FINDING THE BAD ACTORS IN A WORLD OF CHEMICALS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00845R000200760007-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 35
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 16, 2010
• Sequence Number: 7
• Publication Date: March 1, 1984
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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NewsReport
National Academy of Sciences
Institute of Medicine
National Academy of Engineering
National Research Council
STAT
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2 News Report
NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
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NATIONAL ACADEMY OF ENGINEERING
Robert M. White, President
Stephen D. Bechtel, Jr., Chairman
Ralph Landau, Vice President
Harold Liebowitz, Home Secretary
N. Bruce Hannay, Foreign Secretary
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INSTITUTE OF MEDICINE
Frederick C. Robbins, President
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Frank Press, Chairman
Robert M. White, Vice Chairman
A directory of principal officers and staff of the National Research Council is available on written
request to the Committee Membership Records Office, JH 304.
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the National Academy of Sciences, National Assistant Editor: Pepper Leeper
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Volume XXXIV
Number 3
Finding the Bad Actors
in a World of Chemicals
Page 4
Artist: Antonia Walker
News Report
4 Finding the Bad Actors in a World of
Chemicals
Large gaps in toxicity data
11 Groundwater Contamination
Prevention beats costly cleanups
15 Ozone and the Atmosphere
Better models tell a less drastic story
19 Looking for Potential Assassins
Clues from the behavioral sciences
22 Engineering Research Centers
University-industry cooperation
24 Touch as a Substitute for Hearing
Tactile devices complement lipreading
ACTIVITIES 25 U. S. Technology
Keeping it in friendly hands
27 Science and Creationism
Neu, booklet will go to educators
28 Teaching Doctors About Nutrition
Learning to prevent as well as cure
28 Math and Science Education
Research to aid learning
29 Transportation Professionals
Is a shortage imminent?
DEPARTMENTS 30 Brief Takes . . .
Transportation and the environment
31 Items ...
New publications, meetings
ILLUSTRATIONS 7 National Research Council
12 USDA-Soil Conservation Service
24 Gallaudet College and City University of N.Y
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"... of tens of thousands of commercially important chemicals,
only a few have been subjected to extensive toxicity testing
and most have scarcely been tested at all. "
Finding the Bad Actors
in a World of Chemicals
by Pepper Leeper
CHEMICALS SURROUND the average American. A typical day is likely to
start with a cup of decaffeinated coffee and a slightly charred slice of toast
spread with hydrogenated vegetable oil and end on a mattress filled with
synthetic fiber. In between, Mr. or Ms. Doe may drive a car fueled with refined
petroleum, handle paper and ink processed with chemicals, eat food grown
with the aid of fertilizers and pesticides, swallow vitamins or prescription
drugs, apply aftershave or cosmetics, or drink an artificially sweetened bever-
age.
More than 5 million chemicals have been described in the chemical
literature. A few are known to be hazardous to humans; an overwhelming
majority of them probably are not. But identifying which is which and deter-
mining the severity of the risk so that exposure to the most toxic substances
can be controlled is a gigantic task that will occupy toxicologists for many
decades. In fact, new chemicals are being developed so rapidly that there will
Toxicity Testing: Strategies to Determine Needs and Priorities, Steering Committee on Identification of
Toxic and Potentially Toxic Chemicals for Consideration by the National Toxicology Program,
Board on Toxicology and Environmental Health Hazards (1984, 400 pp.; ISBN 0-309-03433-7;
available from National Academy Press, $22.50).
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probably never be a time when information is available on the toxicity of every
chemical in use.
The awesome responsibility of selecting and testing potentially toxic
chemicals has been assigned to the National Toxicology Program (NTP), a
federal agency established in 1978 within the Department of Health and
Human Services. Federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection
Agency or the Food and Drug Administration, state governments, univer-
sities, industries, and individuals propose some 500 candidate chemicals a
year. NTP reviews the data and decides which chemicals should be tested
further and what tests would increase understanding of the hazards.
To assist it in developing a process for handling so many chemicals, the
NTP turned to the Research Council. A study committee began work in 1980
and recently completed its third and final report. The committee organized
into a steering committee and three subcommittees to handle different parts of
the study.
Many Gaps in Knowledge
After collecting and reviewing the toxicity-data available for a sample
representing most of the chemicals in common use, the committee concluded
that "of tens of thousands of commercially important chemicals, only a few
have been subjected to extensive toxicity testing and most have scarcely been
tested at all."
For many years, certainly since adoption of the Toxic Substances Control
Act in 1976, common wisdom has held that very little is known about most
widely used chemicals. The committee's search for data has documented this
assumption.
Chairman of the Research Council steering committee James L. Whit-
tenberger, a specialist in environmental medicine with the Southern Occupa-
tional Health Center, University of California, Irvine and Los Angeles, was
not surprised by the findings. "The study quantified what we strongly sus-
pected. Scientists in the field usually could not find the information they
needed."
Other members of the steering committee agreed. "For the first time we
have numbers and scientific estimates of the need instead of global, fuzzy
estimates," John Doull, a toxicologist with the University of Kansas Medical
Center and a subcommittee chairman, said. "Now we know where we're at."
Physician and pathologist Arthur Upton of the Institute ofEnvironmen-
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tal Medicine, New York University Medical Center, and another subcommit-
tee chairman, observed that "the report brings out forcefully the paucity of
information about the toxicity of most chemicals -and there are enormous
numbers in environmental use. We know almost nothing about the majority
of them."
John C. Bailar, a physician and biostatistician with the Harvard School
of Public Health, also saw "substantial significance" in the report's highlight-
ing the magnitude of the problem. "There is an enormous task facing us
despite the best efforts of toxicologists and others to keep ahead," he said. The
volume of work remaining does not negate what has already been done, he
explained. That work has been "well-targeted" and some of it has been "su-
perbly done," he commented.
Data on human exposure are even harder to find than data on health
hazards. "You can't do a proper risk
"There is an enormous task assessment without both types of in-
facing us . . . " formation -biological effects on the
human body and the amount of
human exposure," Whittenberger pointed out. "We were able to get very
little information on human exposure."
The report describes the need this way: "On the great majority of the
substances, data considered to be essential for conducting a health-hazard
assessment are lacking. " The committee concluded that "substantial testing or
retesting remains to be performed for all categories of substances."
Pesticides, Drugs Most Tested
Specifically, the committee found that pesticides and drugs have under-
gone the most testing. Complete health hazard assessments are possible for
about 10 percent of pesticides and 18 percent of drugs and the inert ingredients
mixed with them (see figure p. 7).
