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FY-1991 Title V Report
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
5-7
CHAPTER 1 - INTRODUCTION; PERSONNEL, FUNDING,
EQUITABLE ACCESS, INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
8-21
Introduction
8-9
Organization of This Report
Title V Legislation (as amended)
9
Personnel Requirements, Functions and Standards
9-17
OES' Role
S&T Reporting
STRIDE
EST Careers
S&T Recruitment; E.O. 12591
Training
18-19
Funding
20
Equitable Access
20-21
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
21
CHAPTER 2 - SELECTED SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THEMES AND DEVELOPMENTS
22-91
Introduction
22
Descriptions of Themes
22-25
Basic Science
Health and Life Sciences
Energy, Environment and Economics
Emerging Technologies
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Discussions of Themes
26
Basic Science
26-41
The Character of Basic Science
Motives for U.S. Government Support
U.S. International Research Activities
Four Key Areas during FY-1991
Biodiversity
28-31
Biotechnology
31-35
Biotechnology Research and Regulation
The Human Genome Project
Plant Biology
Smaller-Scale Biotechnology Collaborations
High Performance Computing and Communications
35-37
Megaprojects
37-41
The Superconducting Super Collider
Space Station Freedom
The U.S. Global Change Research Program
Assessing Megaprojects
Health and Life Sciences
42-59
Introduction and General Comments
46-49
Cancer
44-46
Epidemiology
46-49
Epidemiology, Heart Disease and Cancer
Training in Epidemiology
Other Epidemiology Research
Nutrition
49-52
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
52-55
Reproductive Physiology and Population Research
55-57
New Drug Development from Natural Products
57-59
-2-
Energy, Environment and Economics
60-69
60
Introduction
Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment
60-63
Environmental Effects of Energy Sources
A Special Problem for Developing Countries
Fertile Ground for International Cooperation
63-65
Bilateral S&T Activities
65-68
International Cooperation on Environmental
Aspects of the Persian Gulf War
68-69
Emerging Technologies
70-75
Introduction
Materials
Manufacturing
Information and Communications
Biotechnology and Life Sciences
Transportation
Energy and Environment
Conclusion
Agriculture and Natural Resources
76-90
Introduction
76
Agriculture
76-84
Recent USDA and USAID Developments
USDA and USAID: Collaborative Development
of New Initiatives
USAID Support for International Agricultural Research
International Agricultural Research Networking and the U.S.
Other Programs
Space-Based Agricultural Monitoring
Recent Developments
Some Representative Cases of Cooperation
-3-
Natural Resources
85-88
Department of Commerce - National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
Department of Interior
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National Park Service
Bureau of Mines
Bureau of Land Management
Bureau of Reclamation
Minerals Management Service
Natural Hazards
89-90
CHAPTER 3 - NARRATIVES ON SELECTED COUNTRIES
AND INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
91-194
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
Chile
China
Czechoslovakia
European Community
France
Germany
Hungary
India
Indonesia
Israel
Italy
Japan
Korea
Mexico
NATO
OECD
Poland
Soviet Union (former)
Spain
United Kingdom
Yugoslavia
CHAPTER 4 - CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
195-200
APPENDIX 1 - U.S. INTERNATIONAL S&T AGREEMENTS BY COUNTRY
APPENDIX 2 - U.S. INTERNATIONAL S&T AGREEMENTS BY AGENCY
GLOSSARY OF ABBREVIATIONS
BIBLIOGRAPHY OF SELECTED AGENCY PUBLICATIONS DURING FY-1991
INDEX TO NARRATIVE
-4-
FY-1991 Title V Report
SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND AMERICAN DIPLOMACY
Executive Summary
Introduction
This annual report is an central reference reviewing a number of major
international science and technology (S&T) themes during Fiscal Year 1991
(FY-1991), providing data on U.S. international S&T agreements and illustrating
related U.S. Government interactions with foreign countries. This report was
prepared in accordance with Title V on "Science, Technology and American
Diplomacy" in the FY-1979 Foreign Relations Authorization Act.
This FY-1991 report supports judgments that, in the post-Cold War era:
International science and technology issues, including environmental matters,
are interrelated with economic and trade concerns and with traditional political
and security affairs.
International S&T cooperation contributes to U.S. foreign and domestic
interests and to the advancement of science and U.S. well-being, and mutual
access and cooperation with the U.S. in S&T is of significant interest to many
countries.
Selected International S&T Themes
Narrative sections of this report recount significant FY-1991 developments in five
important international S&T areas, from both a global perspective (Chapter 2) and
for specific countries (Chapter 3). The themes are:
Basic Science;
Health and Life Sciences;
Energy, Environment and Economics;
Emerging Technologies;
Agriculture and Natural Resources.
The U.S. continued during FY-1991 to assign high priority to bilateral interactions
in basic science. Benefits accrued to the U.S. through interactions with foreign
talent and access to foreign facilities, installations and geographic areas.
International basic research extends by its nature across very broad disciplinary
categories, and other countries have recognized strengths in many scientific
disciplines. The basic science narrative includes discussions of biodiversity,
biotechnology, large scale cooperative scientific projects and high performance
computing and communication.
-5-
Health and life sciences continued to be major subjects on the international
agenda. International scientific cooperation in the health field supports the
well-being of Americans and others. Focus areas for discussion in this report are
developments during FY-1991 in the fields of cancer, epidemiology, nutrition, drug
and other substance abuse, reproductive physiology and population research, and
development of new drugs from natural products.
Recognition of the complex relationships among energy, the environment and
economics is an essential step in devising workable solutions for many problems in
these areas. Energy is key to the well being of developed countries and crucial to
developing economies, but environmental impacts of certain energy choices can be
problematical and at times devastating. These issues are intrinsically transnational
in nature and are especially pertinent areas for international cooperation, including
science and technology cooperation. Many national governments, however, have
yet to adopt policies which integrate these considerations as a whole. FY-1991 saw
a range of activities and two large preparatory conferences leading up to the United
Nations Conference on Environment and Development, scheduled to take place in
Brazil in June 1992. The nature of UNCED is obliging participant countries to
expand their thinking to address environment and development together.
Global scientific research and development activities are generating powerful new
"emerging technologies" pertinent to a wide range of applications. The narrative
briefly describes the current general status of emerging technologies in the areas of
materials, manufacturing, information and communications, biotechnology and life
sciences, and aeronautics and surface transportation; and provides illustrations of
pertinent U.S. Government collaborations with selected countries. (The discussion
on basic science also addresses biotechnology and high performance computing and
communication. From the basic science perspective, biotechnology is strongly
dependent on fundamental scientific breakthroughs for progress, and high
performance computing and communication entails progress on computational
challenges posed by advanced scientific research problems.)
The advantages of global science and technology interaction on agriculture and
natural resources are well recognized for reasons similar to those underlying basic
science cooperation utilization of foreign expertise and assets, and access to
specialized sites and resources. (The narrative on basic science discusses plant and
animal biodiversity and management and conservation of ecosystems.)
International cooperation on natural hazards -- terrestrial, atmospheric and oceanic
-- is also an area of current interest. Numerous U.S. Government agencies are
extensively involved across the entire range of these subjects.
S&T Personnel Requirements, Standards, Training
State Department and U.S. embassy environment, science and technology officers
(EST officers) and their colleagues in other federal agencies deal with an extremely
broad range of U.S. international EST interests, reflected in the activities of a score
-6-
of U.S. agencies. The Department of State has legal responsibility for coordination
and oversight of U.S. Government international S&T activities. Its ability to
perform this task derives considerably from the quality of U.S. personnel involved
with environment, science and technology (EST) affairs in Washington and
embassies abroad. It is necessary to blend many individual capabilities -- S&T
knowledge; economic, political, foreign policy, communication and intercultural
skills -- to achieve success in reaping maximum U.S. benefit from international EST
interactions. Training for EST assignments is key. Training through the State
Department's Foreign Service Institute and periodic EST officer conferences are
principal sources of structured guidance embassy EST officers receive on how to
perform their jobs. Other agency personnel are invited to participate in these
courses and conferences, both to impart knowledge and to benefit from the broad
interplay of ideas and perspectives which takes place in them.
Chapter 4 of this report includes a number of recommendations, keyed to the Title
V legislation, pertaining to:
Recruitment, training and utilization of EST personnel;
Continuation and broadening of U.S. international science
and technology agreements and activities;
Funding data and prioritization;
Evaluation of science and technology agreements and
activities;
Equitable access.
Concluding Observations
While the U.S. still leads the world in many S&T areas, the number of foreign
government achievements is growing in volume and significance.
In negotiating and implementing agreements, Executive agencies continued during
FY-1991 to emphasize assuring access by Americans to foreign S&T, and proper
allocation of intellectual property rights arising out of international cooperation.
The Appendix to this report includes databases showing more than 600 current
U.S. Government international S&T agreements, both government-to-government
and agency-to-agency, at the Memorandum of Understanding level or higher. The
material is based on information available in the Department of State or provided by
other Executive Branch departments and technical agencies. The databases are as
comprehensive, accurate and complete as such information permits.
The President's budget sets forth funding proposals for support of science and
technology programs of the U.S. Government.
-7-
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION; PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS, STANDARDS AND
TRAINING; FUNDING, EQUITABLE ACCESS,
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Introduction
Organization of This Report
This Fiscal Year 1991 Title V report on "Science, Technology and American
Diplomacy" is the thirteenth such annual report submitted by the President to the
Congress. The overall concept of this report is to describe a number of important
contemporary international science and technology (S&T) subjects and illustrate
how the U.S. is engaged in them.
As used in this report, the term "science and technology" includes science,
technology and advanced technology, environmental, health, population, oceans,
fisheries and nuclear energy matters.
Chapter 1 recites the relevant Title V legislation and discusses certain issues it
requires to be addressed, such as personnel requirements, functions, standards,
training, funding and equitable access. Chapter 1 also briefly discusses integration
of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection in S&T agreements.
Taken together, Chapters 2 and 3 assess, as required by Title V, the value of U.S.
international cooperative S&T activities. Chapter 2 depicts, from a global
perspective, a number of major contemporary international S&T subjects and how
the U.S. was involved with them during FY-1991 through international cooperation.
Chapter 2 addresses the following five thematic areas:
Basic Science
Health and Life Sciences
Energy, Environment and Economics
Emerging Technologies
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Chapter 3 contains narratives, offered by U.S. embassies in the respective locales,
on 21 countries, the European Community (EC), the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) and NATO. Each narrative deals with all or
most of the themes listed above. (Note: the terms "USSR," "Soviet Union" and
"Soviet" as used throughout this report refer to the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republics as it existed in FY-1991).
Chapter 4 contains conclusions and recommendations.
Appendix 1 is a database of 668 U.S. Government science and technology
agreements shown by countries. This appendix is a tabular catalog of agreements at
the Memorandum of Understanding level or higher, currently in force between the
United States and other countries.
-8-
Appendix 2 shows the same agreements arranged by agency. Appendices 1 and 2
derive from information in the Department of State or provided it by other Federal
agencies and offices, and are as complete as that information permits.
Appendix 3 is a brief bibliography of selected FY-1991 agency publications.
A selective index is included at the end of the report.
Title V Legislation (as amended)
Title V on "Science, Technology and American Diplomacy" in the FY-1979
Foreign Relations Authorization Act (P.L. 95-426, 22 U.S.C 2656d), as amended by
Section 5171 of the Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act of 1988, reads in
relevant part as follows:
Sec. 503(b). The President shall study and not later than January 31, 1980 and not
later than January 31 of each year thereafter, shall transmit to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives and the Committees on Foreign Relations and
Governmental Affairs of the Senate a report containing information and
recommendations with respect to:
(1) personnel requirements, and standards and training for service of officers
and employees of the United States Government, with respect to assignments
in any Federal agency which involve foreign relations and science or
technology;
(2) the continuation of existing bilateral and multilateral activities and
agreements primarily involving science and technology, including: (A) an
analysis of the foreign policy implications and the scientific and technological
benefits of such activities or agreements for the United States and other
parties, (B) the adequacy of the funding for and administration of such
activities and agreements, and (C) plans for future evaluation of such activities
and agreements on a routine basis; and
(3) equity of access by United States public and private entities to public (and
publicly supported private) research and development opportunities and
facilities in each country which is a major trading partner of the United States.
Personnel Requirements, Functions and Standards
U.S. embassies and consulates abroad represent U.S. interests pertaining to
significant S&T issues in their host countries. The embassies and consulates cover
as a part of their ongoing economic and political reporting host government
activities and attitudes in pertinent areas, and they present U.S. views to the host
government. The Department of State assigns full-time Environment, Science and
Technology (EST) Officers, generally with a Counselor or Attache title, to a number
of embassies in countries of particular S&T interest and to certain international
bodies such as the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), North Atlantic
Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Community (EC). Where such
full-time counselors or attaches do not exist, chiefs of mission and consulate
-9-
principal officers designate one or more officers, usually from economic sections, to
cover environment, science and technology matters as a part of their regular duties.
During FY-1991 full-time EST officers were assigned to the 23 U.S. diplomatic
missions shown in the table on the next page, which identifies ranking EST officers
at each post. The countries or entities where they serve have one or more of the
following characteristics:
Substantial national resources devoted to S&T;
Significant political or economic issues associated with S&T, including
environmental issues;
S&T activities of major interest to the United States, including cooperative
bilateral programs;
Concerns for the United States in the areas of nuclear non-proliferation,
technology transfer or economic competitiveness.
