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The Government Accountability Office was tasked to study the presence of and health risks of formaldehyde on clothing under the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act of 2008. The agency's report finds a decrease in levels of formaldehyde on clothing since the 1980s and the findings do not appear to call for regulations.

The American Chemical Society Committee on Professional Training (CPT) bestowed 14,577 bachelor's degrees in chemistry for the 2008-09 academic year, a 4.7 percent annual growth. The number of Ph.D.'s awarded increased by 7.2 percent to 2,543 while the number of master's degrees decreased by 3.2 percent to 1,986. Other chemistry degree-related statistics from the CPT are presented.

Universities and colleges in the U.S. that produced the most number of chemistry and chemical engineering graduates for the 2007 to 2008 academic year are enumerated. The American Chemical Society Committee on Professional Training recognizes the chemistry programs of these institutions. Graduate student enrollments and gender-specific graduate statistics are also presented.

Chemists in the United States have enjoyed higher salaries and lower unemployment in 2008, a survey by the American Chemical Society has revealed. The median salary for chemists rose 5.7 percent from the year before. Statistics on chemists' salaries are also presented.

The accidental release of plutonium at the National Institute of Standards & Technology's (NIST's) Boulder raised questions among local officials and Congress related to agency's safety and emergency training procedures. The lab where the incident took place would remain closed and sealed until NIST develops decontamination plan for amount of plutonium that escaped from the broken vial into the environment.

The obstacles that the U.S. lawmakers are facing to enact or approve legislation in view of the small majority enjoyed by Democrats are discussed.

The U.S. President George W. Bush presented the research and development (R&D) budget for fiscal 2008 on 5 February, 2007, requesting for a rise in funding for the same agencies as the previous year and similarly reductions in the R&D fundings for the same agencies as the previous year again. The budget provides no new science initiative to enhance the physical science research and science education under the American Competitiveness Initiative.

TheU.S. Congressional outlook for the year 2007 is presented. Democrats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate want to tackle long-term budget challenges, environmental rules, stem cell research and many other issues and they have more than a dozen legislative approaches to combat climate change and the bills could increase auto efficiency and lead to more efficient coal plants.

The US President's federal budget for fiscal 2007 has a mixed record containing increases and decreases for many agencies. The budget is making a conscious effort to improve the research and development at several research agencies while holding back spending at a number of others and this outcome is an imbalanced patchwork of funding changes in civilian R&D that results in very small overall increase.

The debates will continue on tort reform, chemical plant security and clean air legislation and both the house are likely to raise the issue of holding down federal spending, with the second session of the 109th Congress scheduled to convene in January 2006. The year 2006 being the election year, the session promises to be another partisan and argumentative one.

Research and development budget for the fiscal 2006 was proposed by the President George W. Bush that awards increase to homeland security and national defense, while slight cutting in the rest of the federal science and technology portfolio. The President George W. Bush has proposed a spending of $132 billion for the research and development for the year 2006.

The economic challenges faced by New Congress in United States are described. The issues related to budget, war in Iraq, deficit, antiterrorism and the policies related to homeland security, science, and environment are discussed.

With elections and a divided house in the offing, the issues that the Congress would be facing are discussed. Although it would be difficult to pass bills, there would be some important decisions Congress will have to take about critical issues.

While President George W. Bush has proposed increased spending for anti-terrorism, his budget for 2004 is likely to undercut basic scientific research by curtailing funding. All branches of the government related to national defense and security will receive substantial increases.

President George W. Bush has proposed a budget for fiscal 2003 which includes some significant increases for research and development spending in areas made more important by the Islamic terrorist attacks, while reducing spending on those agencies not directly involved in this area to only small increases in spending. He also indicated that changes could be made in R and D programs if programs do not measure up.

President Bill Clinton's budget proposal for fiscal year 2001 includes an $85.3 billion allotment for research and development spending, a 3% increase over the previous year.

Congress may direct budget surpluses toward science and technology programs in the year 2000. Congress is expected to attend to the issues of nuclear waste storage, Department of Energy weapons labs funding, electric utility restructuring and national security.

Funding authority has been decreased by 1% to $78.2 billion in President Clinton's proposed fiscal 2000 budget. This decline can be attributed to cuts in development research at the Department of Defense, where funding is down about $3 billion from fiscal 1999. President Clinton has presented R&D programs as a number of initiatives. One of these, the 21st Century Research Fund, includes funding of the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. Article describes R&D budgets for government agencies.

