The Chemical World This Week
NIH FINALIZES GENETIC RESEARCH GUIDELINES Long-awaited National Institutes of Health guidelines for research involving transfer of genetic information from one species to another were released last week. They are very similar, but slightly more restrictive, than those developed last year at a conference at Asilomar, Calif., explains NIH director Donald S. Fredrickson. The Asilomar guidelines have become, in effect, the worldwide standard for work in this field pending more formal regulation. The guidelines regulate recombinant DNA research—the combining of pieces of genetic material from more than one species. Early experiments that demonstrated that such recombinant material could be incorporated into certain cells where it would continue to function and duplicate itself led to a voluntary moratorium on certain experiments in this field in 1974 and later to the Asilomar guidelines. Concern that unexpected and potentially hazardous recombinant organisms might find a niche in the ecosystem and cause permanent harm has caused most scientists to be very conservative about experiments in this area. The NIH guidelines, as do those from Asilomar, characterize different types of recombinant DNA experiments according to their likelihood of being hazardous to humans and other living things. Certain experiments are forbidden outright, including developing systems that would synthesize potent toxins such as diphtheria toxin or snake venom or increasing the drug resistance of microorganisms involved in diseases. Other experiments can be conducted only in research facilities that ensure that the recombinant products will not escape into the environment and with special cell lines
that cannot themselves survive except under laboratory conditions. The degree of such physical and biological containment required for a particular experiment will depend on how hazardous the experiment's product is thought to be. The NIH guidelines are somewhat stricter than those drawn up at Asilomar in eight of the 20 areas covered, Fredrickson explains. Most importantly, NIH forbids any deliberate release of cells containing recombinant DNA into the environment. The NIH guidelines also give much more detailed information on how to comply with the guidelines and on the responsibilities of scientists and research institutions. The guidelines themselves cover only research that is funded by NIH.
They are enforceable by refusal to continue funding of individual research projects or even of entire institutions that do not comply with the guidelines. Other sponsors of recombinant DNA research, including the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Agriculture, as well as many foreign scientific groups, have been following the development of the guidelines closely, Fredrickson says, and are expected to adopt shortly very similar, if not identical, guidelines themselves. As for industry-sponsored research in the U.S., he says the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association will host a meeting of interested companies in July at which they, too, are expected to adopt similar guidelines. •
OSHA clears way for a >enic, noise rules
One logjam at the Occupational Safety & Health Administration apparently broke up last week when the agency published, back to back, two new inflation impact statements (IIS). The first deals with a proposed noise exposure regulation, the second with regulating worker exposure to inorganic arsenic. Required by an executive order, the statements are supposed to assess the economic and potential inflationary impacts and technological feasibility of proposed standards. Their preparation, OSHA admits, has been holding up promulgation of a number of new occupational health standards. In January 1975 OSHA proposed limiting worker exposure to inorganic arsenic to 0.004 mg per cu m of air averaged over an eight-hour period. The proposal also requires monitoring of workplace air, medical surFredrickson: slightly more restrictive veillance, and record keeping. The present exposure limit is 0.05 mg per cu m of air. According to OSHA, effects of excess exposure to inorganic arsenic range from dermatitis to acute or chronic poisoning and even cancer. The IIS estimates that about 7400 workers are exposed annually to arsenic levels above the proposed standard. These include workers in the copper, lead, and zinc smelting industries, as well as workers in plants making arsenical pesticides and wood preservatives.
According to the IIS, technically feasible engineering controls, such as process equipment enclosure, alone will not reduce arsenic levels enough to meet the proposed standard. This will necessitate, among other things, the use of personal protection equipment, such as respirators. Annual compliance costs are estimated to be $110.8 million, with the highest costs falling on the copper smelting and wood preservative industries. The IIS says that the standard could force ASARCO, the country's only producer of arsenic metal and arsenic trioxide, to close its Tacoma, Wash., copper smelter, which would incur $9.9 million of the annual cost. In the worst possible case, about 3000 jobs would be lost nationwide. The noise standard, proposed by OSHA in October 1974, retains present restrictions on worker exposure at noise levels greater than 90 decibels. But it adds requirements for audiometric testing and noise monitoring when workers are exposed to noise levels greater than 85 decibels. The IIS estimates that noise monitoring will cost about $155 million annually, with audiometric testing costing about $86 million. For the chemical industry alone, monitoring costs are expected to be about $6.8 million and audiometric testing costs about $4.2 million. Labor groups are pushing hard for
an 85-decibel maximum exposure level. If OSHA were to accept this level, the IIS estimates that compliance achieved solely through the use of hearing protectors would cost $43 million annually. The same level achieved through engineering controls would require an investment of about $8 billion over and above that necessary to comply with the 90decibel level. OSHA has scheduled a public hearing on both IIS's on Aug. 24 in Washington, D.C. •
Feedstocks to feel lead-in-gas phaseout The ripples already are spreading from the Supreme Court's decision earlier this month paving the way for greatly reduced lead additives in gasoline (C&EN, June 21, page 17). Initial reaction from sources in and near affected companies is that the decision will have great economic consequences for the oil and chemical industries. But these effects will be slow to show up and they may not be as disruptive as the dollar value of products involved would indicate. The Environmental Protection Agency rules on reducing lead additives in gasoline, first drawn up in 1973, specify a drop from the current level of 2 to 3 grams per gal to a required 0.5 gram per gal by Jan. 1,1979. Two distinct types of effects are expected as EPA goes ahead with its rules. First the rich market for lead alkyls, principally tetraethyllead, will diminish gradually. According to the U.S. International Trade Commission, organolead compounds (including formulated antiknock mixes) had a market value of more than $600 million in 1974, the latest available year. Four U.S. producers split the almost 900 million lb-per-year capacity for lead alkyls as of last fall. By absolute capacity, Ethyl Corp. and Du Pont lead, with PPG Industries and Nalco Chemical trailing. But by earnings exposure to lead alkyls, Ethyl and Nalco have much more at stake than Du Pont and PPG. Aside from this direct vulnerability to the lead phaseout, another effect of the EPA rules will touch a great many more chemical companies. Reducing lead additives in gasoline will cause changes in the way oil refineries achieve desired octane ratings in gasoline. To replace the lead compounds, refiners are expected to use more of the mixed aromatics produced by reforming units. This substitution will tend to reduce the availability of these aromatics for use as benzene, toluene, and xylene.