The responsibilities of these officers include:
Advising the U.S. Ambassador and the embassy country team on issues related
to environment, science and technology;
Representing the U.S. Government's interests to the host government;
Assisting in the negotiation of cooperative agreements and implementation of
cooperative programs between U.S. Government agencies and host country
organizations;
Analyzing and reporting on significant S&T developments in host countries,
and on host government science policy organization, personnel changes and
attitudes.
Supervision of cooperative S&T programs is a central element of many EST
officers' duties. In Brazil, China, India, Israel, Japan, Poland, Hungary, the USSR
and Yugoslavia, negotiation and management of major bilateral agreements is a
principal duty of EST officers. (A new agreement with Czechoslovakia began in
October 1991.) Under these agreements, numerous cooperative activities are
authorized by management committees and commissions. Meetings of such
committees and commissions provide a forum for S&T policy discussions. EST
officers at the embassies play key roles in these discussions and management
decisions.
In addition, personnel of certain other agencies are posted at U.S. embassies where
they perform functions as part of the embassy staff, in EST-related areas. These
include assignees from the Department of Energy (at Tokyo and OECD), the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Tokyo and Paris), the National
Science Foundation (Tokyo and Paris), the Environmental Protection Agency
(Mexico), and the Office of Naval Research (London and Japan).
-10-
Table: Ranking Full-Time U.S. Embassy EST Officers
(as of 9/30/91)
Post
Name
Status
Beijing
Andrew Onate
Foreign Service
Belgrade
Tom Hutson
Foreign Service
Bonn
Frank Kinnelly
Foreign Service
Brasilia
Barbara Tobias
Foreign Service
Brussels/EC
Anthony Rock
Foreign Service
Budapest
Lawrence Cohen
Foreign Service
Buenos Aires
Paul Maxwell
Limited Appt. (Cong.
staff)
Jakarta
Sidney Smith
Foreign Service
London
Jeffrey Lutz
Foreign Service
Otis Peterson
Limited Appt. (Los Alamos
Nat'l. Laboratory)
Madrid
Robert Morris
Foreign Service
Mexico City
Ahmed Meer
Foreign Service
Moscow
Robert Clarke
Foreign Service
New Delhi
Peter Heydemann
Limited Appt. (NIST)
Ottawa
Thomas Wajda
Foreign Service
Paris/Embassy
Michael Michaud
Foreign Service
Thomas Owens
Limited Appt. (NSF)
Paris/OECD
Daniel Dolan
Foreign Service
Prague
Rodney Huff
Foreign Service
Rome
Reno Harnish
Foreign Service
Seoul
Kenneth Cohen
Limited Appt. (Nuclear
Regulatory Commission)
Tel Aviv
Charles Lawson
Limited Appt.
Tokyo
Edward Malloy
Foreign Service
Vienna/IAEA
Maurice Katz
Limited Appt. (DOE)
Marvin Peterson
Limited Appt. (DOE)
Warsaw
Coleman Nee
Foreign Service
OES' Role
The Department of State's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and
Scientific Affairs (OES) was established in 1974 pursuant to the Department of
State Appropriations Authorization Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-126), which reads in
relevant part as follows:
-11-
Sec. 9. There is established within the Department of State a Bureau of
Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. In addition to
the positions provided under the first section of the Act of May 26, 1949, as
amended (22 U.S.C. 2652), there shall be an Assistant Secretary of State for
Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, appointed by
the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, who shall be
the head of the Bureau and who shall have responsibility for matters relating to
oceans, environmental, scientific, fisheries, wildlife, and conservation affairs.
In 1978 Congress, in another section of the Title V legislation, stated as follows:
Sec. 504. (a) In order to implement the policy set forth in section 502 of this
title (*), the Secretary of State (hereafter in this section referred to as the
"Secretary") shall have primary responsibility for coordination and oversight
with respect to all major science or science and technology agreements and
activities between the United States and foreign countries, international
organizations, or commissions of which the United States and one or more
foreign countries are members.
The OES Bureau is the central U.S. Government coordinating point for
international S&T activities conducted by U.S. technical agencies. The Bureau
assures that international S&T interests receive appropriate consideration, focus and
emphasis in overall U.S. foreign policy deliberations and conclusions. It is directly
responsible for or oversees numerous bilateral and multilateral S&T agreements. It
is responsible for coordinating and assembling this annual Presidential report.
To perform these functions, in FY-1991 OES had 139 on board positions, 103 of
which were officer positions filled by a mixture of Foreign and Civil Service
officers and personnel on excepted appointments (such as Fellows from the
American Association for the Advancement of Science - AAAS), plus 36
administrative and support staff. These personnel are grouped in four Directorates,
for Oceans, Environment, Science and Technology and Nuclear Affairs respectively,
plus a Population Coordinator. OES is also the principal interface in Washington
for the full-time Environment, Science and Technology Counselors/Attaches and
Fisheries Attaches at 23 U.S. diplomatic missions abroad.
During FY-1991 OES directly managed 29 government-to-government umbrella
S&T agreements and exercised oversight for U.S. S&T relations with 70 countries.
"Umbrella" agreements are general in nature and denominate broad S&T areas
within which the parties agree to support more specific agreements on specific
subjects as needs require or opportunities permit. The majority of U.S. S&T
agreements are below the umbrella level, are administered directly by U.S.
Government technical agencies, and involve approximately 20 technical subjects
(see following tables and Appendices 1 and 2).
* Section 502 refers to recognition, support, assessment, and continuing
review of international environmental, science and technology matters "in
order to maximize the benefits and to minimize the adverse consequences of
science and technology in the conduct of foreign policy...
-12-
S&T Agreements during FY-1991 by Subject (selected)
Memorandum of Understanding Level or Higher
Subject
No. of Agreements
S&T Umbrella Agreements
29
Agriculture
16
Basic Sciences
35
Biomedical Sciences
64
Earth Sciences
79
Energy
35
Environment
23
Natural Resources
38
Nuclear Energy and
Safety
75
Space and Aeronautics
57
Transportation
58
S&T Agreements (MOU or higher) during FY-1991 by Agency (selected)
Department of Agriculture
18
Department of Commerce
69
including:
National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
37
National Institute of
Standards and Technology
17
National Technical
Information Service
9
Census Bureau
4
Other
2
Department of Defense
44
Department of Energy
84
Department of Health and
Human Services
72
Department of Housing and
Urban Development
1
Department of Interior
including:
I Fish and Wildlife
122
Geological Survey
78
National Park Service
20
Service
12
Minerals Management
Service
4
Bureau of Reclamation
3
Bureau of Land Management
3
Bureau of Mines
2
-13-
Department of State
(umbrella agreements)
29
Department of Transportation
58
Environmental Protection Agency
19
National Aeronautics and
Space Administration
46
National Science Foundation
31
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
74
S&T Reporting
The OES Bureau provides guidance to missions on incorporating environment,
science and technology (EST) in each mission's formal annual reporting plan, and
as needed. This guidance periodically identifies pertinent areas of current key
policy interest to the U.S. Government and the private sector. An OES cable
newsletter, redesigned and renewed in FY-1991 and issued approximately monthly,
updates embassy officers on spot or continuing issues of importance.
U.S. embassy and consulate S&T reporting is addressed to the Secretary of State
with reporting cables simultaneously distributed to the White House and other
Departments and interested agencies. To illustrate the importance and breadth of
the audience for EST reporting, OES in late FY-1991 compiled a list which was
cabled to numerous posts. That list, which was not all-inclusive, encompassed the
following:
Partial List of Recipient Audiences for Post
Environment, Science and Technology Reporting
All or Most EST Reporting
Agency for International Development
Department of State (OES, other regional and
functional bureaus and offices)
National Science Foundation
National Security Council
National Technical Information Service
Office of Management and Budget
United States Information Agency
United States Trade Representative
White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
-14-
Environmental Issues
Department of Agriculture, including
Agricultural Research Service
Forest Service
Soil Conservation Service
Department of Commerce, including
National Marine Fisheries Service
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services, including
Centers for Disease Control
National Institutes of Health
Public Health Service
Department of Interior, including
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
National Park Service
U.S. Geological Survey
Department of Transportation
Environmental Protection Agency
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Treasury Department
U.S. Delegation to the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development
White House Council on Environmental Quality
Oceans and Polar Issues
Department of Commerce, including NOAA and NMFS
Department of Defense
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Science and Technology Issues
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce, including
Technology Administration
National Institute of Science and Technology
National Technical Information Service
Patent and Trademark Office
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Transportation
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Treasury Department
-15-
Nuclear Energy and Non-Proliferation Issues
Arms Control and Disarmament Agency
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
Nuclear Regulatory Commission
STRIDE
Executive Order 12591 of April 10, 1987, entitled "Facilitating Access to Science
and Technology," stipulated establishment of a mechanism for prompt and efficient
distribution of science and technology information developed abroad to users both
within the Federal government and in academic institutions and the private sector.
Through the STRIDE (Science and Technology Reporting Information Distribution
Enhancement) program, unclassified reporting on foreign research and development
activities is distributed to the private sector, academic institutions and Federal
laboratories by the Department of State and the Commerce Department's National
Technical Information Service. During FY-1991 some 150 STRIDE articles were
distributed directly and through publication in the NTIS weekly compilation,
"Foreign Technology - An Abstract Newsletter." Topics included advanced
materials, advanced manufacturing systems, biotechnology, information technology
and other emerging technologies of broad applicability.
EST Careers
To increase its ability to carry out science, technology and environment policies,
the Department of State has established within the Foreign Service an environment,
science, and technology career path ("EST cone"). This provides a career course for
interested and qualified officers in addition to the Department's traditional political,
economic, consular and administrative "cones." There are currently 15 Foreign
Service officers in the EST cone. (For administrative reasons, the "EST cone" has
been established as a sub-cone within the economic cone.)
During FY-1991, OES undertook a process of exploring with the State
Department's Personnel Bureau ways to improve the operation and efficacy of the
EST cone. Simultaneously, OES' Office of Cooperative Science and Technology
Programs undertook a study to assess how well the EST officer system operates.
This work continued into FY-1992. As of the end of FY-1991, there were
identified a number of questions to be addressed, including the following:
How can superior junior and mid-level officers be more attracted to EST work?
How can preparation and training for EST assignments be improved?
-16-
What comprises a proper balance between embassy EST officers drawn from
the career Foreign Service and those from other agencies, or from outside the
government, assigned to embassies on temporary appointments ("outside
recruitment")?
How can it be best assured that persons assigned to EST positions abroad are
the most appropriate in terms of skills, experience and interests for the slots
they will fill?
How can procedures for evaluating the performance of EST officers be
improved, given that rating officers in embassies are often unfamiliar with the
"untraditional" topics with which EST officers deal?
S&T Recruitment: E.O. 12591
In addition to its provisions on STRIDE (discussed above), Executive Order 12591
provides that "The Secretary of State shall develop a recruitment policy that
encourages scientists and engineers from other Federal agencies, academic
institutions and industry to apply for assignments in embassies of the United
States
"
It is appropriate for qualified individuals from U.S. Government technical agencies
and the private sector to play a role in the conduct of U.S. international EST
activities, in positions both in Washington and embassies abroad. Such individuals
are recruited for State Department positions, including as embassy EST officers, via
appropriate channels as specific requirements are identified. It should be noted that
the duties especially of embassy EST officers abroad require managerial and
operational skills and policy-oriented talents which go beyond scientific expertise
per se.
Numerous OES and embassy EST officers have technical agency or advanced S&T
backgrounds. Approximately half of the overseas EST Counselors and Attaches
have at least a Bachelor's degree in science or engineering, and a substantial number
have had graduate training in fields ranging from geology to physics. In addition, as
in past years, OES personnel working in the State Department during FY-1991
included several Fellows from the American Association for the Advancement of
Science and numerous career Civil and Foreign Service officers with advanced
scientific and technical degrees. As noted earlier, working in association with
embassy EST sections abroad were a number of other officers from technical
agency and other backgrounds. Of course, large numbers of highly-trained technical
agency personnel in the U.S. also deal with international S&T in the course of their
work, e.g., at the National Institute for Standards and Technology, Department of
Energy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Geological
Survey, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Science
Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and elsewhere.
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Training
The Department of State provides training for officers handling environment,
science and technology issues. A Foreign Service Institute (FSI) course on Science
and Technology and American Foreign Policy has been offered annually for officers
from the Department of State and other agencies. (Plans are to present the course
twice during FY-1992.) The Department of State also offers university training and
outside assignments for officers interested in expanding their expertise in EST
matters. During FY-1991, a Foreign Service officer, with FSI support, upon
completion of her assignment in OES obtained a one-year fellowship from the
private Una Chapman Cox foundation to do research on how the U.S. Government
handles EST affairs. The officer prepared an observational study of U.S. and
foreign embassy science officers and made other useful contributions.
