creating transgenic animals for research and organ transplants. People view geneti cally engineered crops and transgenic ani mals asrisky.More significantly, many find transgenic animals morally unacceptable. The results of the survey, which follows others from 1991 and 1993, are not surprising in light of events taking place as the biotechnology industry grows rapidly in Europe. Although the European Union has been approving greater numbers of biotechnology prod ucts, individual countries and consumers have had strong negative reactions, even going so far as to ban the importation of genetically engineered products, particu larly agricultural products. However, many biotechnology compa ny executives say European farmers who believe they are being put at a competi tive disadvantage by these antibiotechnology stances are starting to put pressure on government authorities to change them. Among the political and regulatory issues that still challenge producers are policies on the approval and labeling of genetically modified foods. The EU has begun reviewing those policies this year. When it comes to regulating biotech nology, the survey found that trust in public authorities generally correlates with a more positive view. The excep tion is Austria, where the public trusts regulators, but both the regulators and the public expressed some opposition to food and agricultural biotechnology. Germany's distrust of biotechnology parallels that of Austria's. They are followed by Denmark, Sweden, and Lux embourg in showing the least support for biotechnology. Portugal and Spain are most supportive of biotechnology, fol lowed by Belgium, Finland, and Greece. National and cultural differences aside, the authors suggest that where the industry is more developed, familiarity has provided greater opportunity for the emergence of concerns. In other regions, the potential economic importance of biotechnology is paramount, they say. The survey results also apply broadly to public views of science, for which conventional wisdom holds "knowledge is a crucially important determinant of support." And the authors do find that people with greater knowledge are more likely to express a definite opinion. However, that opinion could just as well be negative as positive. The main lesson, they conclude, is that public confidence in emerging applications of biotechnolo gy cannot be taken for granted. Ann Thayer
Pathfinder is designed to pave the way for future missions by characterizing optimal study sites, as well as to further understand ing of the nature of early Mars. If all goes as planned, July 4 will mark the Once it hits the martian atmosphere, first time a spacecraft from Earth has land Mars Pathfinder is programmed to deploy ed on Mars since the 1976 Viking a parachute with a lander that will mea missions. sure atmospheric density, temperature, and The National Aeronautics & Space Ad pressure as it descends. The lander is to ministration's Mars Pathfinder is sched touch down 500 miles southeast of where uled to make its descent onto the martian the Viking 1 spacecraft landed in 1976, at surface at about 1 PM eastern daylight the mouth of a catastrophic outflow basin. time, send back the mission's first image Scientists presume the rocks at this location about six hours later, and begin scanning to be 3.5 billion to 4.5 billion years old. the planet's rocky and dusty orange The lander will then deploy the 16-kg, terrain the next day. tricycle-sized Sojourner, which scientists After the recent catastrophic failures of will send out each day for a week, choosing destinations with the help of % images captured by cameras %• aboard the lander and the < rover. Meanwhile, the lander will continue to monitor the martian atmosphere. Sojourner's APXS will de termine the elemental com position of the rocks and soil. As directed remotely by scientists on Earth, Sojourn er will sidle up to a speci men and APXS will bom bard it with α particles and record spectra from the generated protons, X-rays, Six-wheeled, remote-controlled "Sojourner,"only 28 cm high, will traverse Mars' surface. and scattered particles. From this information, researchers two Mars-bound spacecraft—NASA's Mars will then be able to develop models that Observer (lost contact near Mars) and Rus could predict the presence of species such sia's Mars 96 (exploded shortly after take as carbonates or nitrates, Economou says. Although data collection from the off)—scientists are eagerly anticipating the success of the upcoming mission. "It's lander is scheduled to take about a very exciting. We're hoping for the best," month, the mission may be extended if says Thanasis E. Economou, senior scien the lander and rover continue to operate. On the heels of Mars Pathfinder will tist at the University of Chicago's Enrico Fermi Institute and codeveloper of one of come the Mars Global Surveyor, which the mission's primary instruments, an was launched last November. When it reaches Mars in September, Mars Global alpha-proton-X-ray spectrometer (APXS). The $150 million Mars Pathfinder, Surveyor will orbit the planet, collecting which was launched last December, is one much of the data that was to have been of a new breed of spacecraft, designed, gathered by the ill-fated Mars Observer. Elizabeth Wilson built, and launched in a fraction of the time required to loft more ponderous vehicles such as the U.S.'s Galileo and Magellan spacecraft. The star of this lean mission is a diminutive, remote-controlled robot named Sojourner, which will rove over the planet's surface, traversing areas up to the size of a football field to analyze the makeup of martian rocks. The mission's purpose is not to look for Research into new contraceptives has possible signs of life on Mars, explains been hampered by politics, economics, Matthew P. Golombek, Mars Pathfinder and legal forces, but some scientists in project scientist at the Jet Propulsion Lab the field persevere. One such researcher oratory in Pasadena, Calif. Rather, Mars is Joseph C. Hall, assistant professor of
Scientists cross fingers for Mars landing
Compound inhibits enzyme that sperm use to recognize eggs
JUNE 30, 1997 C&EN 9