However, even in these much-tested groups, the unknowns outweigh
the knowns, leaving 38 percent of pesticides and 25 percent of drug ingre-
dients without any available data.
Least is known about the large numbers of chemicals in commerce -
substances listed in the Toxic Substances Control Act inventory that do not fall
in any other categories. Minimal toxicity information exists for only about 20
percent, while practically nothing is known about the hazards of exposure to
the remaining 80 percent. The committee also found no relationship between
the amount of chemical production and testing.
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Pesticides and Inert
Ingredients of Pesticide
Formulations
Drugs and Excipients 1,815
Used in Drug Formulations
Chemicals in Commerce:
At Least 1 Million
Pounds/Year
Chemicals in Commerce:
Less than 1 Million
Pounds/Year
Chemicals in Commerce:
Production Unknown or
Inaccessible
Complete
Health
Hazard
Assessment
Possible
Partial
Health
Hazard
Assessment
Possible
Minimal
Toxicity
Information
Available
Some
Toxicity
Information
Available
(But below Minimal)
Ability to conduct health-hazard assessment of substances
in seven categories of select universe.
No Toxicity
Information
Available
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"Chemicals in commerce produced in quantities of 1 million pounds or
more . . . have not been tested more often or more adequately than those
produced in smaller quantities," the committee pointed out.
Another phase of the committee's work involved evaluating the quality
of the data available. The committee found that the simpler, more straight-
forward tests for acute effects-eye and skin irritation and oral administration
in rodents, for example -were more often of higher quality than were the
more complex chronic tests. Frequently, the committee reported, important
but difficult tests of central nervous system, reproductive, or genetic damage
were not performed at all.
Furthermore, of 664 toxicity tests evaluated, the committee judged only
27 percent acceptable.
"The committee adopted very stringent standards," Doull pointed out.
"We were very critical."
The committee's search for and evaluation of data ended in the realiza-
tion that not very much is known. But Emil A. Pfitzer, a toxicologist with
Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc., Nutley, N.J., and Doull's vice chairman, thinks the
exercise produced a useful tool for NTP. By identifying testing needs, the
committee has developed a valuable data base that can be modified and revised
as additional data become available or as judgment about test procedures
change.
"This is important," said Pfitzer, "because all data were not available to
the study and because scientists may differ in their judgment about testing
procedures." This listing, he added, is "a significant strength" of the report.
Priority-Setting System
Tackling the roster of chemical unknowns is like trying to load a ton of
grain with a teaspoon. The prospect is overwhelming. Noted the committee:
"The number of commercially used chemicals far exceeds that which can be
evaluated at any one time for potential toxicity with available methods and
resources. "
To extract the greatest return from its limited resources, NTP must be
sure that the worst chemical actors are tested first and that the tests are the
right ones to elicit the data needed. Duplicate or unnecessary tests waste
money. These decisions are particularly important because testing is expen-
sive, the committee said, noting that a lifetime bioassay of one chemical could
cost up to $1 million.
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Marrh 1984 9
The main objective, Whittenberger explained, is "to avoid surprises-
to learn in advance about potential hazardous effects and not have another
chemical come along like PCB, which we learned about long after the fact."
Traditionally at NTP, decisions have been based on expert judgment
and this must continue, the committee said. "Simply put, not enough is
known about chemical hazards to specify a purely mechanical system." But
the committee advised that human judgment be reserved for the end of the
process and that an automated procedure be employed for initial screening of
data banks related to the universe of chemicals.
"An ideal system would be capable not only of dealing with a relatively
small number of chemicals nominated to NTP by agencies -as in current
practice-but also of dealing with a much larger number of chemicals in the
total select universe of concern," the committee declared. It proposed a four-
stage process as "a plausible extension of [NTP's] current practice" and sug-
gested a pilot demonstration to kick off the changes.
Upton thought this approach would prove to be helpful to NTP. "Our
recommendation was that in theory NTP can scan the universe systemati-
cally," he said. "In the current method of selection there is no systematic effort
to look at the whole universe of chemicals. "
"The committee's classification of chemicals by their intended use will
aid NTP by making it possible to channel priorities for further testing into
areas of greatest need," Pfitzer pointed out.
Getting a Handle on the Study
With 5 million possible chemicals to choose from, the committee's first
hurdle was to select a manageable list of representative chemicals. Drawing on
registers prepared by several regulatory agencies, the Bailar subcommittee
compiled a list of 65,725 chemicals in seven categories: pesticides, cosmetics,
drugs, food additives, and chemicals in commerce. The latter category was
divided according to annual production figures, i.e. 1 million pounds or
more, less than 1 million pounds, or production unknown. From this "select
universe," the committee drew a sample of 675 chemicals and eventually a
random subsample of 100 chemicals for which at least a minimum amount of
toxicity data were available.
A manageable subsample in hand, the Doull subcommittee went to
work to determine how much information already is known about the toxicity
and exposure levels of the chemicals and how much more testing needs to be
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done. To accomplish this, they searched the literature and collected data on
each substance. Working in tandem with the Bailar group, they estimated the
number of chemicals for which no data exists. This group also evaluated the
quality of toxicity tests used to generate the data.
Finally, the Upton subcommittee developed the four-stage process that
NTP might adopt for screening chemicals and setting priorities for testing.
"The committee examined many priority-setting systems," Whitten-
berger said, "but decided it could not recommend a single system."
Public Significance
But what does all of this mean to Mr. and Ms. Doe, who continue to
ingest, inhale, and absorb thousands of chemicals in their everyday activities?
Initially, it will make little difference. However, over time, the commit-
tee's recommendations may facilitate NTP's task so that more suspect chemi-
cals are tested for toxicity. As more is learned about environmental hazards,
decisions can be made from a base of knowledge either to limit use of a
dangerous substance or to tolerate a minimal risk because of overriding bene-
fits. Society is faced with just such a quandary in the use of nitrite-cured
meats; the nitrite may promote cancer, yet it also protects against botulism.
The report has revealed "a very real concern," Whittenberger said. He
expressed the hope that the study would improve NTP's testing of chemicals
suspected of endangering the public's health. Eventually, the environment
should become safer for everyone.
"I hope the people take these findings to heart and that we begin to fill in
some of the huge gaps," Bailar said. "We need an overall substantial expansion
of support, and now we can tell the public how big the task really is."