The 1991 FSI EST course was given at George Washington University in June to
28 officers of whom 16 were from the Department of State (including 5 from OES),
two from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, and one
each from the Agency for International Development, the Department of
Agriculture, the United States Information Agency, the U.S. Geological Survey,
Embassies Abu Dhabi, Belgrade, Budapest, Caracas and Kinshasa, and Consulate
Juarez. The 1991 iteration of the course entailed especially close preparatory work
by OES, in collaboration with FSI and the course contractor, to tailor a syllabus
particularly relevant both to U.S. international EST interests and to enhancing EST
officer skills. Sessions were conducted with speakers and panels drawn from
executive branch departments and agencies, OSTP, the private sector and
Congressional staff.
A summary of the course syllabus appears on the next page. The list of topics is
illustrative of contemporary international EST issues concerning the U.S.
Also in FY-1991, OES organized a major conference in Washington attended by
34 senior EST officers from 28 posts on September 23-25. The conference was part
of continuing OES efforts, e.g., through providing reporting guidance and through
the OES newsletter described earlier, to keep embassies and EST officers abroad
abreast of U.S. views and policies on international EST issues.
Six agencies outside the Department of State made the September conference
possible by pooling financial support for it with OES. Their support reflected the
importance they attach to embassy EST reporting, to helping to keep the embassy
EST officers attuned to Washington perspectives, and to meeting with them. An
intense three-day program featured presentations by OSTP Director Dr. D. Allan
Bromley, Under Secretary of State for International Security Affairs Reginald
Bartholomew and OES Assistant Secretary Curtis Bohlen; a meeting with
Chairman Brown and members of the House Science, Space, and Technology
Committee; and panels with senior officers from executive branch departments and
numerous technical agencies. A central theme which emerged from the
presentations of Dr. Bromley, Under Secretary Bartholomew and others was the
growing centrality of EST matters to U.S. international interests in the post Cold
War era. The arrangements afforded each of the embassy officers two additional
days for individual and group consultations with agencies and offices.
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Syllabus (abridged) for 1991 EST Course
Environment, Science and Technology Issues
and American Foreign Policy
Monday, June 10 -- Introduction; Environment
Theme of the Course: Salient International EST Developments:
Is the U.S. Appropriately Engaged?
Introduction to OES
What Do End Users of Embassy EST Reporting Need?
What Do Embassy EST Officers Do? What Should They Be Doing?
Round Table on Environment, Energy and Economics
Tuesday, June 11 -- Environment; Science, Technology and
Competitiveness
International Environmental Issues and Tradecraft
Science, Technology and National Security: Cooperation versus
Technology Transfer
International EST Cooperation and Competition
Trade, Competitiveness and IPR Issues in International EST
Wednesday June 12 -- The Changing S&T Landscape
Field trip to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
- Overview of NIST
- Advanced Technology Program
- Visit to Selected Laboratories
Overview of Selected Leading-Edge Technologies
Sub-National Intergovernmental Trade/S&T Activities and Foreign
Policy Effects
Thursday June 13 -- International EST Cooperation; Megaprojects
Political Change and East-West EST Cooperation
Cooperation with Japan
EST as an Instrument of Foreign Policy
Megaprojects: Big Science versus Little Science
Friday June 14 -- Space; Congress and International EST issues
Overview of Space Issues and International Space Cooperation
OSTP Perspectives; the Title V Report
Field trip to Capitol Hill/Meetings with House and Senate Staff Members
Course Conclusion and Evaluation
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Funding
The President's budget presents funding for all U.S. Government S&T activities by
agency and program. One of the objectives of the President's budget is to assure
adequacy of funding for USG international S&T activities. This report includes
FY-1991 budgetary information in "remarks" sections of the databases in
Appendices 1 and 2, where such information was available to the Department of
State. The funding shown was based on a variety of sources, including
USG-sponsored programs, programs supported by counterpart funds (e.g., rupees in
India) and programs supported by foreign governments.
The OES budget for FY-1991 was $1,948,000. (This figure does not include
salaries for domestic personnel; nor does it include salaries and expenses for
science officers abroad, whose funding in most cases is from State Department
regional bureaus.)
Most U.S. Government activities and programs involving international science and
technology cooperation are managed and funded by individual technical agencies.
This funding cannot be identified in detail in this report since it is usually subsumed
in agency funds for programs with specific research objectives. Investigators and
managers determine the degree to which international cooperation can contribute to
achieving program objectives. However, in a few cases (below), funding
information is available for programs which are centrally administered and have
specific appropriations.
In FY-1991, for example, Department of State funding for bilateral S&T
cooperation programs it administers with Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia totalled
about $4.4 million, as follows:
Hungary
$1.0 million
Poland
$1.7 million
Yugoslavia
$1.7 million
In addition, there were special programs in Israel and India based on previous
appropriations. S&T and binational foundation cooperation with Israel is described
in Chapter 3. For India, cooperation is based on two major bilateral agreements that
are partially funded with U.S.-owned, non-convertible Indian rupees. The
U.S.-India Fund currently spends about 280 million rupees annually (approximately
$11 million) for collaboration in science and technology. USAID-funded programs
also contribute to a broad range of collaborations with India. Chapter 3 includes a
country narrative on India.
Equitable Access
During FY-1991, no significant problems were identified by the Department or by
other USG technical agencies about equity of access by U.S. public and private
entities to public and publicly supported private research and development
opportunities and facilities in countries which are major trading partners of the U.S.
In one case (Japan), a survey was performed of individuals who had participated in
cooperative S&T, and access was not identified as a problem area.
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The Commerce Department's National Technical Information Service (NTIS) has
agreements with 19 foreign government agencies for the exchange of engineering,
scientific and technical information. The most productive agreements are with
China, France, Germany, Sweden, Taiwan, the United Kingdom and the USSR.
NTIS has concluded an additional 68 agreements with private organizations in 47
countries for acquisition of their engineering, scientific and technical information.
Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)
Last year's Title V report discussed in detail the issue of intellectual property
rights protection in S&T agreements, and included the text of a standard IPR annex
for such agreements which had been produced under auspices of OSTP and the
interagency Federal Coordinating Committee for Science, Engineering, and
Technology (FCCSET).
During FY-1991, the IPR annex was included, with some variations, in agreements
which were successfully concluded with Finland (extension, October 1990),
Venezuela (December 1990), Mongolia (January 1991), New Zealand (May 1991)
China (May 1991) and an agreement which was readied with Czechoslovakia during
FY-1991 and signed in October. Some agreements and MOU's excluded areas
where the foreign partner did not provide adequate patent protection for potential
inventions.
During FY-1991, renewal of several MOU's with EC member states and the EC
Commission remained stalled due to differences over IPR provisions. In March
1991, FCCSET's Committee on International Science, Engineering and Technology
(CISET) authorized new provisions, in agreements with EC countries, to allow
participants to negotiate joint management plans for managing IPR arising from
cooperation. At the close of FY-1991 such provisions were still under negotiation
with EC members states and the EC Commission.
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CHAPTER 2
INTERNATIONAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
THEMES AND DEVELOPMENTS
Introduction
In July, 1991 the Title V Subcommittee of the Committee on International Science,
Engineering and Technology (CISET), an arm of the OSTP-chaired Federal
Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering and Technology (FCCSET),
designated five current important international S&T themes as the framework for
the narrative portion of this FY-1991 Title V report. Following a recitation of the
themes as described by the Subcommittee, this chapter discusses each at some
length. The approach is thematic rather than agency-specific, designed to illustrate
for the reader the nature of the themes and how the U.S. engaged on them
internationally during FY-1991. Readers desiring more agency-specific information
are invited to refer to the Appendix 2 database of international S&T agreements by
agencies.
Descriptions of Themes
Basic Science
The primary purpose of basic scientific research is to add to the pool of knowledge
about natural and social phenomena. Basic research often leads to tangible and
beneficial applications. Open communication and dissemination of basic research
results are required for the system to function most effectively. As a means of
advancing domestic interests through basic research in general, U.S. Government
(USG) agencies support basic research projects with international dimensions in
order to:
gain access to intellectual resources abroad;
gain access to unique geographic sites, laboratory facilities, or population
groups;
leverage USG funding in fields where expensive facilities are required;
support U.S. foreign policy objectives.
Basic research addresses many areas. Areas of current high interest include:
biological diversity, including research into the effect of human impacts on and
rates of loss of biodiversity;
biotechnology and fundamental life science [which can relate closely to
advances in health and other applications];
high-performance computing and communications;
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large-scale basic research projects, e.g., in fields requiring large, expensive
facilities and/or programs requiring coordination of research entailing large
numbers of moderate instruments and massive data handling requirements.
Health and Life Sciences
All governments are concerned with the health and physical well being of their
people. While modern science has made possible great advances in the prevention
and treatment of both infectious and degenerative diseases, much remains to be done
to reduce infant mortality, increase life spans and provide a better quality of life
throughout the world. Health and life sciences issues are of common interest to all
countries, no matter what their level of development, and this makes them
potentially fruitful areas for international cooperation.
The following health and life sciences topics are discussed in this Title V report:
Cancer: as progress has been made against infectious diseases and more
people are living to middle and old age, cancer has become a leading cause of
sickness and death throughout the world. Major research efforts are needed to
determine the causes of cancer, its prevention, and how to develop more
effective and less debilitating means of treating it when this most feared of
diseases does strike. International cooperation has an important role to play in
this research.
Nutrition: much of the world is still malnourished and even in developed
countries poor diet is a leading cause of ill health and premature death. Diet
has been implicated in a number of serious health problems such as stroke,
heart attack and cancer. Science and technology cooperation can contribute in
reducing malnutrition by expanding the basis of knowledge by which to adjust
dietary practices positively, and by developing means to increase food yields
and quality.
Substance addiction: worldwide, drug and alcohol abuse kills thousands of
people annually, does immense property and economic damage, spawns crime,
and even threatens the sovereignty of governments. Substance abuse is a
medical as well as a law enforcement problem, and additional research can help
find ways to reduce new addictions and to block or cure addictions. There are
indications that a number of nations would be interested in more systematic
international cooperation to these ends.
Epidemiology and health data for decisionmaking: international cooperation
aids effective prevention and control of diseases in a rapidly changing world.
Epidemiology and related statistical and data technologies are playing an
increasingly prominent role in international health science cooperation.
Information on the incidence and distribution of diseases is essential to
understanding their natural history and means of transmission, identifying
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causes of emerging problems, and planning and deciding on research priorities
and allocation of scarce resources for public health programs and other health
services.
Reproductive physiology and population research: world population growth
continues, and research on human reproduction as well as related sociological
research are useful areas of international cooperation. Closely recurring
pregnancies continue as major impediments to child survival and improved
maternal health, particularly in developing countries. Access to safe and
effective means of family planning is a major issue of the 1990's.
New drug development from natural products: natural products have
historically been, and remain, an important source for the development of
medicinal products, notwithstanding development of chemical processes to
produce drugs in laboratories. The search for natural products may yield
fruitful results in finding exploitable substances to treat diseases such as
cancer, cardiovascular disease, tropical diseases [e.g., malaria] and AIDS. The
world's biodiversity makes the development of drugs from natural products an
activity in the international domain. Such activity is an important component
of international health cooperation.
Energy, Environment and Economics
In assessing solutions to environmental problems, the fundamental relationship
between energy, the environment, and economics has become apparent. The energy
sector has been linked to such environmental problems as air pollution, oil spills,
acid rain, detrimental changes to aquatic systems, and possible global climate
change. In recent years these issues have increased in international visibility, and
efforts to solve them have become a high priority for many governments.
Energy is vital to nations' economic viability, development and competitiveness,
and to improving or maintaining the quality of life in both developing and developed
nations. Energy production, transmission and use, while essential, can sometimes
contribute to environmental degradation. Measures in the energy sector to respond
to environmental concerns can impose heavy social and economic costs if actions
are not chosen wisely. It is important, therefore, to capture the benefits of energy
production and consumption in an environmentally sound manner.
Because many environmental issues are global in nature, international cooperation
is essential for gaining understanding to reduce the scientific uncertainties.
International science and technology cooperation plays a key role in addressing
energy, environment and economic problems.
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Emerging Technologies
A newer field in international S&T cooperation entails advanced or emerging
technologies of interest both in terms of science per se (for example, high
temperature superconductors; advanced ceramics) and with respect to potential
practical applications. This report briefly discusses emerging technologies in six
broad areas: materials, manufacturing processes and technologies, information and
communications technologies, biotechnology, aeronautics and surface transportation
systems, and energy and environmental related technologies. All include fields
where international S&T cooperation can have a role.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
There is a global interdependence in the biology, husbandry and economics of
agriculture and attendant benefit to the U.S. from international cooperation on
agricultural and related research. U.S. Government involvement in relevant
international science and technology cooperation is compelled by, in addition to
productivity-related considerations, the fact that the vast majority of U.S. crop,
livestock and, to a lesser extent, pasture, forage and forest resources originated
abroad. Their relatively uniform genetic composition makes them highly
susceptible to diseases and pests newly arriving from abroad. For example,
respective USG agencies are interested in the breadth and depth of plant and animal
diversity, and their tolerance for and resistance to physical, chemical, pest and
disease stress.
There is also a global interdependence in the identification, exploitation and
conservation of natural resources. Cooperation in earth sciences has an important
role, also with respect to natural hazards. U.S. agencies carry out natural resources
research on the use, management and protection of land, water and air resources,
appraise natural resource conditions and trends, and conduct basic and applied
research on maintaining biological diversity and habitats.
