News of the Week In addition, Miike said health care workers need better training before they undertake care of AIDS victims. "We need to infuse compassion, understanding, and a commitment to the care of AIDS patients in our physicians and health workers," he told the committee. D
Scientists, lawyers debate fraud issues Despite a lack of hard data on the frequency of fraud in research, and despite differences of opinion about how to define scientific misconduct, a group of lawyers, scientists, and government and university officials agreed at a meeting in mid-September that the potential damage to science from such behavior is too great to ignore. Yet, not surprisingly, they were unable to agree on how best to prevent, detect, and handle scientific misconduct. The diverse group assembled at a West Virginia retreat for the first of three planned workshops on scientific fraud and misconduct sponsored by the National Conference of Lawyers & Scientists, a joint project of the American Bar Association and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. A recurring theme was the role
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of the university in issues of scientific misconduct. Regulations put in place last summer by the National Science Foundation place the primary responsibility for preventing and detecting misconduct squarely on the institutions that receive its grants. Similarly, in 1985 Congress passed legislation requiring institutions that get funds from the National Institutes of Health to have procedures in place for investigating alleged misconduct. Yet there was considerable discomfort among the workshop's participants with universities' assuming such responsibility. William R. Wilderson, assistant provost for research at the University of Virginia, feels that the government regulations raise unrealistic expectations that universities won't be able to fulfill. Lewis M. Branscomb, director of Harvard University's science, technology, and public policy program, expressed fears that institu-
tional policies to suppress fraud may result in suppression of thought. Several individuals whose own lives and careers were disrupted after they reported incidents of misconduct by their colleagues indicated they do not believe universities can be trusted to deal forthrightly with such cases. There is too great a temptation to cover up such embarrassing instances, they said. Several participants, however, pointed out that if the scientific community does not move quickly to deal with misconduct, Congress could step in. "The government is relying heavily on local institutions and the scientific profession to get their own houses in order," pointed out Rosemary Chalk, former head of AAAS's office of scientific freedom and responsibility and now a consultant. "We're in a honeymoon period, a window of opportunity for creative thinking—it's not clear how long it will last." D
House votes to shrink NSF budget increase By cutting the National Science Foundation's proposed fiscal 1988 budget by $50 million last week, the House has placed a barrier in the way of the Administration's plan to double the agency's budget to $3.2 billion between 1987 and 1992. That barrier is likely to be sustained f when the Senate acts on the NSF 1 budget in the next few weeks. | The House Appropriations Committee earlier had approved a budget of $1.9 billion for NSF in fiscal 1988 as part of the HUD-Independent Agencies appropriations bill. That was a 14% increase over current funding but less than the 18% increase requested by the Administration. When it came time for floor action on the bill, H.R. 2783, tight budget constraints forced the committee to offer an amendment reducing NSF's budget a further $50 million. This, Rep. Edward P. Boland (D.-Mass.) commented, is the "most difficult year we have ever faced." The figure of $1.85 billion would leave NSF with an overall increase of 10%, not bad in a tight budget year. The crux of the matter, however, is that all of the $50 million, plus an additional $80 million cut
by the committee earlier from the budget request, is coming out of the NSF research grants account. The House action on that portion of the budget would leave it with $1.5 billion in fiscal 1988, a 7% increase in funding but less than half of the requested 16% increase. A main victim could be NSF's plans for a series of science and technology research centers. In contrast, the bill would boost funding for NSF's education activities, $30 million beyond the $115 million requested. NSF's 1988 budget request may be in for even more reductions. The corresponding Senate subcommittee is facing a budget allocation for the HUD-Independent Agencies bill that is $675 million less than that set by the House. However, Rep. Bill Green (R.N.Y.), a member of the HUD-Independent Agencies Subcommittee, holds out hope for the future. "I'm sure," he says, "that all the members would like to do what we cannot do this year," adding that the plan to double NSF's funding "is an important investment for the future . . . and one that the Administration is right to ask for." D