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Manrh 1984 11
Groundwater Contamination:
Prevention Beats Costly Cleanups
by Judith Rensberger
LIKE TIMES BEACH AND LOVE CANAL, the case of Colorado's Rocky
Mountain Arsenal is an environmental horror story. Thirty years of dumping
chemical wastes into leaking evaporation ponds have poisoned the groundwa-
ter for miles around, ruined crops, sickened livestock, and threatened public
health. What makes Rocky Mountain Arsenal a bit different, however, is that
it is also the site of a massive, state-of-the-art cleanup. The ambitious pilot
program in "restoration" was said at one point to be proceeding "successfully,"
with the amount of contamination "significantly diminished."
But recent estimates indicate that containment of toxic wastes at the
arsenal-that is, merely holding the line and keeping the contamination from
getting any worse - will cost at least $100 million, and the cost of total
decontamination could easily exceed $1 billion.
"The question of cost benefit trade-offs to society in these cases needs to
be examined carefully," a Research Council report on groundwater contamina-
tion points out; "some sites may prove to be so expensive to restore that they
may have to be designated as permanently contaminated."
The Research Council committee's report grew out of a December 1981
symposium on groundwater contamination. The Rocky Mountain Arsenal
and six other well-documented examples of groundwater contamination were
selected for detailed study because they illuminate particular scientific prob-
lems in contaminant flow, waste disposal, and aquifer reclamation. Each case
Groundwater Contamination. Geophysics Study Committee, Geophysics Research Forum (1984, 192
pp.; ISBN 0-309-03441-8; available from National Academy Press, $17.95).
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study is presented in an individually authored chapter in the report. The
committee's own conclusions and recommendations are presented in a separate
overview chapter.
Wastes Threaten Groundwater
The Rocky Mountain Arsenal is only one of 50,000 sites that have been
used at some time for disposal of hazardous wastes. The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency has determined that 1,200 to 2,000 of them may pose a
threat to the environment, and that more than 400 definitely do.
The disposal of liquid and solid waste is not the only cause of groundwa-
ter contamination, the Research Council report points out. A growing con-
cern is the cumulative impact of smaller but more numerous "nonpoint" and
"small point" sources such as domestic septic tanks, accidental industrial
spills, and the intensive use of fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. The
report cites estimates that between 0.5 and 2.0 percent of the groundwater in
the United States may already be contaminated. Though the proportion is
small, much of it is in the regions of heaviest reliance on groundwater.
These facts underscore the urgency and importance of what the Research
Council report identified as the number one challenge -to prevent ground-
water contamination in the first place.
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March 1984 13
It can be done. Although waste disposal poses the greatest threat to
groundwater, the report states, contamination is not inevitable. "The subsur-
face can be used for waste repositories," the report states flatly. "If done with
care, toxic wastes can be isolated from the biosphere for periods so long that
they can be measured in terms of geologic time." The report suggests search-
ing for disposal sites more diligently, investigating them more carefully, and
segregating one type of waste from another.
Toxic Liquids Enter Aquifer
Rocky Mountain Arsenal's history of environmental degradation began
in 1942 at a U.S. Army facility just outside Denver. Protecting groundwater
was not the priority of the moment; the war effort was, and at the arsenal that
meant manufacturing poison gases for use in chemical warfare. Later, a private
chemical company leased the facility to make insecticides. The wastes from
these operations-a toxic soup of complex organic and inorganic chemicals-
went into an unlined evaporation pond. Four new ponds were dug to handle
the overflow.
In 1951, however, there came reports of crop damage from farmers north
of the arsenal who had irrigated their fields with pumped groundwater. By
1954, a drought year, the damage was severe, and by 1956 it was apparent that
an area of several square miles had been affected. The liquid wastes, it became
clear, had seeped out of the evaporation disposal ponds into the underlying
aquifer and then flowed downslope toward the South Platte River.
Too Little Too Late
In response, the Army dug a new 100-acre reservoir and lined it with
asphalt. It was a case of too little too late, the case study suggests, "because
large amounts of contaminants were already present, in and slowly migrating
through the aquifer." The lining eventually failed anyway.
The early seventies brought fresh claims of crop and livestock damage,
and in 1975 the Colorado Health Department found a nerve gas byproduct-
diisopropylmethylphosphonate (DIMP)-in a well eight miles away from the
leaking disposal ponds and just one mile from the municipal water supply for
the town of Brighton.
In response to the health department's "cease and desist" orders, the
Army began cleaning up the mess. Using geohydrologic data plus engineer-
ing know-how, the Army developed an ambitious containment plan that
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finally became fully operational last year. It included a 6,800-foot barrier of
trenches 25 to 50 feet deep, 54 wells to pump contaminated water out of the
aquifer, a 36,000-gallons-per-hour treatment plant, and 38 reinjection wells
to put the cleaned water back into the aquifer outside the arsenal boundaries.
Safe Disposal Possible
To prevent future cases like Rocky Mountain Arsenal, the Research
Council's report makes four recommendations:
1. Because the scientific understanding of the chemistry and transport
of contaminants in groundwater is inadequate to predict their movement
reliably, more research is needed. For example, it is important to learn how
groundwater flows through fractured rock; how microorganisms such as bac-
teria might control chemical reactions; and how these, in turn, might affect
the movement of contaminants.
2. Although information is incomplete, enough is already known to
make a more thorough search for sites where the subterranean geologic
properties are adequate for safe disposal of toxic wastes. These include huge
basins that drain internally and therefore do not feed into streams or rivers that
empty into the sea. Such basins are known to exist in parts of Nevada, Utah,
and the surrounding areas, and it is believed that wastes placed there would
remain isolated for many thousands of years.
3. The volume of toxic wastes now being generated would eventually
overwhelm the ability to find new sites. To meet that likelihood, a strategy
should be developed that would first segregate the wastes and then treat and
dispose of each type separately. Separation is important because mixing wastes
vastly complicates the problem of disposing of them safely.
4. And, finally, to deal with the "not-in-my-backyard" opposition to
toxic waste disposal sites, state and national governments should work with
industrial organizations to agree on disposal strategies for various classes of
wastes.
"The public must understand," the report says, "that use of the products
of technology carries with it the responsibility for safe disposal of that technol-
ogy's wastes."
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Matrh 1984 15
Better Models Tell A Less Drastic Story
Ozone and the Atmosphere
A NEW CHAPTER in the continuing saga of estimates of the effects of
chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) on atmospheric ozone has just been completed. As
part of an ongoing program mandated by Congress, a Research Council com-
mittee has again reviewed current scientific understanding of whether in-
creases in CFCs will cause decreases in the upper atmosphere ozone that pro-
tects the Earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation.