Discussions of these themes follow.
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BASIC SCIENCE
The Character of Basic Science
The primary purpose of basic scientific research is to advance the store of human
knowledge about natural and social phenomena. Open communication and
dissemination of results, including internationally, are essential features. Each
scientist builds on the work of others, and scientists involved in basic research
comprise a truly international community. In the United States, since most basic
research is performed at universities, the basic research system serves the dual
purpose of providing new knowledge and helping to ensure future availability of
high-caliber scientists and engineers.
Motives for U.S. Government Support
The U.S. Government supports and encourages international cooperation for
several interrelated reasons, thus advancing the U.S. research system.
First, the United States does not have a monopoly on well-trained scientists and
engineers with good ideas. Expertise and investments in basic research abroad have
vastly expanded the global reservoir of scientific knowledge and talent.
Second, international cooperation facilitates U.S. scientist access to unique and
often expensive research facilities abroad. Many such facilities are one-of-a-kind
and provide special opportunities to pursue specific lines of research. In view of the
increasing costs of instrumentation in fields such as high energy physics, materials
science, earthquake engineering, and optical astronomy, for example, the prevalence
of one-of-a-kind research facilities is likely to increase.
Third, many important problems in the environmental, health, earth, biological,
and social sciences, as well as in engineering, require access to specific
geographical research sites or populations. Cooperative arrangements with
scientists and engineers from the countries involved can facilitate U.S. access to
those sites.
Finally, an increasing number of significant problems, such as possible global
climate change, AIDS, nuclear waste management and earthquake prediction are
intrinsically transnational or global in character. Obtaining and analyzing the
requisite information therefore requires coordinated international efforts.
Approximately one-eighth of the discretionary portion of the U.S. Government's
annual budget is devoted to research and development (R&D). By far the largest
portion is devoted to defense-related expenditures. However, in FY-1990 22 percent
of the discretionary portion, about $12 billion, or approximately 19 percent of the
total Government research and development (R&D), budget was devoted to the
support of basic research.
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U.S. International Basic Research Activities
Among the approximately one dozen U.S. Government agencies that invest in
basic research to help fulfill their respective missions, five account for over 90
percent of all Federal expenditures: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the
National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA), and the Departments of Energy (DOE) and Defense
(DOD). These agencies also account for the bulk of international basic research
expenditures by the Federal Government.
At the international level, Federal expenditures largely support cooperative
research and research-related activities of U.S. investigators, including advanced
education and training abroad. Research activities include, for example: field
research at foreign sites (usually with participation by local scientists); extended
residencies at foreign laboratories by U.S. students and senior scientists; small-scale
cooperative research projects involving a single U.S. investigator and a foreign
colleague working in the U.S. or abroad; larger-scale cooperation between U.S.
research centers and those abroad; and large complex multinational collaborations
in fields such as high energy physics and oceanography.
The United States has bilateral agreements that focus explicitly on cooperation in
basic research with over twenty countries. Basic research is also an important
component of cooperative research conducted under the auspices of bilateral
agreements in other areas such as health. In addition, basic research is conducted
under the terms of broader agency-to-agency and general umbrella agreements
between governments that do not explicitly refer to it as such.
Through these and less formal arrangements, the U.S. continues to assign high
priority to its bilateral interactions in basic research. Noteworthy in FY-1991 was a
National Science Foundation-supported U.S.-Federal Republic of Germany Seminar
on Bilateral Cooperation in Science and Technology. Organized by the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the Deutscher Verband
Technisch-Wissenschaftlicher Vereine (DVT) and the Alexander von Humbolt
Foundation, participants exchanged views on new opportunities for joint research
and development activities, including the participation of East German researchers
in future cooperation.
Also in FY-1991, two important science policy workshops were convened in
Washington and in Tihany, Hungary, under the basic research agreement NSF has
had with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences since 1972. The workshops explored
broad science policy issues relevant to the two countries' national research systems
and the bilateral relationship. Another noteworthy FY-1991 development was the
growth in access to Soviet scientists and research sites, especially in the fields of
mathematics and the geosciences, provided through the NSF-Academy of Sciences
of the USSR Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) concluded under the 1989
U.S.-USSR Agreement in the Basic Sciences.
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Four Key Areas during FY-1991
Four particular areas of international basic research during FY-1991 warrant
special discussion as noteworthy in promoting U.S. national science and technology
interests. These are biological diversity, biotechnology, high-performance
computing and communications, and large-scale "megascience" projects.
Biodiversity
The terms biological diversity or biodiversity, as generally accepted, refer to the
variety and variability of life forms, the genetic material they contain, the
assemblages they form, and the ecological roles they perform. Estimates indicate an
ongoing loss of the variety as well as absolute numbers of organisms, from the
smallest microorganism to large mammals. Although loss of biodiversity is global,
it is greatest in tropical developing nations, where biological diversity is most
concentrated and where ecosystems, including species-rich rain forests, are being
permanently lost to human populations and associated activities, especially farming.
The potential consequences are significant. Impacts on food, agriculture, and
health may be serious. For example, only about 150 kinds of plants worldwide are
extensively used for food (and perhaps only 5000 have ever been used). But there
are thousands of other plants which, if their properties were fully explored and
cultivated, could be useful in assuring stable food supplies -- as food themselves, or
as sources of useful genes for protection against stresses such as pests, weeds,
drought and salinity.
Fisheries provide a significant source of human nutrition. They supply 14% of the
animal protein in the world's diet and almost 60% in Japan's diet. Many artisanal
and subsistence fisheries depend upon nearshore and coastal waters. These fisheries
are an integral part of coral reefs, sea grasses, and related ecosystems. However, the
world's marine and freshwater fisheries are moderately to heavily exploited. As the
world population increases, greater pressure will be put on the world's fisheries to
provide needed protein.
We do not understand how changes in the population of one species might affect
other species, particularly the prey and predators of the target species. Changes in
community structure might result in a loss of diversity and productivity within the
ecosystem. For example, krill are a key species in the Southern Ocean food web.
Increased harvesting resulting in their reduced abundance could affect all mammals,
birds, and fish in the Southern Ocean ecosystem.
Tropical plants have also been a rich source of pharmaceuticals, including oral
contraceptives (originally produced from Mexican yams), muscle relaxants (based
on curare, a product made from several species of tropical vines and trees), and
drugs used in treating childhood leukemia and Hodgkin's disease (vincristine and
vinblastine), derived from the Madagascan periwinkle plant. The potential for
future discoveries could be vast.
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The importance of biodiversity goes well beyond these aspects. Deforestation in
the tropics may contribute to global climate change. Deforestation prevents
absorption of an estimated 10% of total annual emissions of carbon dioxide from all
sources.
Loss of biological diversity can be addressed only through novel economic, social,
and political actions based on sound knowledge of ecosystems. Though a great deal
is known about the causes of biodiversity loss, not enough is known about how
ecosystems function to be able to formulate development strategies that are based
on, and simultaneously conserve, the biological resources that sustain those
ecosystems. This is especially true in marine ecosystems where even less is known
than in terrestrial systems.
Events of the late 1970's and early 1980's began to turn biological diversity loss
into the global concern it is today. One turning point was a USG-sponsored 1978
Conference on Tropical Deforestation, which engendered early recognition of the
destructive effects of increasing deforestation rates in tropical latitudes. Awareness
heightened in 1980 with publication by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences
(NAS) of the report Research Priorities in Tropical Biology, which warned of perils
to human well-being if biological diversity loss continued at its then rate.
During FY-1991, biological diversity research attained a significant place in
Administration efforts to encourage environmentally sustainable economic growth
in the United States and abroad. In order to respond better to biodiversity as a
global issue, the Administration coordinated its biodiversity efforts more
cohesively. The Federal Coordinating Council for Science, Engineering, and
Technology (FCCSET) moved toward creating a cross-governmental forum for
discussion of global biodiversity loss, through establishment of a Subcommittee on
Environmental Biology under FCCSET's Committee on Life Sciences and Health.
Global loss of biodiversity and ecological risk would be the first areas to be
considered by the Subcommittee, to be composed of NSF, USDA, NIH, NOAA,
DOE, EPA, USAID, the Smithsonian Institution, and other relevant agencies.
FY-1991 also saw publication by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences of a
major new volume dedicated to biological diversity as a global resource. The new
work, Conserving Biodiversity in Developing Countries, presents an agenda for
research in biological monitoring, conservation research, information needs, and
human resources, designed to provide the critical information needed by decision
makers to design policies and programs to conserve biodiversity.
NSF plays a dominant Federal agency role in biodiversity-related research,
providing 90% of the Federal support for systematic biology work at colleges and
universities and 75% of the support for ecological sciences. NSF's Directorate for
Biological, Behavioral, and Social Sciences (BBS) has significantly expanded its
role in biotic survey and inventory work. Other NSF programs focus on biodiversity
research. For example, in FY 1991,
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NSF supported a joint workshop between American and Philippine scientists to
discuss and exchange information on contemporary concepts and methods in
algae/seagrass systematics and ecology, and to explore new directions in basic
research.
In FY-1991, a USAID collaborative program with NSF, mandated by Congress the
previous year, was further strengthened by USAID funding of $1.5 million. Support
has been provided for 33 biodiversity projects around the globe having high
scientific merit as judged by the NSF review system. USAID and NSF jointly
assess that these projects are contributing tangibly to the conservation of biological
diversity in USAID target countries, and to development objectives of USAID.
USAID's Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) supported a World Resources
Institute survey of U.S.-based government and private organizations to solicit data
on the biological diversity research and conservation activities they undertake in
developing countries. Published in FY-1991, the survey of activities during 1989
showed 1093 projects underway in 127 developing countries. Of $62.9 million
invested by the United States in developing countries, projects in Latin America
received 60%, Africa 17%, Asia and Oceania together 10%, and global or
multiregional projects 6%.
Although USAID and NSF are the leading sources of U.S. Government funds for
biodiversity projects in developing countries, other agencies play major roles. The
Developmental Therapeutics Program of the NIH's National Cancer Institute (NCI)
has a longstanding involvement in the discovery and development of anticancer
agents from natural products, involving a worldwide program of sample collection.
The effectiveness of agents from natural products in ovarian and probably other
types of cancer has generated enthusiastic support for continued, thorough
exploration of natural products.
Through its international germ plasm maintenance and preservation programs, the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) places a major focus on sustaining and
preserving biological diversity. Exploration programs are undertaken with
developing countries to identify and collect new plants and microorganisms of
potential benefit. For example, the USDA and China have developed and maintain
an extensive collection program to preserve and expand the diverse genetic material
being maintained at germ plasm repositories in Beijing, China and Fort Collins
Colorado.
The State Department-managed U.S. National Committee for the Man and the
Biosphere Program (MAB) has devoted major attention to biodiversity-related
research for over a decade. The objective of MAB is to develop a scientific basis
linking the natural and social sciences for the rational use and conservation of that
portion of the Earth which contains living organisms, the biosphere. The U.S.
National Committee collaborates with MAB Programs of 110 other nations both
bilaterally and through the international MAB secretariat at UNESCO.
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U.S. MAB supported planning for a major new international "Program on
Biodiversity," established in FY-1991 jointly by the International Union of
Biological Sciences (IUBS), the Scientific Committee on Problems of the
Environment (SCOPE) of the International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU),
and UNESCO's MAB program. The general objectives are to identify scientific
issues that require international cooperation on the role of biodiversity in ecosystem
functioning; and address general questions about how knowledge of species and
ecosystem diversity can contribute to global ecology. A first priority is to establish
strong links with other international programs addressing biodiversity conservation,
and national biodiversity efforts. The program is viewed as a major step towards
evolving a scientific basis for a global conservation strategy.
Much of U.S. MAB's research relating to biodiversity utilizes units of the
International Network of Biosphere Reserves. The network contains 300 units in 75
countries (47 units in the United States), including many of the world's outstanding
areas for biodiversity conservation and ecological research. U.S. MAB supports
international cooperation in monitoring biodiversity in biosphere reserves as well as
interdisciplinary research to help provide the scientific basis for conserving
biological diversity in the context of sustainable ecosystem uses.
Other worldwide efforts on biodiversity concerns accelerated in FY-1991. Begun
in 1988, elaboration continued on the United Nations Environment
Programme-piloted International Convention on Biological Diversity.
In 1991, the United States joined other countries in finalizing the 1983 Cartagena
Convention's new Protocol on Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife in the Wider
Caribbean Region (SPAW). The SPAW protocol calls for the establishment of a
regional network of protected areas to conserve, maintain and restore ecosystems, in
particular, to maintain the ecological and biological processes essential to the
functioning of the wider Caribbean ecosystem. In addition, the parties agreed to
protect key ecosystem components such as coral reefs, sea grasses and mangroves.
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is the use of living organisms or parts of organisms to make or
modify products, improve plants or animals, or develop microorganisms for specific
uses. Biotechnology relies both on basic research contributions of diverse scientific
and engineering fields, and on the application of resultant knowledge to the
bioprocessing and bioconversion of materials to provide useful goods and services.
U.S. Government biotechnology related research has traditionally emphasized
human health care. The majority of biotechnology research expenditures by major
Federal agencies currently come from the Department of Health and Human
Services. Other agencies that support biotechnology research include the
Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Interior, Justice and
Veterans Affairs, the Agency for International Development, the Environmental
Protection Agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the
National Science Foundation.
