First bioengineered animal drug approved After nearly a decade of effort—and years of political and scientific controversy—Monsanto won Food & Drug Administration approval Nov. 5 to market genetically engineered bovine somatotropin (BST), a protein hormone that increases milk production in cows. Monsanto says it is pleased that it will be the first to bring this type of product to market, and that it can now begin to recoup its "significant investment." But that won't happen immediately. In August, Congress imposed a 90-day moratorium on BST sale to take effect after FDA approval (C&EN, Aug. 16, page 4). Monsanto will use the interval to educate farmers and veterinarians on the benefits of BST use. Up to now, the company has been limited to talking about human safety. Monsanto believes BST promises considerable benefits. In test herds, cows receiving a small subcutaneous injection of BST every two weeks produced an average 9 lb more milk per day than untreated cows. Milk from these test herds has been sold since 1985. Prosilac, Monsanto's trademarked name for its BST, increases milk output by supplementing natural BST produced in a cow's pituitary gland. BST allows farmers to produce more milk with fewer cows. A September 1992 General Accounting Office study reported that FDA found evidence in trials that BST-treated
Feingold: consumers don't want BST
cows have 15% more cases of mastitis, a common udder infection, raising concern that increased use of antibiotics to treat the disease might lead to increased residues of such drugs in milk. However, after review, FDA concluded that adequate safeguards are in place to prevent sale of milk with unsafe residue levels. "There is virtually no difference in milk from [BST-]treated and untreated cows," says FDA commissioner David A. Kessler. "In fact, if s not possible using current scientific techniques to tell them apart. This has been one of the most extensively studied animal drug products to be reviewed by the agency . . . we are confident that this product is safe for the consumers, for cows, and for the environment." Still, opposition to BST's use remains strong. Some opponents—such as Sen. Russ Feingold (D.-Wis.), who spearheaded the moratorium effort in Congress—argue that the U.S. simply doesn't need cows that can produce more milk. He calls FDA's action "another threat to small family farms." Feingold points out that during the 90-day moratorium, the federal government is mandated to conduct a study of the budgetary, social, and economic effects of widespread use of this new technology, and to report its findings to Congress within 45 days. "I hope that the Administration's study will accurately reflect what I've been hearing from farmers all over Wisconsin," Feingold says: "that BST is bad for the dairy industry, that we don't need it, and that consumers don't want it in their milk." Other opponents—such as Consumers Union and the Foundation on Economic Trends' Pure Food Coalition— charge that BST is unsafe for cows and threatens human health. They say that FDA is failing to protect consumers from dangerous drug residues in milk. The coalition, created by long-time biotechnology critic Jeremy Rifkin, is organizing numerous demonstrations against BST, beginning last week in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Madison (Wis.), and Milwaukee. It also will conduct a national advertising campaign urging consumers to purchase only dairy products clearly labeled as being BST free. On Feb. 3,1994, the day Monsanto can begin selling BST, John C. Stauber, national organizer for the coalition, promises milk dumping demonstrations in more than 800 cities. Janice Long
Scanning microscopy enters picosecond realm Two research groups, working independently, have combined scanning tunneling microscopy with ultrafast laser optics to create a powerful new tool for probing surface phenomena not only on the atomic length scale of angstroms (10~10 meter), but also on the atomic time scale of picoseconds (10~12 second). One of the researchers, Daniel S. Chemla, a physics professor at the University of California, Berkeley, says the technique opens "a new window on time and space": It potentially could be used to make "movies" of physical and chemical processes that occur at speeds of a few angstroms per femtosecond (10~15 second). The two groups were unaware of each other's efforts until recently. One team, led by Chemla, who directs Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory's materials science division, published its findings in the Nov. 1 issue of Applied Physics Letters [63, 2567 (1993)]. The other team, led by physicist Mark R. Freeman of IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., described its results last week in Science [262,1029 (1993)]. Both groups used a different nonlinearity to resolve, on picosecond time scales, signals that result from laser excitation. Freeman's group used the nonlinear relationship between the current and voltage of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Chemla's group used the nonlinear response of a lightactivated switch on the STM tip. The underlying principle is general and could be applied to the many other types of scanning probe microscopes. Chemla's group can image surfaces with two-picosecond time resolution and better than 50-À spatial resolution. Conventional STMs offer better spatial resolution. But a compromise was necessary, Chemla notes, to achieve a time resolution that he says is nine orders of magnitude better than that currently attainable with the STM. Two independent scientists consulted by C&EN considered Chemla's nine orders of magnitude claim somewhat overstated, but they had not yet seen his paper. Freeman and his former coworker, Geoff Nunes Jr., explain that the new STM method serves as a stroboscope NOVEMBER 15,1993 C&EN 9