Use of CFCs as propellants in aerosols has been banned in the United
States, but the compounds are being used here in increasing quantities as
foam-blowing agents and continue to be used in refrigeration systems. And
while their use has not been restricted abroad, teams of legal and technical
experts working under the auspices of the United Nations Environment Pro-
gramme are reportedly near agreement on a "global framework convention"
covering information exchange, research, and monitoring of any substance
that might modify atmospheric ozone. In a protocol to the convention, the
United States recently proposed a mandatory worldwide ban on nonessential
uses of CFCs that parallels current U.S. regulations.
The new Research Council study, funded by the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency, examined the most recent laboratory, field, and mathematical
modeling studies describing the atmospheric chemistry of ozone, as well as
additional literature on the possible impact of increasing ultraviolet light on
human health, plants, and marine life.
The results: Two different kinds of models - one that considered only
CFCs and another that took into account changes in a variety of trace gases-
Causes and Effects of Changes in Stratospheric Ozone: Update 1983. (1984, 272 pp.; ISBN 0-309-03443-4;
available from National Academy Press, $15.50).
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suggest less change in total stratospheric ozone than had previously been
estimated.
Specifically, atmospheric models that consider CFC concentrations alone
predict a 2 to 4 percent reduction in stratospheric ozone by late in the next
century. Equivalent estimates made by previous Research Council committees
in 1982 and 1977 had predicted a 5 to 9 percent reduction and a 15 to 18
percent reduction, respectively.
These latest measurements reveal Other models, which incorpo-
rate the effects of both CFCs and such
less ozone at higher altitudes in trace gases as nitrous oxide, methane,
the stratosphere and more ozone and carbon dioxide, now predict that
at lower altitudes. simultaneous changes in atmospheric
concentrations of these gases could
possibly cause an increase of about 1 percent in total stratospheric ozone over
the next century. The committee noted, however, that the uncertainties in
these models suggest that the result could range between an increase of a few
percent to a decrease of as much as 10 percent.
Better Models = Better Results
Several factors account for these revised estimates. Most notably, the new
calculations result from improved models that provide for simultaneous
changes in several gases that affect ozone in the stratosphere. Also improved
are the measurements fed into the models.
For example, the committee noted that improved measurements now
show that the distribution of ozone in the stratosphere is different than earlier
studies had indicated. These latest measurements reveal less ozone at higher
altitudes in the stratosphere and more ozone at lower altitudes.
Better, too, are the field measurements of the concentrations of ozone
and other gases, such as nitrogen oxides, methane, nitrous oxide, and carbon
dioxide, at different atmospheric levels. These latter measurements, said the
committee, indicate that the concentrations of both CFCs and these trace
gases are increasing, a situation which may have substantial effects on atmos-
pheric ozone in the future.
In particular, the committee noted that the so-called greenhouse effect, a
warming of the Earth's surface caused by increases in atmospheric CO2 and
other gases, may produce a corresponding cooling of the stratosphere, where
95 percent of atmospheric ozone exists. Such a cooling would slow the rate of
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March 1984 17
chemical reactions that destroy ozone. "Thus the question of perturbations to
ozone should not be considered separately from the issue of climatic alterations
due to other trace gases such as carbon dioxide."
According to the committee, detailed analyses of ozone concentrations
from 1970 to 1980 have produced "no discernible trend" in the total amount of
ozone in the atmosphere. Because an apparent decrease in ozone has been
measured at an altitude of about 40 kilometers in the stratosphere, the com-
mittee reasoned that this decrease must have been offset by increases in ozone
at lower altitudes.
In short, while the original premise that increases in CFCs alone would
cause decreases in stratospheric ozone remains valid, the predicted effect of
such increases has been greatly affected by more thorough understanding of
the complexities of atmospheric processes.
Health and Other Effects
The second part of the committee's study examined the likely effects on
humans, marine life, and plants of increases in ultraviolet radiation produced
by a reduction in total ozone levels. To date, the committee noted, research
has focused only on the effects of increasing ultraviolet radiation since earlier
studies had concluded that ozone would, if anything, decrease, an assumption
less certain in the face of the committee's latest findings.
Ozone concentrations in the atmosphere are particularly important in
determining the amount of ultraviolet light with wavelengths between 290
and 320 nanometers (UV-B) that reach the Earth's surface. Wavelengths in
this range are necessary for the production of vitamin D for human bone
metabolism. Yet these same wavelengths may also cause permanent damage
to DNA or other proteins.
Because the 1982 ozone report provided a comprehensive summary of
the biological effects of UV-B exposure, the current report concentrated on
new research in two rapidly advancing areas - malignant melanoma, an
often-fatal skin cancer, and photoimmunology, the study of how light affects
the immune system.
"The incidence and mortality rates of malignant melanoma have risen
consistently in the United States during the past five decades," said the com-
mittee. "The rate of increase in mortality is now higher than that of any
malignancy except cancer of the lung." The 1982 study found that even
though incidence of the disease is greater in lower latitudes, the effects of
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18 News Report
sunlight in producing the disease were not clear. Research cited by the current
committee supports the connection between sunlight and malignant
melanoma. However, whether UV-B or some other wavelengths of sunlight
are responsible for melanoma remains unknown.
In 1982, laboratory research had recently demonstrated that exposure to
UV-B radiation caused suppression of specific immune responses in animals.
For example, UV-B-induced tumors that would normally have been rejected
by healthy animals were shown to grow uninhibited following UV-B expo-
sure. New data described in the current report has shown that UV-B radiation
not only inhibits immune responses at the site of exposure, but also at "dis-
tant, unexposed sites." The committee concluded that this "systemic" effect of
UV-B radiation demonstrates that changes in immune responses are a primary
reason that UV-B exposure produces skin cancer in animals.
At least some of the immune-response changes noted in animals have
also been observed in humans, said the committee. However, because the
strength of immunologic changes due to UV-B exposure have not yet been
measured, "implications for human health are not clear."
Effects on plants, crops, and other vegetation from increased exposure to
UV-B are even less well understood. In plants, UV-B exposure has been shown
to stunt growth, reduce total leaf area, reduce production of dry matter, and
inhibit photosynthesis, but major uncertainties remain about why some
plants are more susceptible than others. One possible explanation is that some
plants in the tropics have evolved a resistance to UV-B exposure by producing
compounds in their leaves that absorb UV before it reaches the chlorophyll.