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Biotechnology Research and Regulation
In FY-1991, regulatory policy and research priorities and a flourishing free market
for biotechnology moved to the forefront of Administration attention as Vice
President Quayle, who chairs the President's Council on Competitiveness, presented
the Council's Report on National Biotechnology Policy to President Bush. The
Report recommended that Federal biotechnology funding allocations be examined in
the fields of agricultural, biomedical, energy, and environmental research, and areas
of opportunity be identified for support.
For several years, the United States has been working internationally toward a
harmonized approach to biotechnology oversight based on sound scientific, risk
based and product based principles. The Report on National Biotechnology Policy
stated Administration policy on biotechnology regulation, and set out principles that
guide the U.S. in the international arena. The report concluded that existing
regulatory regimes for plants, animals, pharmaceuticals, chemicals and toxic
substances provide an adequate framework for regulation of biotechnology.
The Vice President's report described principles for the scope of Federal oversight
of introductions into the environment of organisms with modified heredity traits.
The report stated that, unless otherwise required by law, introductions need
oversight only when the information available about the new product indicates that
it poses an increased risk to health, safety, or the environment.
The United States has been cooperating with the OECD, EC and participating
governments to minimize differences in approaches to regulating biotechnology,
and to exchange scientific information and experience on evaluating field trials. In
regard to scientific cooperation, the July 1991 meeting of the U.S.-EC Task Force
on Biotechnology Research provided an opportunity for biotechnology related
discussions on research, including mechanisms which would allow U.S. researchers
who receive grants for Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and USDA research
programs to work more closely with their European counterparts. The focus of this
effort would be on answering scientific questions about introducing modified
organisms into the environment.
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The Third Session of the UNCED Preparatory Committee (PrepCom), held in
Geneva, August 12 - September 4, 1991, included a focus on environmentally sound
management of biotechnology. Discussion of biotechnology safety reflected strong
divergences of opinion, not only along north-south lines but among industrialized
countries. The United States was in general agreement with stated PrepCom
objectives to facilitate the safe development of biotechnology techniques and
products and their application to problems of human health and environment.
In hopes of bridging the widely varying international views on safety issues and
encouraging a sound science basis for safety regulation, the United States continued
to emphasize recent initiatives by the Consultative Group on International
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to develop biosafety guidelines or principles for
biotechnology regulation. These initiatives address the interests of developing
countries in respect to international guidelines on biosafety concerns.
The Human Genome Project
Scientists refer to all the genetic material in the cells of a particular organism as its
genome. The Human Genome Project (HGP) is an international research effort
whose goals are to produce a variety of biological maps of human chromosomes,
and determine the complete chemical sequence of human DNA, the substance that
makes up genes. The HGP is spawning new research tools--chromosome maps,
DNA sequence information, laboratory technology, and computer databases--that
are expected to become the foundation of biomedical science in the 21st century.
Knowledge gained from genome project research helps scientists to understand,
and will help eventually to treat, many of the more than 4000 genetic diseases that
afflict human beings. Genome research also sheds light on the mechanisms of many
other common but complex diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer's
disease, in which genetic predisposition plays an important role.
In the United States, the HGP receives financial support from the National Center
for Human Genome Research (NCHGR) of the NIH, and the health and
environment branch of the Department of Energy's Office of Energy Research.
Other U.S. agencies currently supporting genome programs include the National
Science Foundation and the Agriculture Department. The Human Genome
Organization (HUGO), established in 1988, is an international consortium of
molecular biologists working to ensure that the genome project is coordinated
internationally, and that the information gained by project researchers is freely
accessible to scientists worldwide.
As of FY-1991, human genome programs had already begun or were about to
begin in many nations. These included the United Kingdom, Italy and other
members of the European Community (EC), Japan, the Soviet Union and South
Korea. France's Center for the Study of Human Polymorphisms (CEPH) is a focal
point for researchers developing genetic linkage maps of
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the human genome. CEPH maintains a large number of reference DNA samples,
which can be used by gene mappers in Europe, North America, and Africa. The
Japanese are focusing efforts on developing automated technology for DNA
sequencing.
Plant Biology
Another important international cooperative large-scale biotechnology project is the
Multinational Coordinated Arabidopsis thaliana Genome Research Project, aimed at
improving knowledge about plant biology. The project was developed on the
recognition that a more profound understanding of plant biology is essential to meet
the challenges facing world agriculture and the global environment; that the use of
Arabidopsis as an experimental model system is extremely effective in studying the
biology of flowering plants; and that international coordination is necessary for
rapid advances. The project seeks to determine the complete sequence of the
Arabidopsis genome by the end of the century.
By FY-1991 important progress had been made. Research on Arabidopsis in the
United States was substantial. NSF took the lead in developing the Arabidopsis
Genome Research Project as a research initiative for the United States, with
increased funding. In FY-1991, NSF, NIH, USDA, and DOE provided
approximately $7.5 million.
Smaller-Scale Biotechnology Collaborations
In FY-1990, the United States and the EC established a Task Force on
Biotechnology Research, to improve scientific cooperation and exchange
information and advice on biotechnology regulation. Task Force sessions during
FY-1991 stressed the importance of biotechnology research in potentially helping to
solve societal problems, and the need for advanced information systems to facilitate
dissemination of research results to the biotechnology community.
The 1988 U.S.-Japan bilateral science and technology agreement identified
bioprocess engineering as a priority area for cooperation. The Life Sciences Liaison
Group established under the agreement has responsibility for assessing opportunities
for cooperation in this field.
During FY-1991, members of the liaison group from NIH and USDA participated
in a Japanese Technology Evaluation Center (JTEC) panel to assess bioprocess
engineering in Japan. The JTEC was established more than five years ago by NSF,
in cooperation with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the
Department of Commerce (DOC), DOE, NASA, DOD, and NIH, to identify
Japanese science and technology strengths and contribute to enhanced scientific and
technological cooperation between the United States and Japan. Also in FY-1991,
NSF supported the "Third Conference to Promote U.S.-Japan Joint Projects and
Cooperation in Biotechnology," held in January at the Asilomar Conference Center
in Monterey, California.
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A five-year agreement for multidisciplinary basic research into the evolution of
microbes was announced during FY-1991 between NSF's Science and Technology
Center for Microbial Ecology at Michigan State University (MSU), and the Japan
Research and Development Corporation (JRDC).
While much of U.S. collaborative research in biotechnology has taken place with
Japan and Western Europe, other countries are beginning to surface as having high
potential for international cooperation. More than 200 research facilities and 50
different colleges and universities perform biotechnology and related research in
China. During the past five years, the Chinese government inaugurated two new
types of research centers to promote the development and commercialization of this
field. The first are biotechnology bases at Jiangmen and Shanghai, which are meant
to bring research results to the production stage. The second are key research and
university laboratories, which provide research training for scientists throughout
China.
Among U.S. government agencies, USAID's Science and Technology Bureau
provides the largest support for biotechnology-related efforts with developing
countries. International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), sponsored
primarily by USAID, conduct comprehensive, long-term research programs on
major food crops and key production systems in Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
Biotechnology is increasing in importance in the research programs of these
institutions; for example, plant biotechnology investment has been increasing at an
annual rate of nearly 30% in recent years.
High Performance Computing and Communications
Unprecedented computational power and capability is needed to investigate
contemporary science and engineering "grand challenge" problems such as
assessment and prediction of weather and possible climate change, determination of
molecular, atomic, and nuclear structure, understanding turbulence, pollution
dispersion, and combustion systems, mapping the human genome and understanding
the structure of biological macromolecules.
The design and development of computer networks has entailed one of the most
elaborate international science and technology collaborations that has ever taken
place. While much of the work has been accomplished on a local basis, the growing
importance of networking led to increased movement to coordinate national
developments. Within the United States, research-support networks of several
Federal agencies, including NSF, Defense Advanced Projects Agency (DARPA),
NASA, and DOE are coordinated by the recently-established Federal Networking
Council (FNC).
The Administration's cross-cutting R&D initiative proposed in FY-1991, the High
Performance Computing and Communications Program (HPCC), entailed
recognition that formal international collaboration in high performance computing
and communications was still in its early stages. With roots in today's rapidly
growing interconnected national and international computer networks serving the
scientific community, the HPCC has set the
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stage for enhanced international scientific research computing and networking for
the next decade. This is part of a major effort to make high performance computing
more available to researchers, accelerate the development of the next generations of
machines, develop improved software tools for computational research, and create a
high-speed data network for researchers to use for access to the high-performance
systems.
With funds allocated among nine agencies, the goal of the Administration's
proposed five-year HPCC program is to accelerate significantly the availability and
utilization of the next generation of high performance computers. The nine agencies
are: the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), DOE, NASA,
NSF, Department of Commerce/National Institute for Standards and Technology
(DOC/NIST), Department of Commerce/National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (DOC/NOAA), EPA, the Department of Health and Human
Services/National Institutes of Health (DHHS/NIH) and the Department of
Education.
The High Performance Computing Systems (HPCS) component of HPCC is the
development of technology required for parallel computing systems capable of
sustaining trillions of operations per second to solve large scientific problems. The
Advanced Software Technology and Algorithms (ASTA) part is the development of
generic software technology and algorithms for grand challenge research
applications. The National Research and Education Network (NREN) portion of the
initiative is the development of a high speed network to provide distributed
computing capability to research and educational institutions and to advance
research further on very high speed networks and applications. The Basic Research
and Human Resources (BRHR) component is the support of long term basic
research and education in computational science.
The 1990 decision reached by the President's Science Advisor, D. Allan Bromley
and EC Commission Vice President Filippo Pandolfi to list Information Science and
Technology (IST) as one of the priority areas for possible future research
collaboration between the United States and the EC was a factor significantly
advancing cooperation.
NSF has initiated an advanced computing systems program to create several
national supercomputer centers and expand the capabilities of NSF's fledgling
science computer network. The Defense Advanced Reseach Projects Agency
(DARPA), NSF, and other science agencies began informal coordination and
cooperation in developing both their computer architecture research programs and
networking. An elaborate web of interconnected national, regional, state, and local
computer networks to serve the scientific community has developed and grown
rapidly.
NSF now has in place NSFnet, a major backbone communication service for the
research community, which integrates a large number of local computer networks
into a host network known as Internet. Academic investigators may exchange data
and information and access computer facilities throughout the country, including
NSF-supported Supercomputer Centers. NASA and DOE are also operating
networks to support their missions, and contribute additional backbone facilities to
Internet in the form of the NASA Science Internet (NSI) and Energy Sciences
Network (ESNet) respectively.
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In Europe, major international backbones such as NORDUnet and others provide
connectivity to tens of thousands of computers on a large number of networks.
Research networks are now used by investigators in most science and engineering
disciplines throughout Western Europe, North America, Japan and Australia. Rapid
further spread is expected throughout Eastern Europe, the Soviet Union, Latin
America, China and the Pacific Rim as networks become established and grow in
those countries.
A number of services provide international connectivity among national networks.
The most widespread (e.g.BITNET) permit electronic mail and file transfer among
users throughout North and South America, Western Europe, and Japan by
connecting relatively low-speed networks within those regions. The higher speed,
broad-band NSFNet currently links 3500 local, regional and national networks,
one-third of which are non-U.S. With 32 countries represented, including Canada,
Australia, major European nations, Mexico, Japan, Israel, Korea, and Chile, NSFnet
has a global reach.
Some scientific disciplines have developed their own, specialized international
research networks, such as HEPNET for high energy physics, and SPAN for space
and astrophysics. By early 1991, the global Internet, to which NSFnet is linked, had
grown to link over 315,000 computers used by as many as 3,000,000 people.
Megaprojects
The rising costs of research and the resulting desirability for international cost and
knowledge sharing have contributed new names for large-scale projects:
"megascience" or "megaproject." A megaproject can be defined as one which a)
addresses a set of scientific problems of such extraordinary significance, scope, and
complexity as to b) require elaborate or extensive facilities, instruments, human
resources and logistic support, to the degree that c) both special governmental
policy involvement and an unusually large scale collaborative effort are necessary.
Megaprojects can entail large capital facilities such as particle accelerators,
synchrotron radiation sources, magnetic fusion devices and space-based science
facilities. Megascience also encompasses projects, typically in the earth and ocean
sciences (such as the global change research project), whose scientific character
requires geographically dispersed research. Dispersed activities such as the
international Human Genome Project can also be viewed as megaprojects (see
discussion under Biotechnology above).
The Superconducting Super Collider
The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) is a world-class particle accelerator
and laboratory which will have an unprecedented capability to advance
understanding of the origins and basic constituents of matter.
When completed, the SSC will accelerate proton and anti-proton beams to speeds
approaching the speed of light and store those counter rotating high energy beams in
a single circular tunnel approximately 86 kilometers (53 miles) in circumference.
Superconducting magnets employing frontier technologies will guide the particle
beams to interaction
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regions where up to 100 million collisions will take place per second. Massive yet
highly sensitive detectors will collect the resultant sub-nuclear particles and, by
reconstructing the details of the collisions that produced them, scientists will be able
to probe the fundamental interactions that have taken place.