The chemical industry has several things to look forward to in 1998 with regards federal intervention. Issues to be tackled by Congress include the balanced budget agreement, superfund legislation, science and technology issues, implementation of the chemical weapons treaty, hazardous waste legislation, monitoring of Department of Energy laboratories, climate change legislation and regulatory reform.

The inclusion of a News Edition to the American Chemical Society's Journal of Industrial & Engineering Society (I&EC) in 1923 has led to many changes until the journal was renamed Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN) in 1942. The changes include the expansion of pages, number of staff, and by 1943, the subscribers increased to 30,000. Further, the enhanced computerization of C&EN in 1989 opened up more graphical innovations for the periodical.

The main issues on the agenda of the 105th US Congress to affect the chemical industry in 1997 are presented. The main issues refer to the federal budget, chemical weapons, energy, environment, the Food and Drug Administration, immigration, occupational safety, patents, product liability, regulatory reforms, and science and technology policy. The science and technology community is expected to lobby against the reduction of research and development budget.

Occupational Safety and Health Admin. (OSHA) chief Joseph Dear explained that more work has to be done to dissolve old regulations and identify those companies and industries with the worst safety and health records. The 45-year-old Dear plans to maintain a low profile in improving the effectiveness of the OSHA. Dear has integrated regulations, eliminated redundant and obsolete standards and attempted to make the OSHA more responsive.

Mixed predictions as to party domination in the 105th Congress do not preclude the fact that the number of scientific experts are not likely to increase. In fact, many congressional members have already retired including the chair of the House Science Committee Robert S. Walker. Possible candidates for his vacated position are Democrat Rep. Brown of CA., Republican Rep. James Sensebrenner Jr. of Wisconsin or Republican Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert of N.Y.

The US Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is preparing to implement Congress' budget cut of up to $500 million for its 1997 research programs as well as the Federal Agriculture Improvement and Reform Act of 1996. Accordingly, ARS has increased its cooperative research and development agreements with industries. As of 1996, ARS received $800 million for in-house research and $900 million fund for the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service to land-grant universities.

Budget documents for FY 1997 show that total federal support for both defense and civilian research and development will continue to decline at the same rate it has been since 1993. Both the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health have been given a 4% increase in its proposed budget, while those of defense and NASA remain flat. Agriculture's proposed budget for research rose by 2%, while the Department of Energy is seeking more funding for research on energy conservation and renewable energy sources.

The Republican Party-dominated House refused to allocate funds for the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program (ATP) in FY 1996. The House's refusal to grant appropriations for the program stems from the Republican philosophy which opposes the formulation of programs that can be interpreted as a federal industrial policy. Proponents of the ATP, however, argue that the Republicans overlooked the program's numerous contributions to industrial technology transfer when they decided to cut its funding.

Pres. Bill Clinton's 1996 budget proposal includes a $169 million increase for federal R&D programs. The proposal, however, reduces $4.3 billion in technology development and R&D facilities funding. Clinton, who believes that science and technology investments promote productivity and higher standards of living, stresses that the proposed budget will ensure growth in basic and fundamental science research. The proposal also includes a 13% budget increase in the Dept. of Defense's Technology Reinvestment Project and a 14% increase in the funding of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Advanced Technology Program.

The Republicans' return to Congress was marked by the introduction of ten measures embodied in the 'Contract with America' plan. The latter, which was signed by over 300 Republican candidates prior to the Nov. 8, 1994 elections, will have a significant impact on the chemical industry. The two bills which are likely to change how the industry operates are the Job Creation and Wage Enhancement Act and the Common Sense Legal Reforms Act.

The 1994 US Congressional elections is expected to narrow the majority gap between Democrats and Republicans. A small majority will mean greater compromise between the two parties to pass legislation. In the House, Republicans are forecasted to gain up to 25 seats, while in the Senate, Republicans are expected to narrow the margin by up to four seats. House committee chairmen dealing with science and technology are expected to retain leadership after the elections.

Congress' approval of the Clinton administration's pesticide reform package appears unlikely due to several provisions which require modification. The package, which was proposed in late 1993, has been divided into HR 4329 to amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act and HR 4362 to amend the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act. Among the provisions which face opposition are export restrictions, the time allowed for pesticide registration and the right of citizens to sue the EPA.