All types of marine life from one-celled organisms to fish suffer effects of
UV-B exposure, such as stunted growth and changes in reproduction, survi-
val, and behavior. Once again, however, the committee pointed out that
individual species differ "markedly" in their sensitivity to UV-B and "[t]he
reasons for these differences remain unclear. "
-GAIL PORTER and BARBARA JORGENSON
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Looking for Potential Assassins
A NEW presidential campaign is under
way, and with all the crowds, speeches,
and hoopla comes the renewed threat of
political assassination. The United States
has endured a rash of shootings of presi-
dents and would-be presidents during
the past quarter century: the deaths of
John and Robert Kennedy, the crippling
of George Wallace, two attacks on Presi-
dent Gerald Ford, and the shooting of
President Ronald Reagan.
During the coming months the U.S.
Secret Service will be called upon to pro-
tect the President, the Vice President,
their families, former presidents, Demo-
cratic presidential candidates, foreign
heads of state visiting the Olympic
Games in Los Angeles, and other desig-
nated persons.
An important part of the service's mis-
sion is to identify and take precautions
against potential killers before they
strike. It is an extraordinarily difficult
task. Agents must investigate each of
4,000 potentially dangerous individuals
who are referred to the service each year,
evaluate behavior that is sometimes
bizarre, and decide in a limited time
Reseanb and 7nunrn,~ fcr the Bernet Serrlce: Behar-
toral Science and Alcntal Health Perspectites. Insti-
tute of Medicine (1981, 77 pp.; available from
the Institute; supply limited).
whether a subject warrants further
watching. A wrong judgment, such as
the preliminary Secret Service evaluation
in 1975 that Sara Jane Moore probably
would not attack President Ford, can
have dire consequences.
The service's 1,600 agents typically
have little formal training in mental
health disciplines. However, it new re-
port by an Institute of Medicine (IOM)
committee suggests that the service can
employ perspectives from the fields of
behavioral science and mental health to
improve agent effectiveness in a number
of practical ways.
The report follows it 1981 IOM confer-
ence for the Secret Service in which ex-
perts in psychology, criminology,
medicine, and other fields discussed the
potential usefulness to the service of their
disciplines. The conference led the Secret
Service, which is an agency within the
Treasury Department, to establish an
in-house research unit. The service also
requested the IOM to form a study
committee to make recommendations
about how the service could improve re-
search, training, and interaction with the
mental health community.
The committee, chaired by W Walter
Menninger, director of the division of
law and psychiatry at the Henninger
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20 News Report
Foundation in Topeka, Kansas, dealt
only with the specific question of evaluat-
ing and managing individuals who
threaten the President or other protected
persons. It did not address such other
concerns as counteracting conspiratorial
terrorism or changing the behavior of the
President to limit risks.
Mental Illness a Concern
Of the 12 individuals in American his-
tory who have attacked a president, all
but the two Puerto Rican terrorists who
tried to kill President Harry Truman in
1950 later were deemed to be mentally
disturbed. The most recent known pres-
idential assailant, John Hinckley, was
found by a jury to be not guilty by reason
of insanity. In fact, of the approximately
350 people that the Secret Service deems
dangerous at any given time, 95 percent
have histories of contact with the mental
health sector.
Predicting the likelihood that such
persons will attack the President is an
imperfect science at best. Psychiatrists
and psychologists have tried to develop
behavioral models of assassins, but the
rarity of the event makes it impossible to
validate these models directly. Secret
Service agents therefore must base as-
sessments of dangerousness on subjective
judgments and experience.
The report calls for research to help the
Secret Service blend its extensive practi-
cal experience with a more systematic
understanding of human behavior, and
for training to assist agents in making
clinical assessments of possible danger-
ousness.
"The extremely grave consequences of
assassination of governmental leaders re-
quire that the Secret Service identify as
precisely as it can the characteristics of
those individuals who are most likely to
attempt assassination," the report notes.
It is difficult-if not impossible-to
create an objective profile of likely assas-
sins because the number of past assassins
provides such a small research base from
which to extrapolate a behavioral model.
However, the report suggests ways in
which the Secret Service research unit
might be able to expand the research
population, for example, by including
persons apprehended before actually at-
tacking a president or assassins of other
public officials and celebrities.
Studies could provide better under-
standing of the degree to which such fac-
tors as interest in harming a protected
person, possession of weapons, ability to
plan an attack, drug and alcohol abuse,
mobility, or sudden loss of a family
member or job indicate dangerousness.
Identifying "assassin attributes" is just
half of the problem. The other is to un-
derstand better how agents presently as-
sess suspects, and to train them to inte-
grate empirical facts about dangerous-
ness with their own experience and
feelings. Like master medical diagnosti-
cians, experienced agents also must learn
to verbalize their decision-making pro-
cess for study and analysis by others.
Practical Training
At the same time research is being
conducted, the report recommends,
agents need to receive more training
about mental health concepts and skills
relating to potentially violent people.
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They should be exposed to experienced
clinicians, learn about clinical interview
techniques, and become aware of the
legal and ethical constraints on mental
health professionals. They also need to
learn about the episodic aspects of certain
mental disorders and how these are af-
fected by different medications, alcohol
abuse, life stresses, and other factors.
As far as possible during training,
agents should interview and assess
dangerous persons under the guidance of
experienced colleagues and mental
health clinicians. At the same time,
however, the report warns trainers not to
try to turn special agents into mental
health practitioners.
"Therapeutic and criminal justice
goals and roles should be recognized as
distinct from each other and no attempt
should be made to divert special agents
from their prime duty in law enforce-
ment and guarding the safety of pro-
tected persons," the report states. "Secret
Service agents themselves are the most
experienced persons in judging the
dangerousness of potential assassins to
their protected persons and they can look
to mental health and behavioral scientists
only to supplement, not supplant, their
own judgments, skills, and resulting de-
cisions."
Improved contact with mental health
professionals and behavioral science ex-
perts should not be limited to training,
the report recommends. It notes that
while the overwhelming majority of-per-
sons deemed dangerous by the Secret
Service have had contact with mental
health professionals, the Secret Service it-
self lacks a continuing relationship with
the mental health community. While
contacts between agents and mental
health experts will be constrained neces-
sarily by ethics, confidentiality, and other
factors, the report suggests that Secret
Service field offices might establish pro-
ductive working relationships with local
mental health resources.
-DAV11) JARnttf1.
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News Report
Engineering Academy Aids NSF
With Proposed Research Centers
IN ITS FY 1985 BUDGET unveiled in
Washington last month, the National
Science Foundation (NSF) proposed the
establishment of a group of cross-
disciplinary research centers on univer-
sity campuses around the country to
strengthen both engineering research
and education and to improve academic
ties with America's industrial commu-
nity.
At a briefing on the proposed budget,
Presidential Science Advisor George A.