The SSC was first seriously contemplated in 1983 and its total construction cost
has been estimated at $8.3 billion. The operating costs after commissioning are
estimated at $500 million per year. Both the Administration and the Congress have
determined that the U.S. Government should not provide more than two thirds of the
total construction cost. The state of Texas, where the SSC is to be located, has
committed $1 billion; an additional $1.7 billion is being sought from foreign
sources.
Delegations of U.S. scientists and government officials have visited Western
European and Canadian laboratories and government offices to provide in-depth
briefings on the SSC and to seek participation and support. European interest,
however, is limited by a proposal for a smaller, less costly facility having
significantly less scientific capabilities, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), for the
European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN) laboratory. CERN is a high energy
and nuclear research organization located on the border between France and
Switzerland and is supported by several mostly Western European countries
together with Yugoslavia and, recently, Poland. The U.S. also participates in
several of the major projects at CERN.
A substantial partnership in the SSC is being sought from Japan. The U.S. has
proposed that Japan become a partner of the United States in the SSC laboratory.
While the Japanese government remained non-committal as of the end of FY-1991,
as a result of discussions between President George Bush and Prime Minister
Miyazawa a Joint Working Group on the SSC has been formed. Discussions have
been initiated with several other countries, including the former Soviet Union,
Korea, Brazil, and India. India has undertaken to contribute to the development of
the project, and substantive negotiations about the auspices and character of that
support continued during FY-1991.
Space Station Freedom
NASA is working on a variety of projects that further knowledge in a number of
areas. Ongoing Space Shuttle missions and development of the international Space
Station Freedom lead NASA's current activities.
Space Station Freedom was conceived as a multinational megaproject
collaboration from the outset. Following NASA briefings in 1983, President
Reagan announced in his January 1984 State of the Union address that the U.S.
intended to build an international space station. The space station was subsequently
discussed during the 1984 economic summit, and in more detail at two international
workshops in June and September of 1984. At the workshops, Japan, Canada and
the European Space Agency (ESA) were invited to submit proposals on
international agreements to cover the coordination of system definition and
preliminary design of the space station.
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In 1988, the United States signed an Intergovernmental Agreement and a
supporting Memorandum of Understanding entailing participation in the space
station by nine European governments through ESA. The Japanese and Canadians
also signed the Intergovernmental Agreement and implementing Memoranda of
Understanding covering their very substantial commitments. After joining the
program at U.S. invitation, the partners have participated fully in the project,
including a recent redesign. The foreign contributions total nearly $8 billion, of
which in excess of $1 billion has already been spent. The international partners
have further agreed to share in the operating costs over the projected 30-year
lifetime of the project.
In 1991, the United States signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Italian
Space Agency to provide a pair of mini-logistics modules and, possibly, a
mini-laboratory. In exchange, the U.S. will provide the Italians access to a portion
of Space Station resources allocated to the U.S.
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)
Another kind of megaproject has resulted from the Administration's goal to
develop a comprehensive process on issues associated with the profound economic
and social implications of global change and possible responses to those changes.
Due to the complex, multidisciplinary character of the scientific problems involved,
in 1989 the FCCSET Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences (CEES)
working group on global change developed a comprehensive, multi-year research
program, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP).
The USGCRP arose out of the perceived need to study global
atmospheric/oceanic/terrestrial processes and interactions to understand better the
natural Earth system and human impact on that system. Recent scientific findings
that project future depletion of Earth's protective ozone layer and/or possible
warming of the Earth's climate have underscored the importance of these studies.
In these and other environmental questions, a salient feature is the significant
scientific uncertainty associated with predicting the complex behavior of the
coupled ocean-atmosphere-land system.
The goals of the multi-agency USGCRP are to understand and describe the
interactive physical, chemical, and biological processes that regulate the total Earth
system, the unique environment it provides for life, changes occurring in this
system, and the manner in which human action may be related to such changes. The
USGCRP entails activities of the White House Office of Science and Technology
Policy and the Council on Environmental Quality, the Office of Management and
Budget, National Space Council, and agencies including the following:
Department of Agriculture
Department of Commerce (NOAA)
Department of Defense
Department of Energy
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Housing and Urban Development
Department of the Interior
Environmental Protection Agency
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National Aeronautics and Space Administration
National Science Foundation
Tennessee Valley Authority
Smithsonian Institution
Extensive international interactions have been central from the outset to planning
and implementation of the USGCRP. The USGCRP serves as the U.S. National
Committee for the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP) of the
International Council of Scientific Unions (ICSU). Also involved are other ICSU
committees such as the Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research (SCOR) and the
International Social Science Council (ISSC) Committee on the Human Dimensions
of Global Environmental Change. Planning also proceeds through
intergovernmental organizations such as the World Meteorological Organization
(WMO), UNESCO's Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), and the
United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP). The World Climate Research
Programme (WCRP) is jointly undertaken by ICSU and WMO. During FY-1991,
WMO, IOC and UNEP endorsed the global climate observing system, including the
climate component of the global ocean observing system. Interagency coordination
of the international components of the U.S. GCRP is conducted when appropriate
through the FCCSET Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences' Task Group
on International Coordination and Development.
The U.S. has taken an active role in the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites
(CEOS). CEOS encourages complementarity and compatibility among space-borne
Earth observing systems through coordination in mission planning, promotion of
full and non-discriminatory data access, setting of data products standards, and
development of compatible data products, services and applications. In addition,
U.S. agencies that fund global change research are developing direct ties with
funding agencies in other countries, in particular, through the newly created
informal International Group of Funding Agencies (IGFA). On the
non-governmental side, the CEES works closely with the U.S. National Academy of
Sciences (NAS) which represents the U.S. science community, and in particular, the
Committee on Global Change Research (CGCR).
Assessing Megaprojects
The increasing complexity of many proposed megaprojects, as well as cost
concerns, have led to an Administration decision to examine the megaprojects issue
in depth. Much of the public policy debate in the U.S. about megaprojects has been
cast in terms of "big science versus little science." Some have argued that, at a time
of scarce budget resources, support for traditional small science in a wide variety of
fields may erode because of support for very large and expensive megaprojects in a
relatively few fields. Until quite recently, the focus of this debate was almost
entirely domestic. However, costs of highly visible megaprojects such as the SSC,
Space Station Freedom and the Global Change Research Program have moved the
debate into the international arena.
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In FY-1991, the President's Science Advisor created two key new groups to look at
national and international issues associated with megaprojects. One is an
interagency committee, the Subcommittee on Science Megaprojects, of the
FCCSET Committee on International Science, Engineering and Technology
(CISET), with representation from the principal non-defense agencies that support
large-scale projects in addition to the State Department and the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB).
The second is a panel on Megaprojects in the Sciences under the auspices of the
President's Council of Advisers on Science and Technology (PCAST), a
Presidentially appointed group of twelve distinguished non-government individuals,
chaired by the President's Science Advisor. The purpose of the panel is to develop
information and policy options to provide a base for PCAST advice to the President
on national and international policy issues related to the planning, financing and
organization of large scale science projects.
The panel has been asked to advise whether a comprehensive international
framework for coordination and cooperation is desirable, and how countries could
cooperate to ensure that the cost and benefits of megaprojects are shared equitably.
The panel was also asked to suggest the most appropriate international fora,
governmental and scientific, in which such cooperation could be further discussed
and coordinated (for example, OECD, United Nations, International Council of
Scientific Unions (ICSU), and/or the group of seven economic summit countries
(G-7 plus the Soviet Union)).
Related activities were to continue into FY-1992, including an October 1991
"workshop on International Collaboration in Science Megaprojects," sponsored
jointly by NSF and the European Community (EC) Directorate for Science,
Research and Development (DG XII). In March 1992, the Ministers of Science of
the OECD countries are scheduled to meet in Paris. Primarily at the suggestion of
the President's Science Advisor, the megaproject issue will be the principal topic for
discussion.
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LIFE AND HEALTH SCIENCES
Introduction
International cooperation is essential to assuring sustained and efficient research
advances, including appropriate and effective application of new methodologies and and
technologies to improve human health. Moreover, the need for communication
collaboration internationally has grown in proportion to the rapid advances in
scientific technologies and research progress. International cooperation in life and
health sciences benefits both Americans and citizens of other countries alike. The
study of diseases in diverse populations around the world allows epidemiologists
and others to compare differences in the amount or severity of disease, thereby
pointing to biological or behavioral factors which could lead to cures.
Following the pattern initiated in the FY-1990 Title V report, this chapter focuses
on selected areas in the health and life sciences field seen as important for
international cooperation in the 1990's. The focus areas for 1991 are: cancer,
epidemiology, nutrition, alcohol and drug abuse, reproductive physiology and
population research, and development of new drugs from natural products.
General Comments
The two U.S. Government agencies most actively engaged in international health
cooperation are the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) of the Department of Health
and Human Services and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).
Other federal agencies, including the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research of the
Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the National Science
Foundation (NSF) are involved in international health science cooperation as well.
The Department of State, through the OES Environmental Directorate's Office of
Ecology, Health and Conservation (OES/EHC), provides a central coordinating
focus among U.S. Government agencies dealing with international health issues.
Each of the agencies of the Public Health Service -- the Agency for Health Care
Policy and Research; Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry; Alcohol,
Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration; Centers for Disease Control; Food
and Drug Administration; Health Resources and Services Administration; Indian
Health Service; and National Institutes of Health -- cooperate with institutions in
other countries. In general, PHS programs seek to advance the status of knowledge
in the health sciences and to promote the application of that knowledge to real-world
health problems both in the U.S. and other nations. Many of these programs involve
important technology transfer components.
USAID seeks to improve health care in developing countries and to reduce the
effects of poor health which act as major barriers to economic and social
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development. A significant part of USAID's efforts includes the support of
programs in maternal and child health, nutrition, international family planning and
control of AIDS.
The agencies of the Public Health Service alone are engaged in bilateral
relationships with some fifty countries. These include, but are not necessarily
limited to, programs under umbrella science and technology agreements,
"ministry-to-ministry" level agreements for health cooperation, as well as
agreements and arrangements at institute, center or bureau levels. Principal among
these bilateral relationships are those with the Peoples Republic of China, Egypt,
France, India, Israel, Italy, Japan, Eastern Europe and the (former) Soviet Union.
Additionally, the PHS agencies, primarily the National Institutes of Health, award a
substantial number of grants and contracts to foreign as well as domestic institutions
for projects which have a foreign component. These awards are made as part of the
normal research programs of the agency in pursuit of research solutions to U.S.
domestic health problems. An estimated $60 million in awards were made in
FY-1991. Additionally, the PHS agencies received close to 3,000 foreign visitors,
2,000 of whom were visiting scientists.
PHS' international health interests encompass but are not necessarily limited to the
following subjects:
Arthritis
Biomedical resources development
Cancer
Cardiovascular disease
Child health and development
Dental health
Disease prevention and control, including tropical medicine and
vaccine development
Emergency medical services
Environmental health and toxicology
Food Genetics and drug consumer protection, including quality control of biologicals
Gerontology
Immunology Health services research, including manpower development
Mental health and neurology
Medical library science
Metabolic disorders
Pulmonary disease
Reproductive physiology
Substance addiction
Vision research
The past year presented a number of important challenges due to the rapidly
changing political situation in the world, particularly events in Eastern Europe and
the Soviet Union, Africa and the Middle East. PHS and USAID worked to meet this
challenge by planning and developing new program approaches relevant to the new
situation. This included a greater focus on health policy issues, including
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health financing, in the dialogue with eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
In Africa, greater attention was focused on AIDS and, as a follow up to the
September 1990 World Summit on Children, problems particularly relevant to the
survival and development of children. In the Middle East, attention was drawn to
the environmental health situation in the Gulf area caused by the large number of oil
well fires in Kuwait.
Cancer
Although the international health community has made major strides in controlling
infectious diseases and subsequently increasing life spans throughout the world,
growing numbers of people who reach middle and old age are being stricken with
cancer, a leading global cause of sickness and death. In the United States alone,
cancer is the cause of more than a half million deaths each year.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has
intensified its efforts, through a wide range of international bilateral and multilateral
activities, to find new methods for detecting, preventing and treating the various
cancers and advancing the international medical community's fundamental
knowledge of cancer biology. By 1991, on the eve of the twentieth anniversary of
the signing of the National Cancer Act, the NCI led campaign against cancer
reached virtually every corner of the globe. In the former Soviet Union, several
clinical trials concerning the treatment of colorectal and breast cancer had been
initiated, in parallel to trials conducted in the United States. Information on
state-of-the-art treatments is now being disseminated freely for the first time in the
former East-bloc nations.
New insights into the mechanisms of cancer, fueled largely by rapid advances over
the past decade in DNA technology, have enhanced this global effort. The ability of
scientists to cut, splice and recombine DNA -- the genetic material of all living
things has provided a molecular window on the way in which healthy cells may
become warped into malignancy. Scientists now know that viruses can trigger or
play active roles in the development of some cancers. Life-style factors such as
cigarette smoking in lung cancer and sun exposure in skin cancer have been linked
closely to the process of malignant transformation. More recently, diet has also
been implicated in some forms of cancer.
