NSF's engineering directorate have expressed willingness to help direct the institute's program, but OMB has made it clear that NSF's role will be wholly neutral in such a politically contentious policy issue. "NSF was essentially asked by OMB to do everyone a favor," says one source. While the CTI smoke clears, OSTP and Bromley seem left in an awkward position. Phillips may indeed have resigned purely for health reasons, but the earlier demise of CTI was seen in Washington, D.C., as a blow both to him and to his boss, Bromley. Phillips had gone so far as to choose a CTI director before the rug was pulled. The issue is so inflammatory that, although Bromley probably will be CTI's chairman, it will be overseen at the White House not by OSTP but by the higher level Domestic Policy Council under Roger B. Porter, an opponent of industrial policy. Left out in the cold is the Commerce Department's Technology Administration, which has the federal mandate to shepherd national technology policy, mainly through the National Institute of Standards & Technology. But officials there seem glad enough to let NSF do the job. Wil Lepkowski
Key neuroreceptor cloned, characterized The NMDA receptor, a protein that one researcher calls "the Holy Grail of neurotransmitter-receptor molecular neurobiology," has been cloned a n d c h a r a c t e r i z e d in rats. The achievement, described in last week's Nature [354, 31 (1991)] by Koki Moriyoshi, Shigetada Nakanishi, and coworkers at Kyoto University Faculty of Medicine in Japan, follows several years of unsuccessful efforts by other groups to isolate and clone the receptor. Named for N-methyl-D-aspartate, one of the chemicals that activates it, the NMDA receptor has been eagerly sought because of the important role it plays in nerve transmission a n d in d i s o r d e r s like epilepsy, stroke, and perhaps Huntington's disease. Despite its name, it serves primarily as a receptor for gluta-
mate, an excitatory neurotransmitter in the central nervous system. In an accompanying article in Nature, neurophysiologist Mark L. Mayer of the National Institutes of Health notes, "The NMDA receptor ion-channel complex has become the focus of a multimillion-dollar research effort for both the academic neuroscience community and the pharmaceutical industry/ 7 Mayer tells C&EN he doesn't know "any major pharmaceutical company internationally that doesn't have a research program in this area." This intense interest in the NMDA receptor stems from the diverse roles it plays in the central nervous system, ranging from excitatory synaptic transmission to regulating the growth and degeneration of neurons. The receptor is also believed essential for long-term potentiation (long-lasting increase in the strength of a synaptic response following stimulation). This is a phenomenon that has gained much interest of late as a model of learning and memory. In addition, the NMDA receptor appears to play a key role in several diseases. For example, release of abnormally high amounts of glutamate during a stroke is believed to kill brain cells by overstimulating such receptors. "Given that there are no good drugs available at the moment to treat stroke, the pharmaceutical industry has been developing drugs that block NMDA receptor activity," Mayer points out. Drugs are also being sought to block overexcitation of these receptors that may occur.in the brains of Huntington's disease patients. Because this receptor has been so hard to isolate, some researchers have speculated that it was not just a single protein, but instead consisted of several distinct subunit proteins. Nakanishi and coworkers show that a single protein acts as a functional receptor in the lab. However, additional subtypes may exist, and several proteins may eventually be found to associate to form NMDA receptor complexes in vivo. There are actually two types of glutamate receptors. One type, consisting of ion-channel proteins, includes NMDA receptors and nonNMDA receptors. The non-NMDA receptors bind AMPA (a-amino-3-
hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate) and kainate. The other type of receptor, called metabotropic, functions via coupling with G proteins (guanosine-binding proteins). Nakanishi and coworkers find the NMDA receptor to be similar in sequence and structure to the AMPA/ kainate receptor, which was cloned in 1989 by Stephen Heinemann's group at Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, Calif. A metabotropic receptor was also cloned earlier this year, again by Nakanishi and coworkers. Cloning of the NMDA receptor completes the family of cloned glutamate receptors, opening up new possibilities for a broader understanding of glutamate function in the brain. Stu Borman
OSHA levies record fine for plant explosion IMC Fertilizer (IMCF) and Angus Chemical have agreed to pay a record $10 million fine levied by the Occupational Safety & Health Administration to settle alleged safety and health violations related to the May 1 explosion of a nitroparaffins plant in Sterlington, La. The explosion killed eight workers and injured another 112 people (C&EN, May 13, page 6). The firms also have agreed to implement new process management safety procedures.