Keyworth singled out these so-called
Engineering Research Centers as one of
five priority areas, noting that they were
to be established "with the aid of the Na-
tional Academy of Engineering."
The Academy's aid came in the form of
a study, requested by the NSF in late De-
cember and completed in mid-February.
The NSF wanted advice on how to struc-
ture the centers, how to select them, how
much to fund them, how many to have
and for how long, and how the new cen-
ters should interact with industry.
Guidelines Jr oEngineering Reseanh Centers. Na-
tional Academy of Engineering (1984, 25 pp.;
available from the Academy).
The panel's report recommended that
25 centers be the goal, with perhaps 5 to
10 centers being established in the first
year. Twenty-five, the panel explained,
was "our best judgment as to the number
of schools which can provide the disci-
plinary breadth and can absorb the level
of funding we envisage without distort-
ing their over-all research programs."
But an engineering school unable to
sponsor its own center could still partici-
pate as an "academic affiliate." By sharing
faculty, cooperating in research, and
working with the center in a number of
ways, affiliates can make it possible for a
center to exert a substantial regional im-
pact, the report pointed out.
Further, as panel chairman W. Dale
Compton of Ford Motor Co. wrote in the
report's preface, ". . . it is better to have
fewer centers with sufficient funding
rather than many with inadequate fund-
ing."
Core NSF funding, the panel esti-
mated, would run from $2.5 to $5 mil-
lion annually per center or about $100
million per year, not including stipends
and tuition, at the end of a five-year de-
velopment period. This amount, it ex-
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plained, was calculated to allow each of
25 centers to affect directly at least 10
percent of the master and doctoral en-
gineering students in the center's home
institution. A minimum faculty com-
mitment of three full-time equivalent
positions per center is also needed, said
the panel.
No single model was recommended.
The panel envisioned a range of models,
each sharing a primary emphasis on en-
gineering research and mirroring
unique combinations of local interests
and capabilities." Both team research and
research participation by affiliates should
be encouraged.
Flexibility in project selection is essen-
tial, stressed the panel. Each center
should be allowed to choose its own pro-
grams, with more independence than is
typical of individual grants programs."
Furthermore, the panel said, "those
administering the program must allow
the centers considerable latitude in how
they plan to attain their goals. . . . Any
[center] should be sufficiently protean to
respond to new ideas, techniques, and re-
lationships, inside and outside the uni-
versity "
Industry Involvement
Industry's involvement in both the
overall program and the individual cen-
ters must be "substantial and continu-
ous," the panel declared. Each center
should be associated with one or more
industrial or other organization involved
in engineering practice, and the NSF
oversight panels should include indus-
trial representatives.
Robert M. White, president of the
National Academy of Engineering, tes-
tified in support of the centers program
at the NSF authorization hearing of the
Senate Subcommittee on Science, Tech-
nology, and Space. The panel's report is
slated to be discussed at an April meeting
planned by NSE
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Touch as a Substitute for Hearing
News Report
FOR THE PROFOUNDLY DEAF, a conventional hearing aid is not much use. The
sense of touch has long been viewed as a possible substitute for hearing, but although
several devices have been designed, none has been suitable. A vibrator attached to the
wrist or other part of the body can present sound waves transformed into impulses
that can be felt on the skin. Such a tactile aid can complement but cannot replace
lipreading.
A Research Council committee recently evaluated tactile devices for the deaf at the
request of the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and
Stroke. It recommended "early and widespread deployment" of tactile aids to assess
their effectiveness in everyday use. Young children in particular may benefit, sug-
gested the committee, noting that "it would be expected that early and continual use
of such a device would provide the best chance for later acquisition of skilled
acoustic-tactile processing." The system illustrated above is one of several under de-
velopment; this one is designed for classroom use by five- and six-year-olds.
Basic and Applied Research on Tactile Aids for Deaf People: Progress and Prospects (Working Group 90, Com-
mittee on Hearing, Bioacoustics, and Biomechanics; report will appear in a forthcoming issue of the
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America).
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Seminar Reviews Ways to Keep
U. S. Technology in Friendly Hands
IT IS NO SECRET that agents for the
Soviet Union will buy, borrow, or steal to
obtain American technology. Much of
the technology that passes into Soviet
hands and ultimately into its weapons
systems is obtained on the open market
through diversionary tactics involving
third and fourth countries. American-
made computers, believed headed to the
U.S.S.R., recently were confiscated in
Sweden.
The Central Intelligence Agency
(CIA) estimates that some 100,000 peo-
ple are involved in the U.S.S.R's scour-
ing of the West for information and tech-
nical know-how and that this incessant
search is directed from the highest levels
of Soviet government.
Most Americans do not quarrel with
the conclusion that American technology
gives the U.S.S.R. the means to upgrade
its arsenal in a shorter time than if it had
to rely on its own research and develop-
ment. Nor do they quarrel with the
thesis that the Soviet Union's extensive
use of American technology is forcing the
U.S. and Western Europe to spend bil-
lions of dollars to keep pace. However,
considerable controversy revolves around
ways to control the export of goods and
know-how that the Russians can put to
military use. This was the essence of a
recent seminar on export controls or-
ganized by the Academies of Sciences and
Engineering for participants in the
Academy Industry Program.
The program was particularly timely
because the Export Administration Act,
which grants the president authority to
stop shipments of sensitive technology,
expired the end of February, and
reauthorization proposals were being
considered by Congress. The debate cen-
tered on how to monitor high-
technology exports to Western Europe
and what role the Department of Defense
should play in the licensing process.
Sensitive goods pass along complex
trade channels from West to East. John
N. McMahon, deputy director of the
CIA, described a typical route from the
U. S. to South Africa to West Germany to
Sweden and eventually to the U.S.S.R.
There are at least five networks of some
300 firms operating in Europe and in-
volving about 30 countries, he told
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26 News Report
seminar attendees. "The U.S. alone can-
not respond adequately to the threat, but
it must take the lead," he said.
William Schneider, Jr., undersecre-
tary for security assistance, science, and
technology for the Department of State,
seconded this contention. "Unilateral
controls generally are not effective," he
declared. "It is essential that we have a
multilateral approach." The vehicle for
obtaining allied cooperation in dealing
with high tech trade is the Coordinating
Committee for multinational export con-
trols (COCOM), a body consisting of
most NATO members and Japan.
Schneider contended that following
Europe's displeasure with U.S. policy re-
garding the Soviet pipeline, there has
been "a fundamental change in their at-
titudes." Export control activities must
be equitable and consistent to gain sup-
port, he pointed out.