As more is learned about genetic and environmental factors that promote cancer,
new strategies are being devised for prevention and treatment both in the United
States and abroad. For example, in 1991, physicians at NIH used gene therapy for
the first time in an effort to treat advanced melanoma, a skin cancer for which no
effective therapy is currently available. Although the treatment is highly
experimental and currently offered only in the United States, the concept that the
body's natural immunity can be bolstered to fight cancer is offering hope where
none existed before.
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Meanwhile, on the international front, NCI is pursuing a number of bilateral
activities designed to heighten understanding of cancer and improve existing
treatments. NCI participates through its Office of International Affairs in many of
the 73 bilateral agreements that NIH has forged with 39 other nations. Highlights of
these bilateral activities include: work in the United Kingdom where
U.S.-supported trials are the world's most advanced in the evaluation of neutron
therapy for the treatment of cancers of the prostate, lung, head, and neck; a
collaborative effort with investigators at the German Research Center in Heidelberg
to develop vaccines against human papilloma viruses, a known environmental
trigger in the development of cervical cancers; and an agreement with the Japanese
Society for the Promotion of Science and the Japanese Foundation for Cancer
Research to hold state of the art workshops on as yet unpublished results in cancer
etiology, biology, diagnosis and treatment.
An NCI contract with the Finnish National Public Health Institute in Helsinki
supported epidemiologic studies assessing the role of fats, selenium and vitamins A,
E, and C in breast-cancer development and the role of other nutrients on subsequent
development of colon and lung cancers. Under a collaborative agreement with NCI,
investigators in China examined whether multivitamin and mineral supplements can
prevent esophageal cancer.
Through a joint initiative between the U.S. and Canada, 22 communities in the
U.S. and Canada are participating in the Community Intervention Trial for Smoking
Cessation (COMMIT). Under this four-year program, which targets heavy smokers,
half of the COMMIT communities were randomly selected to receive a
smoking-cessation intervention protocol. The results of this trial are considered
vital to future efforts to expand smoking-control activities in communities across
North America.
Multilaterally in 1991, NCI continued to maintain close working relationships with
numerous international health agencies, including the European Organization for
Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC), the International Agency for Research
on Cancer (IARC), the International Union Against Cancer (IUAC), the
Organization of European Cancer Institutes (OECI), the Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
One of the most important research issues being addressed internationally is that of
breast cancer screening and mammography quality control. The NCI is working
with the WHO, the IUAC and a dozen other nations to develop an International
Breast Cancer Screening Database. This database will provide information on
alternative breast cancer treatments and screening procedures and will promote
screening efficacy and effectiveness in the diverse health-care environments found
in the participating countries. NCI has also been at the forefront of research into
occupational risks in the development of certain cancers. For example, a study of
underground tin miners in China exposed to high levels of radon found that
exposure during the early teen-age years was no more hazardous than exposure in
later life, and that damage to one's health was largely a function of length
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of exposure to a given total dose. Other collaborative studies in Sweden and the
United States including innovative approaches to dosimetry (measurements of
radiation), should provide new information on the possible level of risk from
residential radon.
An important component of the international medical community's effort to
combat cancer is the scientific exchange of ideas. Toward that end, nearly 700
foreign scientists participated in the NIH Visiting Program during 1991 and an
additional 140 came to the United States as exchange scientists through funding
from the Office of International Affairs of the NCI. The NCI's International Cancer
Information Center's on-line database called Physicians Data Query (PDQ) is
providing scientists from around the world access to vital up-to-date cancer
information. The computerized database includes active investigational and
standard protocols for cancer treatment and enables clinicians to quickly learn of
promising new developments and to provide patient care based on the most recent
and accurate information. Future plans call for a wider distribution of this and other
databases, through CD-ROM and other technologies to under served populations
both in the United States and abroad. Access to these databases was provided to
scientists in India and selected African countries in 1991.
The continued combined efforts of leading investigators from around the globe are
essential to further gains in diminishing the suffering and reducing deaths caused by
the many feared and highly formidable types of cancer.
Epidemiology
Epidemiology is the science that investigates the cause and control of diseases by
analyzing statistics and comparing traits of individuals and populations.
Epidemiologists are detectives who uncover the causes of disease outbreaks and
their findings often reveal ways to prevent further cases. Epidemiologists can also
determine the impact and effectiveness of health-promotion and disease-prevention
programs. In addition, epidemiological data is particularly useful to governments
when setting health policy. Epidemiological methods can identify new disease
threats both within populations, and from one population to another, a particularly
important capability in an era when diseases such as cholera and AIDS penetrate
national borders with frightening ease.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) are all involved in a
variety of international epidemiological programs, ranging from the study of disease
patterns abroad, to the training of epidemiologists and helping health leaders and
policy makers use epidemiological data in decision-making.
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In conjunction with the World Health Organization and others, CDC's Division of
Reproductive Health published an updated version of the Reproductive Health
Epidemiology Manual in 1991. Using earlier versions of the manual, CDC
conducted more than a dozen workshops in Thailand, Bangladesh, Mexico, Kenya,
China, Indonesia, and Cameroon. These workshops provide training in reproductive
health epidemiology and assist public health professionals in designing research
projects with direct impacts on maternal and infant health outcomes. For example, a
randomized trial of antibiotics given at the time of intra-uterine device (IUD)
insertion, developed in one of these workshops, led to policy and programmatic
improvements in Kenya. That study is being replicated in the U.S. with funding
from the National Institute of Child Health and Development.
Epidemiology, Heart Disease and Cancer
Among the most important epidemiology initiatives are those involving heart
disease and cancer. Heart disease is the number one killer in industrialized nations
and is becoming a major cause of death in the developing world. In 1990, the
estimate of people dying in the U.S. from heart disease was 725,000. Cancer is in
next place with half a million deaths a year. It was classical epidemiological studies
of populations in the United States and abroad that first confirmed the contribution
to these diseases of lifestyle factors, including diet and occupation. Ongoing
epidemiological studies are adding further knowledge on both diseases, and could
contribute to treatment and prevention programs in the United States as well as
abroad.
Over the past year, the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
collaborated with more than 20 countries, one-third of which are developing nations,
in the study of heart and lung disease. For instance, U.S.-Japan collaborative
studies are exploring the relationship between cholesterol and stroke. The
prevalence of stroke is three times greater in Japanese men living in Japan than in
men of Japanese descent in Hawaii. U.S. and Japanese researchers are carrying out
epidemiological and pathological studies to determine the cause of this phenomenon.
There has been a three way collaboration in cardiovascular epidemiology
underway since 1972 between NHLBI and its counterpart in the former Soviet
Union, and the University of North Carolina. Under this program, 12 lipid research
centers were set up in the Soviet Union to study cholesterol and patterns of
atherosclerosis. One of the most striking findings so far is that there is a dramatic
difference in cholesterol and triglyceride levels between Soviet and American men
aged 40-59. Men in the U.S. samples had higher triglyceride levels which increases
the risk of cardiovascular disease. The Soviet men had higher levels of high-density
lipoprotein, the so-called "good" cholesterol, reducing their risk of heart disease.
Researchers are continuing data analysis to find reasons for the difference in an
attempt to help reduce the incidence of atherosclerosis.
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The National Cancer Institute is conducting epidemiological studies in a number of
countries to better understand risk factors for cancer. In China, for instance, three
occupational studies evaluating cancer incidence among 200,000 workers exposed
to benzene, silica, radon or arsenic are near completion and two other recent
collaborative studies have clarified the role of air pollution in lung cancer risk.
Training in Epidemiology
Recognizing that protecting the health of Americans is enhanced through better
control of disease worldwide, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control have created
important programs to strengthen epidemiological capabilities abroad. This is
carried out both bilaterally and in cooperation with the World Health Organization
(WHO). CDC is considered the world leader for training in epidemiology and
maintains a program designed to train epidemiologists in their own countries. The
Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP) are two-year, postgraduate medical
training programs operated within the host country's ministry of health. Since 1980,
when CDC and WHO began an FETP with Thailand, FETPs have been established
in Indonesia, Mexico, Taiwan, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia and Peru.
Even the best epidemiological information may do no good if it does not help a
country's senior decision-makers to set health policy. In 1991, USAID and CDC
inaugurated the "Data for Decision Making Program" to increase the proportionate
role of scientific data in national leaders' health policy decision-making. The
program offers workshops, seminars and short courses for government leaders and
for technical support personnel. This program receives support from USAID.
The Fogarty International Center at NIH has established two international
training programs to increase the expertise of U.S. and foreign scientists in the
epidemiology of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS). These programs
are intended to improve scientific expertise globally, with particular emphasis on
the developing countries, as part of the effort to combat the AIDS crisis. The
programs have recently been expanded to include the Soviet Union and the countries
of eastern Europe.
Other Epidemiology Research
The Epidemiology Branch within the AIDS Division of the National Institute of
Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID), NIH, conducts an extensive research
grants program. This program supports U.S. scientists as well as those from
numerous developing countries in studies of risk factors, transmission patterns, and
other aspects of the disease. The International Center for AIDS Research (ICAR)
aims to build collaborative links between the United States and foreign scientists
and to develop foreign centers of excellence in AIDS research. ICARs are
supported in Brazil, Malawi, Mexico, Senegal and Zaire. Epidemiological data
gathered by these ICARs are now being used in a new NIAID program to support
AIDS vaccine trials and sexually transmitted disease (STD) intervention research.
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Epidemiologists worldwide are also analyzing population trends in age groups
from newborns to the elderly. An example of such work is that of researchers at the
National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) in
collaboration with their Danish counterparts, in a study of Danish girls to determine
whether those who were born premature or small are at increased risk of giving birth
to pre-term or growth-retarded children.
Issues of aging are expected to share more of the research spotlight as the
percentage of the global population made up of the elderly increases. The number of
persons 60-and-over is expected to triple to an estimated 1.1 billion by the year
2025. With this in mind, the National Institute on Aging (NIA) is providing grants
worldwide for the study of aging in specific populations. In Finland, Italy and the
Netherlands, scientists collaborating in one such NIA backed study are analyzing
the long-term effects of sociodemographic, behavioral and biological factors which
may lead to transition from good health to diseased or disabled health status.
The Neuroepidemiology Branch of the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke, in cooperation with the International Association of Research
and Teaching in the Neurosciences, will soon issue the first international research
criteria for the diagnosis of vascular dementia. This disorder, also known as
multi-infarct dementia, is the second most common cause of dementia in the
elderly. It is caused by restricted blood flow to deep areas of the brain. The new
criteria will help not only in diagnosis of specific cases, but in designing new
international studies needed to help understand and prevent the condition.
Nutrition
U.S. scientists are cooperating with their colleagues around the world to determine
how what we eat affects our health, our life span, and how food-related factors may
either increase or decrease the likelihood of certain diseases. Study of the many
variations of diet in individual countries abroad and the effects of malnutrition often
give important insight into conditions that afflict inhabitants of all nations, including
the United States. Diet has been implicated in a number of serious health problems,
such as stroke, heart attack and cancer. Another important dimension of U.S. efforts
is to help ameliorate malnutrition, particularly in the developing countries.
One of the most pressing health problems, especially in the developing world, is
malnutrition. This condition is estimated to be a contributing factor in up to 60
percent of child deaths. A related problem, Vitamin A deficiency, remains the most
significant cause of childhood blindness in developing countries. Because their
diets lack sufficient vitamin A, half a million preschool-age children worldwide
develop severe eye disease each year. In addition, forty-three million other children
under age 5 (7% of all children) experience milder forms of vitamin A deficiency.
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Among USAID's projects are valuable studies related to vitamin A deficiency,
including an important intervention study in Nepal, whose preliminary results
suggest that nutrition education and diet change can be as successful as vitamin A
supplementation in controlling eye disease resulting from vitamin A deficiency.
These findings complement results from a southern India study, in which scientists
of the National Eye Institute assisted, which found that weekly consumption of
vitamin A at recommended levels dramatically reduced (by 54%) the risk of
preschool children dying from common childhood infections.
Anemia due to iron deficiency is the world's most prevalent nutrition related
malady, striking particularly hard at women and young children. The estimated
global population of iron deficiency anemia sufferers is 1.3 billion people, 24
percent of the world's population. Infants born to severely anemic mothers have
lower birth weights and are at increased risk of death. Recent reports indicate that
iron deficiency anemia contributes to a reduction in both physical capacity and
productivity in adults, and in children a decrease in cognitive performance. If the
deficiency in children is not corrected early, its effects may be irreversible.
USAID is helping to develop new ways to make sure that women and children in
the developing world consume enough iron. USAID is supporting several projects
that distribute iron supplements and is field testing a unique slow-release iron
capsule. USAID is also exploring the possibility of projects that would add iron to
commonly used foods such as whole wheat flour and other cereals, legumes flours
and condiments.
USAID contributes to programs in some 53 countries to improve infant and child
feeding practices. The Agency has pioneered programs to teach mothers what and
how to feed children, how to feed them during bouts of diarrhea, and how to monitor
growth. USAID also uses education and social marketing techniques to promote
breast feeding, a key to good infant nutrition and health. The Agency now sponsors
75 projects in 28 countries to boost vitamin A consumption, concentrating on four
kinds of activities: distribution of high-dose supplements, food fortification, home
production of vitamin-rich foods and nutrition education and marketing.