There has been an increase in alcohol-related violent crime in the United States since the early 1980s. Concomitantly there has been a decrease in per capita consumption of alcohol. Cultural Theory suggests that students will follow the trends of society in terms of behaviors such as alcohol consumption and violence related to drinking. Subcultural Theory, on the other hand, suggests that these behaviors will reflect subcultural rather than societal trends. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine possible changes in drinking patterns and violent behavior related to drinking from 1982 until 1991 with the same sample of universities from all contiguous states in the United States. A secondary purpose was to test the Cultural and Subcultural models of behavior. Based on a sample of over 4,000 students, at each of four time periods over the past decade, a significant (p < .001) decrease in the percentage of students reporting that they had consumed alcohol at least once during the preceding year was found . The percentage declined from 82.4 in 1982 to 78.8 in 1991. Likewise, there was a significant (p < .001) decrease in the mean amount of alcohol consumed (14.3 to 12.8 drinks per week between 1982 and 1991). With regard to self-reported violent/legal problems related to drinking, there were significant increases (p < .001) in the percentages of students who had "gotten into a fight" (11.6 to 17.2) and had had "trouble with the law" (4.4 to 7.6) between 1982 and 1991 because of drinking. Likewise, there were significant increases (p < .05) in the percentages who had engaged in vandalism (9.3 to 10.5) and had had "trouble with the school administration" (1.9 to 2.5) because of drinking. The results of this study support the Cultural Theory of behavior in that the students, drinking and violence related to drinking appear to have followed the trends of the United States as a whole over the past decade.

The 1995 fiscal budget proposal submitted by the Clinton Administration to Congress on Feb 7, 1994, provides for a 3% increase in total federal funding for research and development (R&D) to reach $73 billion. For FY 1995, the budget for applied R&D would increase by 4% to $56.9 billion, funding for basic research would rise by 2% to $14.1 billion and the budget for R&D facilities would decrease by 22% to $2 billion. The budget allocations illustrate the emphasis of the Clinton Administration on research that would improve the American quality of life and the nation's competitive position.

The US Congress will reconvene on Jan 25, 1994 prior to the year's campaign period for the elections. House representatives Senate members are expected to act on major proposals of the Clinton cabinet. Health care reform is anticipated to be a vital issue for legislation. Other issues expected to be prominent are education and funding, food safety and hazardous laws pertaining to the chemical industry.

US Pres Bill Clinton and VP Al Gore are determined to restructure the federal government as presented in the 168-page report 'Creating a Government that Works Better & Costs Less.' The report recommends the cutting of red tape, giving customers top priority, empowering employees to achieve results and going back to the basics. However, the report does not present a clear course of action despite the wealth of ideas contained.

A new rotary kiln incinerator on the Ohio River in East Liverpool, OH, will finally start operating after 13 years of planning and numerous court cases. The incinerator, designed to burn industrial chemical wastes, encountered strong opposition from environmentalists particularly regarding its efficiency and organic compound emission. The activists contend that incineration might not be the best method of eliminating hazardous wastes.

President Barack Obama's plan to improve science and technology was the focus of the Forum on Science & Technology Policy presented by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. The U.S. is said to be facing continious problems in science and engineering education despite Obama's efforts.

Implications of the supply shortage of isotope helium-3 on physics research, medical imaging, oil and gas drilling, and national security are discussed. Meanwhile, a House hearing has been held seeking testimonies from both the U.S. Departments of Energy and of Homeland Security. Recommendations on addressing the shortage are presented, based on the hearing.

A restructuring of the management and laboratories of the U.S. National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) is being planned under the leadership of newly-appointed director Patrick D. Gallagher. Due to financing that NIST has received, NIST's role in the government could be expanded. Details of the said restructuring plan are discussed by Gallagher, a research scientist.

The U.S. National Science Board believes that the merit review criteria for science and engineering funding need to be reviewed and that a new national science and engineering committee should be created. The suggestions are in response to a report stating that the U.S. research and development lead is declining.

A National Science Board report shows the faltering research leadership of the U.S. and higher-than-expected research collaborations in Asia. It also features the growing number of Chinese researchers. Research and development spending and journal article publications in the U.S., the European Union and Asia are discussed.

Data integrity in the scientific community is discussed with regard to the emergence of digital technology and the importance of showing researchers how to use it. Concerns regarding data sharing, availability and storage are also presented.

Governments all over the world are increasing the funding of research and technology, as reflected by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development's study. Various stimulus packages targeted towards innovation have been developed, because nations see research and technology as vital to future growth. Insights from the study are presented.

The U.S. Congress is close to passing its first major 2010 funding bill for science and technology. The Commerce, Justice, Science & Related Agencies (CJS) Appropriations Act includes funding for the National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics & Space Administration, and the National Institute of Standards & Technology.