Speaking from the exporters' perspec-
tive, Roland W. Schmitt, senior vice
president for corporate research and de-
velopment at General Electric Co., said
he feared that an "obsession with defen-
sive strategy will cripple offensive strate-
gies for developing new technologies."
Some government proposals, he noted,
could hamper the administration's objec-
tives to assure that U.S. technology for
defense is superior.
Schmitt urged the administration to
keep some guidelines in mind when de-
veloping control policies: dual use -
many technologies may be used com-
mercially as well as militarily, and con-
trols should be applied "downstream" at
the application level, not "upstream,"
where they "could affect our ability to de-
velop more [technology]"; military crit-
icality - avoid confusing technology
that is critical to military needs with that
which is merely useful; foreign
availability - consider whether the
U.S.S.R. can obtain equivalent technol-
ogy from other sources; technology trans-
fer - control of manufacturing know-
how may be more important than cur-
tailing export of products.
Other speakers from federal agencies,
industry, and academe explored details of
policy and procedure in formal presen-
tations and in discussions with attendees.
Frequent proposals echoed the findings
of a panel of the Committee on Science,
Engineering, and Public Policy
(COSEPUP) in the 1982 report, Scientific
Communication and National Security.
That panel cautioned that overly restric-
tive controls on exchange of scientific in-
formation can weaken, rather than
strengthen, U.S. defenses by discourag-
ing technological innovation. It recom-
mended criteria for judging whether re-
strictions are warranted.
Mitchel B. Wallerstein and Lawrence
C. McCray, who served on the staff for
that report, recently reviewed govern-
ment export control actions since its pub-
lication and concluded that little has
been done that reflects the panel's pro-
posals.
The Academy Industry Program con-
sists of 57 companies which have made
unrestricted contributions to support
projects initiated by the academies. Sev-
eral times a year representatives of those
companies are invited to Washington to
attend seminars on timely topics.
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Academy Distributes Booklet on
Science and Creationism
DIFFERENCES between science and
creationism are the subject of a new
booklet by a special committee of the
National Academy of Sciences.
Commissioned by the Academy's gov-
erning Council to state the view of scien-
tists on claims that creationism should be
taught in high school science classes, the
brochure was authored by a committee of
scientists assisted by legal scholars.
James D. Ebert, president of the Car-
negie Institution and vice president of
the Academy, chaired the authoring
committee.
The 28-page booklet defines science
and the scientific method and concludes
that, when tested by that method,
creationists' beliefs have been found
wanting. Therefore, the booklet argues,
it is not appropriate to teach creationism
alongside established scientific theories
in a science classroom.
Wrote Academy President Frank Press
in his preface to the booklet: "Both views
have a place in our lives - but one be-
longs in the world as we have come to
know it and one belongs in history. . . .
"Teaching creationism is like asking
our children to believe on faith, without
recourse to time-tested evidence, that the
dimensions of the world are the same as
those depicted in maps drawn in the days
before Columbus set sail with his three
small ships, when we knew from factual
observations that they are really quite dif-
ferent."
In an initial mailing, some 44,000
copies of the booklet are being distrib-
uted free by the Academy. Additional
copies are available for purchase. Among
those to receive complimentary copies
are all school district superintendents,
heads of all secondary school science de-
partments, members of the National Sci-
ence Teachers Association and other pro-
fessional organizations,
members of Congress.
Sdenee and Creationism: A Vies frr,ru the National
Aardenr} of .S' den i. Committee on Science and
Creationism (1981, 28 pp.; available from Na-
tional Academy Press. $ E.(U).
Preparation of the brochure was sup-
ported by the Academy, the Mary
Reynolds Babcock Foundation, and
others.
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28 News Report
Teaching Doctors About Nutrition
THE PROLIFERATION in recent years
of salad bars and diet foods shows that
many Americans are concerned about the
health effects of the foods they eat.
Unfortunately, some doctors are not as
prepared as they might be to answer pa-
tient questions about diet. Fewer than
one-third of American medical schools
require their students to take training in
nutrition.
For this reason, the Research Council's
Food and Nutrition Board has formed a
committee to examine how the study of
nutrition in medical education can be
strengthened.
The committee will examine nutri-
tion education at different medical
schools and make recommendations
about curricula, teaching methods, and
related issues. Its work will be coordi-
nated with a more general effort by the
Institute of Medicine to examine fields of
growing importance in medical educa-
tion, particularly preventive medicine.
Myron Winick, director of the Insti-
tute of Human Nutrition at Columbia
University, chairs the new committee.
Support for the 18-month study is being
provided by the Ruth Mott Fund, the
William H. Donner Foundation, and the
Research Council through a consortium
of foundations, the Academy Industry
Program, and the National Academy of
Sciences endowment.
Research for Quality in
Mathematics and Science Education
A GOOD DEAL of rhetoric has been ex-
pended recently on the poor state of
mathematics and science education in
American public schools. Numerous
suggestions for improving curricula and
instruction have been offered, but few
have been evaluated scientifically.
A Research Council committee,
chaired by James G. March of the
Graduate School of Business at Stanford
University, will advise the National In-
stitute of Education on research to il-
luminate particular problems in educa-
tion and to aid in effecting improve-
ments.
The committee is likely to focus on
such areas as the recommendations from
the National Commission on Excellence
in Education, the National Science
Board Commission on Mathematics,
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Manh 1984 29
Science and Technology Education, and
others for improving school perform-
ance; new insights into the learning
process that might be borrowed from the
fields of cognitive science and artificial
intelligence for use in the classroom;
rapidly developing computer and com-
munications technologies that may be
adapted to education needs; and factors
that influence the recruitment and reten-
tion of high quality teachers.
Non-cognitive factors such as motiva-
tion, emotional development, family
and school environments, and peer pres-
sures also contribute to learning. A
workshop, funded by the William T.
Grant Foundation and organized under
the auspices of the same committee, will
explore the role of these influences on
learning.
The initial phase of the study is sched-
uled for completion at the end of the year.
Is There a Shortage
of Transportation Professionals?
DURING the years the Interstate
Highway System was being constructed,
federal and state governments expanded
staffs of transportation professionals. As
the roads were completed and highway
construction received less emphasis, hir-
ing slackened or stopped in some states,
and the number of professionals re-
mained static.
Now large numbers of the profession-
als hired to oversee Interstate highway
construction are nearing retirement age.