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However, this substitution likely Lc will be minor compared to another l a development that is already under I® way—demand for aromatics in gaso- o line. The catalytic exhaust converters °on new cars in the U.S. already re- 2 quire unleaded gasoline. The resulting pressure on aromatics use is cas pushing up aromatics' floor value about 5% per year. Another refinery-based feedstock that will be affected by the lead phasedown is propylene. Much refinery propylene is used in gasoline in the form of alkylate to complement lead alkyls in raising octane ratings. Da Vinci II floats high over Midwest along Since alkylates have a low octane with plume of polluted air value without lead, reducing lead will tend to cut the use of alkylate in gas- N.M., in late 1974 (C&EN, Sept. 2, oline. This, in turn, will release some 1974, page 4). propylene for other uses. However, Much of the data from the flight much of the propylene so released will not be fully analyzed for several probably will be burned as fuel rather months. Already, however, the flight than be allowed to flood the propyl- is yielding important results. Among ene market. Price of propylene is al- the most significant is that concenready considered too low by re- trations of ozone and perhaps other finers. D pollutants do not always rapidly diminish as polluted air is swept away from its place of origin. The crew found the ozone concentrations to be fairly stable and almost twice EPA's allowable level for the entire flight. Simultaneous ground monitoring, One of the obvious ways to study however, showed a rapid falloff in what happens to polluted urban air is ozone levels. "Up to this point we have always to go up into it, travel along with it, and observe it firsthand. And that is assumed . . . that air pollution is a exactly what the four-member crew of local problem" because of data from Da Vinci II, a 70-foot, helium-filled ground-based monitors, explains Dr. balloon did during a severe air pollu- Rudolf J. Engelmann of NOAA, onboard scientist for the flight. The Da tion alert in St. Louis last month. Its 24-hour, 150-mile flight, along Vinci data show that, at least some of with supporting ground and airplane the time, pollutants at the 2000-foot measurements, has collected the most level, where the balloon was, travel in comprehensive set of meteorological a much more concentrated mass than measurements of a stagnant air mass occurs at ground level. Pollution is yet assembled, says Dr. Harry Moses carried along by upper air currents of the Energy Research & Develop- that often develop at night. Scientists ment Administration's biomedical believe that during the daytime conand environmental research program vection currents probably bring this polluted air back to ground level, aland project manager for the flight. ERDA cosponsored the project though the Da Vinci balloon did not along with Sandia Laboratories, the stay aloft long enough to confirm this National Geographic Society, the effect. The polluted air the Da Vinci National Oceanic & Atmospheric balloon followed probably came back Administration, and the Environ- to ground level somewhere over mental Protection Agency. It is the western Indiana, more than 150 miles D first of two flights of the balloon from St. Louis. scheduled from St. Louis this summer. The advantage of using a balloon in these studies is that it floats along with a particular plume of polluted air so that scientists can make a continuous record of the reactions taking West Germany's gloomy economic place in that air mass. In addition to the crew, the Da situation last year, indeed that of the Vinci balloon carried a 10-foot- industrialized world generally, didn't square, two-story gondola with more bode well for the 1976 Achema— than a ton of scientific equipment to West Germany's triennial congress conduct about 20 experiments. This and exhibits of chemical equipment was Da Vinci's second flight—the and technology. But as visitors from first was a trial run from Las Cruces, around the world flowed into Frank-
Balloon flight yields ozone pollution data
Achema a sellout, points to good times
June 28, 1976 C&EN
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furt/Main last week, probably as many as in 1973, they found the huge exhibit area completely filled. As it happened, says Dr. Fritz L. Reuther, chairman of the Achema committee, the organization wound up with a waiting list of hopeful applicants for exhibit space. That's an impressive performance, since Achema's statistics for 1976 are indeed notable: 2278 exhibitors from 27 countries filling 15 exhibit halls at the Frankfurt fairground, with 143,000 visitor tickets expected to be sold, the same number as in 1973. If the figures indicate optimism, it isn't for the short term, Reuther notes. Achema, he points out, isn't a "cyclical barometer," as are fairs of consumer goods, for example. Rather it reflects the expectations of exhibitors and visitors for the long term. But what the long term specifically holds in store, other than opportunity, isn't entirely clear. The prospects for science and engineering, Reuther points out, are embedded in worldwide economic developments. And he sees at this level a structural change taking place, involving, on one hand, industrialized countries and, on the other, raw material producers seeking their own development. There will be, he says, new import pressures on industrialized countries such as West Germany for semifinished and finished products from developing countries, with industrialized countries concentrating more heavily on research-intensive high technology. If these trends take place, future Achemas could well change in character. Bioengineering, electrochemistry, catalysis, and new forms of energy based on hydrogen are several areas Reuther suggests that might emerge as central features. Meanwhile, Achema 1976 continues in a more familiar unit operations vein, with strong cross-currents of energy savings and pollution control developments. •