NEWS OF THE WEEK tool, allowing scientists to produce freeze-frame images of an ultrafast pro cess that can be triggered repetitively. A laser pulse is used to generate an excited species, which is then detected by a sec ond pulse. Thousands of different pulse pairs are used to follow the behavior of the excited species over time. This meth od could be used to study, for example, the lifetime of a photoexcited molecule on a surface, or the lifetime of electrons and holes induced when light shines on a semiconductor surface. Freeman's particular interest is in vi sualizing the movement of magnetic flux lines on the surface of a superconductor. He also suggests the new method could allow scientists to peer into electronic devices and observe the movement of high-speed electrical signals. Chemla and coworkers speculate that ultrafast scanning probe microscopy, as
they call the method, could be used to visualize vibrational motion on the atomic scale, molecular charge transfer, surface rearrangements on catalysts, and propagation of electric field and volt age wave fronts at metal-semiconductor interfaces. Many researchers have been working for a long time to extend STM's capabil ities beyond static images, says Nunes, who is now an assistant professor of physics at Dartmouth College in Han over, N.H. In the near future, he expects to see applications of this technique, as well as significant variations on it. Robert J. Hamers, a surface scientist at the University of Wisconsin, Madi son, says the STM advance "opens a door to doing some very interesting new things" with a broader range of samples than was possible before. Ron Dagani
Akzo and Nobel to merge in $1.7 billion deal Dutch chemicals producer Akzo last week agreed to acquire financially troubled Swedish chemicals maker No bel Industries for $1.7 billion in cash, stock, and the assumption of debt— catapulting Akzo from 14th to seventh largest world chemical producer. Akzo Nobel, as the new company will be known, would have had $10.7 billion in chemical sales in 1992, according to C&EN's ranking of the global Top 50 (C&EN, July 26, page 29). Combined chemical sales of the two companies would rank Akzo Nobel just below sixth-place Dow Chemical ($12.9 billion chemical sales), and ahead of Exxon Chemical ($10.6 billion). The major impact of the impending merger will be to vault Akzo Nobel
past ICI as the world's largest paint producer, with $3.6 billion in 1992 paint sales versus ICI's $2.4 billion. It also will make Akzo Nobel the world's largest supplier of pulp-bleaching chem icals (including sodium chlorate and hy drogen peroxide), and second largest supplier of paper chemicals (such as siz ing agents). The bulk of Nobel's operations are in Europe, so the geographical impact of the merger will be felt mostly there. The two companies' U.S. operations neither complement nor overlap each other: Akzo has sizable rubber chemicals and surfactants assets, and Nobel has pulp and paper chemical operations. The deal requires that the Swedish government-owned bank, Securum, re
At a glance
10
ΓτυΚΖΟ
Nobel Industries
Headquarters: Arnhem, the Netherlands
Headquarters: Stockholm, Sweden
Sales: $9.6 billion (1992), including nonchemical sales Net profit: $367 million (1992) Employees: 62,500 Principal businesses: surfactants, cat alysts, plastic additives, rubber chemicals, salt, coatings, fibers, phar maceuticals
Sales; $3.7 billion (1992), including nonchemical sales Net profit: $40.7 million (1992) Employees: 17,500 Principal businesses: coatings, pulp and paper chemicals, fine chemicals, surfactants, adhesives, lasers, dental implants
NOVEMBER 15,1993 C&EN
tain Nobel's Spectra-Physics laser busi ness and a dental implant business. Se curum now owns more than 70% of Nobel shares, a stake it acquired when ousted Nobel chairman Erik Penser de faulted on bank loans in 1991. The Swedish bank will also own 20% of the new Akzo Nobel. Akzo chairman Aarnout A. Loudon will head the combined company begin ning in January. Ove Mattsson, Nobel's president and chief executive officer, will join the new company's board of man agement and will run the European coatings operation. The final transaction depends not only on shareholder ap provals, but also on regulatory clearanc es from European governments. "What is so striking about this acqui sition," says securities analyst James Wilbur, managing director of the New York City-based firm of Smith Barney Shearson, "is that in this period of glo bal mergers, this is [largely] a regional merger." All of Nobel's paint business is in Europe, he notes. Alasdair Nisbet, chemical analyst with investment banking firm UBS Phillips & Drew in London, agrees that the "big synergy" of the merger is in Europe and in the coatings area. In an ironic twist, he adds, Akzo also gains a strong position in pulp and paper chemicals. The Dutch chemicals producer recently sold its Eu ropean-based pulp and paper chemical operations to Nobel—a business it will once again possess along with the much larger Nobel pulp and paper chemicals operations. However, it is questionable whether Nobel's fine chemical intermediates businesses will remain in the merged company, Nisbet points out. Fine chemi cals operations are notoriously complex, and he suggests that the new company will have to closely examine such opera tions. In addition, he notes, the new company may also rationalize capacity in fatty amines for detergents: Both pro ducers are strong in fatty amines, but the market for them is weak. In a coda to last week's Nobel acqui sition, Akzo also acquired Ardeval, a small French producer of nonprescrip tion, plant-derived remedies. Ardeval, which employs 90 people at its Paris headquarters and a production facility in Largentiere, Ardeche, will come un der the aegis of Akzo's Chefaro Inter national subsidiary. Chefaro produces and markets nonprescription drugs. Marc Reisch