Similar conditions prevail in many tran-
sit agencies, hard hit by declining
budgets. Concerned that mass retire-
ments may leave several states without
sufficient expertise to staff highway and
transit agencies, the Congress directed
the Secretary of Transportation to con-
tract with the Research Council's Trans-
portation Research Board for a 15-month
study.
The committee, headed by Lester A.
Hoel, chairman of the civil engineering
department at the University of Virginia,
will project future supply and demand
for transportation professionals; assess
how shifts in program emphasis, techno-
logical advances, and institutional
changes will alter future needs; and eval-
uate policies for recruiting, training, and
retaining staff.
This study is one of four mandated by
the Surface Transportation Assistance
Act of 1982 (PL. 97-424). The other
studies are: costs and benefits of the 55-
mile speed limit, design standards for
repair of non-Interstate highways, and
the effects on highways and safety of
twin-trailer trucks.
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30 Neus Report
Brief Takes ...
From an address by Secretary of Transporta-
tion Elizabeth Hanford Dole at the 63 rd an-
nual meeting of the Transportation Research
Board in Washington onJanuary 18.
. . . [O]ver the last 12 months I have fo-
cused on other priorities demanding our
attention. Perhaps most important are
the ways we address or fail to address how
transportation affects our environment.
Some things already have been
achieved. Certain environment safe-
guards are in place. No federally assisted
transportation project, for example-be
it a new highway or a new bike trail -
can proceed without a detailed environ-
mental assessment. By the end of this
year, the oldest and noisiest jets will have
been weeded out of the U.S. airline fleet,
and aircraft engine manufacturers are
now required, as of the first of this
month, to reduce exhaust emissions by
60 to 70 percent. We have developed
strict oil pollution and hazardous cargo
guidelines as a further effort to protect
the environment and protect the quality
of American life.
All of that is well and good. But I am
not satisfied that we have probed the lim-
its of our responsibility - or plumbed
the depths of possibility. We should not
tolerate excessive noise; we must find rea-
sonable ways to reduce it. We should not
excuse pollution; we must develop ways
to prevent it. And we must not sacrifice
history for progress; there is almost al-
ways a way to preserve our historic land-
marks.
We have explored but the coastal plain
of a vast continent of environmental con-
cern. To speed up the process, I have
formed a steering group within the de-
partment, headed by a counselor on en-
vironmental concerns, to examine the
prospects for further environmental ac-
tions, including the areas of reducing
airport noise and oil pollution, improv-
ing the highway environment, handling
the transport of hazardous materials, and
safeguarding historic sites. . . .
According to the Census Bureau, resi-
dents ranked noise second only to crime
as a reason for moving from urban neigh-
borhoods. Emissions from cars and
trucks and buses still account for a sub-
stantial share of city pollution. We need
innovative planning and design to reduce
transportation intrusions on urban
communities.
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March 1984 31
Items . . .
New Publications
Board on 8ticncc and lichnologv fir Inicmational
Development (198.), 99 pp; single ropits,isail.thlc
to institutions from the hoard; supple limit( d
For aoannentr thou n to atailable front the National
.it.tdtno Prat (NAP) or/rum a rpeci/u' uuit of the
National Atadent) of Scieucet. National Aatdem) of
Eugm, tI-ttg. I nutitute aJ ,'tic zlirrvtc. National Rcfean h
Cocoa//. t 0tnnuittec i or botndr. write to the Itrtal mttra
at 21)1 Conte tution Armor N' . ii . Waoh ngton,
I). C. 20418. Other clot fl///t lit are available frcntt
other /ottrctr to rmttd. For amrrtt ,N TIS f/rittr and
,N'IIN dot itnu. a rite to the National Technical In-
forntation Serttoo . S/nntn,c/uId. Ur. 22161. Priartntd
availttbilitl ofall documentrart iubject to change.
Firewood Crops: Shrub and Tree
Species for Energy Production,
Volume 2
Advisory Committee on 'lithnology Innovation,
Meetings
Special Announcements
Multiple Hazard Mitigation: Report of a
Workshop on Mitigation Strategies for
Communities Prone to Multiple
Natural Hazards
Advisory Board on the Built I its irunnicnt (198i, -1
pp.; acs?.ulahlc boon N'IIS. PB 81-IS /889)
New Frontiers in Mammalian
Reproduction and Development:
Proceedings of the Symposium, March
7-11, 1983
Committec on Animal IdodcIs.tntd (meric Stocks.
Institute of Luhor,uor1 Antiml Rcsoures (in Nov
1983 issue of )"tonal ?/ E~prr'imitnl,d %1?1l?0. Vol.
778, No. 2, pp. 165-j95; single topics ac,JILthlc
from the Institute; supple limited).
Concrete Pavement Design i nl Rehahilit,ttion, Civil
Engineering Building, Purdue Uimcl-sito, West
Lafayette, IN 47907. For additional information. F.
Hanther, 327/99i-2159.
This Ichedule lutr /ttrblic meetingi and iucludel other
special annotnt(ementr of uttit1 of the National
Atadem) cf Scienatt. National Acadenry oJEngineer-
ing. lustiurtt of Aftehcirne. and National Reteanh
Council. 'l he Ic hedtdr Lr hrehared early. attd detailr are
subject to thtutr;e tm l should be thecked direct)) with
project offitter to noted below. An) written irrbmiariozr
rhoultl be seta direal) to the lured unit at 2101 Con-
rtiu/titot AZenne. N.F. ll'it.rhingtott. O.C. 20418.
"Third International Conference on Concrete
Pavement Design and Rehabilitation, Apr. 23-25,
1985. West L faverte, IN, Purdue University Coslxm-
sored by the Transportation Rescarth Board. Synopses
are due by Mac I I, 1989, and should be sent to:
Cochairmen E, Handier and C. Schuler, Conference on
Associateship Programs. Office of Si ii ill i lit and en-
gineering Personnel, National Restart ii Council
(NR(), is accepting applic,tuons for the June 1981 re-
view for NR(. Research Assoc iancships Ili the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration, Air Fond SI's-
teins Command, Environmental Proration Agency.
Naval Air Development Center, Wilrcr Reed Amts In-
stitute of Research, Army Missile (onnnand_ and
Army Armament, Munitions, and Chemical Com-
mand. Opportunities htr hash rt_seartIi in the natural
sciences and engineering arc a%ailahlc to rcecnt re-
cipients of doctorates, to senior Hitesrigators. and in
most instantes to nun-I' S citizens. For applications
and program (k tails, sstire to: Associatcsltip Prt;grams.
JH 608-1), at the above address. Applications must he
postmarked by April 15, 1981. Forforthcr information:
A. Crump, 2021 i 3 1-260.
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