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WASHINGTON THE U.S. House of Representatives passed a spending bill last week that meets President Clinton's targets for Pell Grants and biomedical research in the 2001 fiscal year. But it [...]

The 1998 federal budget bill included a provision requiring scientists given federal grants to release their data on request to any taxpayer. Scientists feel this will permit harassment and ignores their rights to intellectual property, and that large corporations will have the opportunity to undermine research results that conflict with business goals., Researchers blast the provision, which they say opens them up to harassment and deprives them of intellectual property WASHINGTON WHEN Sen. Richard C. Shelby, an Alabama Republican, quietly tucked a [...]

The appropriation bill for higher education drafted by the House of Representatives has proposed $11.9 billion for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the fiscal year 1996, an increase of $642 million over 1995 but most of the increase will come from large cuts in grants and scholarships and pre-college education. However, President Clinton has threatened a veto over education cuts. The chair of the appropriation panel, Rep John E. Porter has been a champion of biomedical research which sees a $170 million increase.

Regulations proposed by the National Science Foundation and the Public Health Service make the universities responsible for combating conflicts of interest during federally-supported research conducted by scientists. Universities are given the right to know the financial interests of researchers and, in case of conflict of interest, they can disqualify researchers from conducting research. However, the proposal will be a success only if the universities effectively implement the regulations.

US Pres Bill Clinton has signed an executive order repealing the five-year ban on the appropriation of federal funds to support fetal tissue research. Former Pres Ronald Reagan imposed the ban in 1988 and was kept intact by George Bush when he assumed the presidency. Biomedical researchers have expressed support for the order, saying that it will redound to the development of treatments for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. The lifting of the ban also puts into question the future of the federal fetal-tissue banks Bush established during his term.

BEFORE scholars can even apply for grants from the National Institutes of Health to study human subjects, their universities must clear a potentially high hurdle: approving safety protocols for each [...]

Issues discussed concern the fiscal 2000 budget allocations for AmeriCorps, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the National Science Foundation. The negotiations between the US House of Representatives and the Senate are detailed, and budget figures are supplied.

The US National Bioethics Advisory Commission is considering the establishment of an independent agency to regulate the use of human subjects in federally funded research. Commission member Alexander M. Capron proposed creating the agency to avoid the conflicts of interest that ensue when institutions charged with conducting and sponsoring research are also responsible for monitoring the treatment of research subjects. The proposal's critics argue that existing protective regulations are adequate. They assert that establishing an oversight office would further slow research by increasing bureaucracy.

The US Senate reformed the 1995 defense authorization bill, and denied Pentagon research grants to colleges that do not admit military recruiters. New York state is expected to suffer the most because all the campuses at the State University ban military recruiters due to discrimination against gays in the armed forces. The Pentagon list comprises 140 colleges that do not admit military recruiters.

Prospects for the Superconducting Supercollider, still in development, are auspicious, but Congress might decide that the price tag is too high. Two-billion dollars have been expended on underground tunnels and testing for the particle accelerator's magnets, but the project will cost at least $10 billion more. Another $500 million/yr will be required for maintenance once the accelerator is completed. At present, congressional support for the Supercollider is 50/50.

WASHINGTON A WHITE HOUSE plan to make available to the public the research notes and data gathered under federal grants has scientists and university administrators crying foul. In February, the [...]