Another upbeat sign for new graduates The largest companies in the U.S. are hiring more new college graduates this year than they had earlier predicted they would, according to a new survey made by Dr. Frank S. Endicott, retired director of placement at Northwestern University and compiler of an annual survey of employers' hiring plans. Endicott's research last fall projected a modest increase for 1976. The firms surveyed indicated that demand would be up 9% for bachelors 6
C&EN June 28, 1976
Hiring of graduates to exceed earlier estimate Increase from Nov. 1975 estimate
Engineering, other technical Accounting, business Liberal arts, other nontechnical
Bachelors Masters
6% 4 2
8% 5 17
Note: Data reflect expected hiring of 1976 graduates by 162 large companies. Source: Endicott report
and 11% for masters, compared to 1975, when hiring was off sharply. Thus, Endicott warned, "The class of 1976 will face another extremely tight job market" (C&EN, Dec. 15, 1975, page 7). Since then, Endicott notes, "There has been a turnaround," so he repolled the companies. These later figures show that the responding companies plan to hire 15% more bachelors than they had in 1975, or 5% more than their earlier estimates. More than 80% of the bachelors to be hired will be in engineering, science, or business administration. For masters, the revised data show firm plans for an 18% increase over actual
1975 hiring—6% higher than predicted last fall. Starting salaries are up 4 to 7%, "not enough to compensate for increased living costs," Endicott notes. The new survey also reveals positive long-term trends. About 87% of the responding firms see more, not fewer, jobs ahead in their companies for college graduates. In addition, 97% of the companies say they will hire more women each year in the next five years; 95% plan to hire more black graduates. But only 11% of the firms see increased hiring of liberal arts graduates. Although 52% of the personnel directors at the firms surveyed believe that "too many people are going to college," only 38% find that a significant number of students are being "overeducated." However, there are complaints that "too many are being educated in the wrong direction," and suggestions that "students should major in disciplines that are in demand." Endicott counters that students should plan their college careers on the basis of what they really want to do, not on the basis of surveys like his. But he adds, there's no reason that a good liberal arts education can't also include some "marketable skills." D
Trilingual science jourr \\ launched Intended to "foster unity and cooperation between the scientific communities of the Americas and to stimulate interchange so that the uses of science and technology can best serve the cause of development," a new trilingual journal, Interciencia, has been launched by the Interciencia Association, a nonprofit organization founded in 1974 in Brazil, and now chartered in Venezuela. It is made up largely of scientific societies from South America, but includes the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Marcel Roche of Venezuela is editor-in-chief of the new publication. Philip Abelson, editor of Science (published by AAAS), is North American regional editor. The journal's masthead lists a number of correspondents from North and South America and from Europe. Interciencia will be published bimonthly with editorial material about equally divided among Spanish, English, and Portuguese. Articles appear in one language accompanied by summaries in the other two languages. The journal will focus on Latin America, Roche says in an editorial, "a group of nations [that are] urgently in need of the benefits that science
and technology can provide but that have been painfully lacking in regional magazines of scientific nature." An example from the journal's first issue: "The Role of Desalting and Brackish Water Resources in the Arid Regions of the Americas" by Ronald F. Probstein of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and J. Manuel Alvarez Jr. of the Social Security Institute in Mexico City. But Interciencia will not overlook the political and social implications of science and technology, Roche points out. "Far from avoiding such issues," he says, "the journal will welcome controversial opinions posed, under the full responsibility of each author, provided they are supportable by testable facts and written in a style compatible with that of a scientific journal." This editorial philosophy may prove interesting since, as Roche notes, "the South brims with enthusiasm and faith in science plainly contrasting with the pessimism that all too frequently is observed in the North, particularly among younger generations." Subscriptions to Interciencia are $10 annually for AAAS members, and $15 per year for nonmembers. Institutional subscriptions are $20 per year. •