Martin: action sends clear message November 11, 1991 C&EN 5
News of the Week But IMCF continues to deny the allegations in OSHA's citation. And the Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW), which represents IMCFs employees in Louisiana, blasts the settlement as a "sweetheart deal" and a "scandalous, sleazy maneuver." Secretary of Labor Lynn Martin says the fine is "by far the largest in the 20-year history of OSHA." The previous record was $5.8 million, levied against Citgo Petroleum for a Louisiana refinery fire. As a result of its investigation, OSHA cited IMCF for exposing more than 200 employees to the risk of fire and explosion, and charged the firm with 24 more violations of OSHA standards. Angus was cited for allegedly failing to protect its five employees on the site and for violating OSHA standards. IMCF has operated the plant since 1982 under contract with Angus, a wholly owned subsidiary of Alberta Natural Gas Co. Under the settlement, IMCF will pay $9.8 million and Angus will pay $200,000. The fine is not expected to have an impact on IMCF's long-term financial condition, because of anticipated indemnifications. OSHA found that nitromethane and nitroethane piping at the plant were not protected from exposure to heat or shock, and that other safety equipment was either not installed or not suitable. In addition, it found that process units were too close to occupied buildings. Moreover, it has issued citations for a total of $64,725 against five contractors that had employees at the site at the time of the explosion. Although paying the fine, IMCF maintains it did not violate any laws, regulations, or safety standards. It explains simply that the settlement "permits both companies to focus management's attention and resources on rebuilding the plant and implementing additional new process and procedural safeguards." To address the alleged violations, the firms will institute process management safety procedures in two nitroparaffin facilities and IMCF's ammonia plant at Sterlington, and at IMCF's phosphate plant in New Wales, Fla. They will evaluate facilities and operations to identify needed corrective actions. 6
November 11, 1991 C&EN
"In signing this agreement, we have negotiated a settlement that will avoid legal delays in correcting hazards," says Gerard F. Scannell, OSHA administrator and assistant secretary of the Labor Department. "It will greatly improve workplace safety and health at the IMCF and Angus plants." OCAW differs vehemently, however. "OSHA gets to come across like a white knight by imposing the largest fine in its history," says OCAW president Robert E. Wages. "But, in return, the company comes out untarnished." And he adds, "This kind of cozy deal has become a pattern of perversion of the law. These instant settlements are all smoke and mirrors. They look good on the surface, but underneath, the substance is completely rotten." They cut workers
out of a review process that might otherwise take place, were a company to protest OSHA's citations. However, retorts Martin, "The settlement neither justifies nor excuses the violations found by OSHA in its investigation of this needless tragedy." Indeed, she stresses, "This action sends a clear message to any company that might be inclined to view a potential fine as a reasonable economic tradeoff for the cost of meeting job safety requirements." "The fines being imposed . . . follow a new penalty structure for OSHA . . . increasing maximum penalties for safety and health violations sevenfold," she continues. "You can be sure that we will continue to impose fines of this magnitude when warranted." Ann Thayer
Presidential fellows program panned by chemists The National Science Foundation's advisory committee for chemistry— disappointed that its criticism of NSF's Presidential Young Investigator (PYI) program has gone unheeded—has passed a resolution attacking the new Presidential Faculty Fellows (PFF) program that is replacing the PYI program in part. Because research proposals are not required, the advisory committee fears politics and prestige will play a greater role than scientific merit in selecting PFF awardees. The committee of 18 distinguished chemists declares, "There are more meritorious mechanisms for distributing limited NSF funds to U.S. scientists than those described in the PFF announcement." The motion was made by Lon B. Knight, professor of chemistry at Furman University, Greenville, S.C. The motion passed unanimously despite NSF staff attempts to discourage it. "You're shooting arrows at the Moon," warned M. Kent Wilson, executive officer of the directorate for mathematical and physical sciences, which includes the chemistry division. NSF advisory committees have no power to set policy; they can only offer opinions. So the committee's criticism will not affect the PFF program.
The prestigious new PFF annual awards, established by President Bush and his science adviser, D. Allan Bromley, will provide 15 young scientists and 15 young engineers $100,000 a year each for five years for teaching and research (C&EN, Sept. 23, page 4). The fellows will be chosen on the basis of nominations from their university presidents. The old PYI program provided $25,000 per year to about 200 faculty members for five years, with the promise of up to $37,500 more each year if matched on a dollar-per-dollar basis by grants from industry. It has been replaced by the PFF program and by a new NSF Young Investigator (NYI) award. The NYI program is almost identical to the old PYI program. The PYI program itself was controversial, with a reputation as something of a beauty contest (C&EN, Nov. 5,1990, page 24). The chemistry advisory committee recommended at previous meetings that PYI awards be improved by requiring a substantial research proposal. The chemistry division has been supporting about 15 PYIs per year, at a cost of about $4 million a year. It is not yet clear if it will be able to support that many NYIs in the future. Pamela Zurer
