an improved live an- of Sverdlovsk. The victims had inhaled thrax vaccine, and Hugh-Jones thinks spores accidentally released from a milithat with this paper they may be issuing tary research facility. a global warning by demonstrating "a sigTo Hugh-Jones, the findings suggest nificant potential risk." the multiple strains "were a weapons fill Friedlander admits the Russians "made for sure." But Friedlander says the PNAS an attempt to improve their live, attenuat- paper offers "no evidence that the four ed [vaccine] strain, and had some very strains were in a single weapon." The only way to understand what modest improvement." This facet of their December paper offers "some justifica- happened in 1979, or to develop more effective vaccines, is to let U.S. and Rustion" for some of their work, he says. "I think they are working on some- sian scientists collaborate unfettered by thing that was done under the old [Sovi- political concerns, insists Meselson. "We et] program, and they are now starting to don't need guys in striped pants, but try to commercialize it," says Raymond guys in white coats." Lois Ember A. Zilinskas, an associate professor at the