In the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War malnutrition was widespread among the
Kurdish children refugees along the Iraq/Turkey border, and CDC researchers found
it was associated with the severe, prolonged diarrhea occurring during residency in
mountain camps. Scientists from USAID and CDC cooperated with the United
Nations to distribute oral rehydration therapy which replaces salt and liquid lost
during diarrhea -- and nutritional supplementation.
NIH supports collaborative studies abroad focusing on nutritional risk factors for
heart disease and cancer, the leading causes of death in many industrialized
countries. Since there are greater nutritional variations abroad than found in the
United States alone, these studies offer an important opportunity to learn how
food-related factors may increase or decrease the likelihood of heart
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disease and certain cancers. NIH support has included grants for international
research and cooperation with scientists in other countries, as well as participation
in meetings and workshops. For instance, the National Cancer Institute is
supporting studies in Linxian, China, to determine whether vitamin and mineral
supplements can help prevent esophageal cancer incidence. In Finland, NCI
supported researchers are assessing the role of fats, selenium and vitamins A, E and
C in breast cancer development. In another study, beta-carotene and vitamin E are
being tested as lung cancer chemopreventive agents among 29,000 male smokers.
NCI researchers working with scientists in Italy studied the high prevalence of
stomach cancer among inhabitants of northern provinces, finding increased risk was
associated with high consumption of cold cuts, seasoned cheeses and dried, salted
fish, while decreased risk was associated with consumption of fresh fruits and
vegetables, including garlic. A similar study of stomach cancer in China confirmed
the protective role of fresh produce.
The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) continues to sponsor
large-scale studies and intervention programs to study the origins of heart disease in
certain populations and test the effect of lifestyle and dietary interventions. Since
1981, U.S. and Chinese scientists have collaborated on large-scale studies,
supported by NHLBI, that compare trends, rates and risk factors for
cardiopulmonary disease among 11,000 workers from Beijing and Guangzhou. The
researchers found that serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels in Guangzhou
workers increased during the course of the study, suggesting a deterioration in
dietary and lifestyle habits that could raise the incidence of heart disease.
Intervention studies are being carried out to assess the effect of reducing the
workers' salt and fat intake, and additionally having them lose weight and quit
smoking. In Germany, NHLBI has collaborated with German investigators to test
the ability of a concerted intervention strategy to modify cardiovascular risk by
promoting weight reduction and consumption of less salt and fat.
Other conditions are under study as well. The National Eye Institute has sponsored
studies in India, Italy and the United States to identify possible nutritional and
environmental risk factors and assess their importance in the development of
age-related cataracts. Among the findings are that dietary consumption of vitamins
C and E, and carotene, plus riboflavin, niacin, thiamine and iron are associated with
a reduced risk of some types of cataracts.
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases
continues to collaborate with Italian researchers in designing national
epidemiological studies in Italy on osteoporosis. In a preliminary analysis of the
data, deaths attributed to fractures were found to be significantly higher in the
northern and central regions than in the southern part of the country. In another
study in Peru, National Institute of Dental Research scientists found that infants who
suffer malnutrition in their first year of life are extremely susceptible to decay in
their first set of teeth.
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The Public Health Service, USAID, and USDA are collectively preparing for the
International Nutrition Congress to be held in 1992. Among the important
preparatory activities was a conference in 1991 on micronutrient deficiencies, a
particularly important problem in developing countries. U.S. agencies also
participate actively in nutrition related work of agencies of the United Nations
system, including the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund
and Food and Agriculture Organization. This participation includes assignment of
personnel to those organizations, participation on their technical advisory bodies
and conduct of studies. There is, for example, a new emphasis on iodine deficiency,
the cause of goiter and cretinism in large population groups.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Alcohol and drug abuse continue to destroy hundreds of thousands of lives
throughout the world, causing untold damage to society and economic development,
and even threatening the political stability of some nations. In many countries, the
costs to society in terms of premature death, lost worker productivity, injuries and
violence, as well as increased health care and other infrastructure costs are sizeable.
Alcohol is the number one drug of abuse in the United States. Approximately 15
million Americans may suffer from alcohol abuse and alcoholism, and about 43
million Americans may be adversely affected as a result. Alcohol abuse is
responsible for an estimated 100,000 deaths per year in the U.S., and the annual cost
to the nation has been estimated to be in the range of $86-$113 billion. The
consumption of alcoholic beverages and alcohol-related problems are increasing in
many developing countries as well. In Nigeria, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya, and many
other African nations rapid urbanization and industrialization have resulted in
changes in alcohol consumption patterns, and producing alcoholic beverages is often
seen as economically attractive in the early stages of industrialization. In those
regions now experiencing rapid cultural, social, and economic change (Africa,
eastern and central Europe, and the former Soviet Union), increased stress is leading
to higher alcohol consumption and misuse. At the same time traditional defenses
against alcohol-related problems, such as cultural values and the influence of family
and community, are being undermined by rapid social change. Furthermore, the
existing health care systems in these areas do not have sufficient resources to handle
this growing problem.
There are some positive signs. As evidence of the international community's
growing recognition of the severity of the alcohol and drug abuse problem, many
countries are now for the first time conceding that the problem represents a threat to
their citizens. Alcohol and drug abuse are no longer strictly national problems but
of international dimensions and importance. In recent months, for example, a
growing number of nations have expressed keen interest in joining the U.S. in a
systematic international approach focusing on scientific and public health
cooperation on alcohol and drug abuse. In short, growing numbers of
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nations are beginning to realize that alcohol and drug abuse are clearly medical as
well as law-enforcement problems. India, for example, expressed interest for the
first time in adopting a wide range of U.S. programs, including detoxification
programs in jails and specific regimens for the treatment of drug addiction.
U.S. health agencies are forging close relationships within the international
community to help find solutions to the alcohol and drug abuse problem that shows
little signs of abating. Playing leading roles are the National Institute on Drug
Abuse (NIDA) and the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism
(NIAAA). These two agencies are part of the Public Health Service and operate
within the Alcohol, Drug Abuse and Mental Health Administration (ADAMHA).
Of the scores of projects conducted by the two agencies, one of the most ambitious
new programs to encourage international cooperation is the International Visiting
Scientists and Technical Exchange Program (INVEST). Aimed at furthering
collaboration within the international community of scientists engaged in
drug-abuse research, INVEST was launched in October 1990 by NIDA and is
comprised of four components: training, technical assistance, collaborative research
and information exchange. The goal of the training component of the INVEST
Program is to promote an international network of scientists who are familiar with
NIDA's research and its methodologies.
Training opportunities are also available to foreign researchers through the
post-doctoral INVEST Research Fellowship Program. Fellows are selected from
the international community to study and conduct drug abuse research at
universities or other institutions in the United States which receive NIDA research
grants and contracts. In cooperation with the United States Information Service
(USIS), NIDA also sponsors the post-doctoral NIDA Hubert H. Humphrey Research
Fellowship Program. The NIDA fellowships differ from the traditional Humphrey
Fellowships in that the training has research as well as a policy orientation, and
applicants must possess a doctoral degree in either a health or social science field
and have documented experience in conducting drug abuse research. To date, NIDA
has sponsored Hubert H. Humphrey and INVEST Fellows from Mexico, Panama,
Brazil, Hungary, Nigeria, Czechoslovakia, and Chile.
Other important mechanisms for exchanging scientific information and promoting
international collaboration in the area of drug abuse research are binational and
international conferences. Binational symposia with Israel and Spain have been
held within the past two years. Currently, planning is under way for a U.S.-Mexico
Binational Symposium which will focus on issues pertaining to drug abuse along the
U.S. Mexico Border. In September 1991, NIDA sponsored a collaborative
workshop on neurotransmitter and opioid receptors in New Delhi. In October 1991,
a NIDA sponsored International Conference on Prevention Research was held in
Lexington, Kentucky, the site of NIDA's Prevention Research Center. Scientists
from the United States, Latin America, Europe, and Asia convened to discuss
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methodology issues in conducting drug abuse prevention research and to identify
areas of commonality which could lead to mutually productive collaborations
among U.S. and foreign researchers.
At the end of FY-1991 the Department of State issued invitations to an
international scientific conference, organized by NIDA and co-sponsored by State,
aimed at broadening the base of knowledge about addiction's biological bases by
foreign government science policy officials who influence research agendas in their
countries. The conference, scheduled for early 1992, should help to enhance
international scientific collaboration in this field.
NIDA has longstanding associations with a number of major international and
regional organizations, including the Pan American Health Organization, the
Organization of American States, and the Council of Europe, and also serves as a
World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Drug Abuse. Joint projects
undertaken with WHO include a large international study of the diagnosis and
classification of mental and addictive disorders; an international meeting of experts
which reviewed the question of AIDS and intravenous drug abuse; and a meeting of
experts on cocaine abuse. Two new NIDA-WHO projects are being planned. These
are a project to assist WHO in revising the existing WHO manuals on drug abuse
epidemiology and a regional conference on drug abuse research in Eastern Europe to
be held in late 1992.
NIDA has played a significant role in revising and improving the data collection
system used by the United Nations to compile information on drug abuse from by its
member nations. This resulted from a 1987 U.N. International Conference on Drug
Abuse and Illicit Trafficking recommendation to develop internationally comparable
data collection methods. The following year, at the meeting of the U.N.
Commission on Narcotic Drugs, the U.S. delegation introduced and successfully
promoted a resolution to establish an International Drug Abuse Assessment System
(IDAAS) within the U.N. Division of Narcotic Drugs. IDAAS promises major
improvements in the procedures and instruments that the U.N. uses to collect,
analyze, and report data on the nature and extent of drug abuse and health related
consequences in member states.
In tackling the problems of alcohol and drug abuse on an international level, U.S.
agencies along with the cooperating governments and organizations are confronted
with differing cultural-value systems that in some nations not only condone the use
of drugs, especially alcohol, but encourage it. For example, the roots of drinking in
Japan are long established in religious customs and beliefs. Japanese, in growing
numbers, are now re-examining their approach to alcohol consumption. Indeed,
these changing attitudes make Japan a productive environment for examining the
relative contributions of genetic and environmental factors to alcohol-related
problems. Japanese investigators are on the cutting edge of alcohol research. In
several biomedical and pharmacological areas related to the different genetic forms
of enzymes for the metabolism of alcohol, they have joined scientists from the
United States in hypothesizing that the lower incidence of alcoholism among east
Asians may be due to genetic enzyme activities.
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Other U.S.-sponsored international programs are flourishing as well. For example,
a three-year agreement between NIAAA and the All-Union Research Center on
Medico-Biological Problems of Addiction in the Soviet Union was restructured to
put added emphasis on social issues, epidemiology and prevention. To underscore
the U.S. commitment to cooperation with the Soviets on addiction problems,
NIAAA led a delegation of alcoholism researchers to the Soviet Union in late 1990
to help inaugurate the opening of a new narcology (addiction) headquarters
building. In addition, a scientist exchange program established between NIAAA
and the Soviet Addiction Center in mid-1990 continued this year with the arrival of
a third Soviet scientist at the Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation in La Jolla,
California.
Other ongoing activities involving NIAAA included the sponsoring of a didactic
workshop on alcohol epidemiology for young researchers from Eastern Europe and
the Soviet Union; the publication of a joint report with the Japanese National
Institute on Alcoholism that examined drinking patterns and related behavior in
Japanese and Japanese-American populations; and the continuation of work with
WHO and the other ADAMHA institutes (NIDA and National Institutes of Mental
Health [NIMH]) on a major program dealing with the diagnosis and classification of
alcohol, drug and mental disorders.
WHO provided early support for the Collaborative Alcohol-Related Longitudinal
Project, a wide-ranging study which is now primarily sponsored and funded by an
NIAAA grant. In the project, scholars from several countries are collaborating on
the secondary analysis of previously collected data examining the impact of age,
sex, and other factors on drinking patterns. WHO in cooperation with, and support
from, NIAAA, NIDA, and NIMH has also devoted considerable effort over the last
few years to the development of psychiatric epidemiology diagnostic interview
instruments for international use in both clinical and epidemiological research.
Reproductive Physiology and Population Research
As the world's population continues to soar well beyond the 5 billion mark, the
Department of State's Coordinator for Population Affairs, serving in the OES
Bureau (OES/CP), promotes U.S. international population policy in international
fora. Intense research activities through applied research programs of three U.S.
agencies, the Agency for International Development (USAID), Centers for Disease
Control (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), complement U.S.
policy. These three agencies have participated in a wide range of bilateral and
multilateral programs in scores of countries. At the forefront are cooperative efforts
to broaden access to safe and effective means of family planning and to increase
understanding of human reproduction and population growth.
One of the oldest and most durable of the reproductive physiology and population
research projects, the Operations Research (OR) program funded by USAID,
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continued to prosper in 1991. Founded in 1974, the OR program focuses on
enabling non-medical personnel outside of clinical settings to provide family
planning information to large segments of the population in developing countries
who ordinarily have no access to such services. Currently, a major goal of the OR
program is to facilitate efforts to solidify and streamline a variety of service delivery
models in a number of developing countries. In 1991 the OR program made an
especially significant impact on sub-Saharan Africa and on Latin American and
Caribbean countries. An example is an OR project in the Ivory Coast in West
Africa which made significant progress in reducing that country's alarming maternal
mortality rate by providing family planning services for the first time at government
maternity centers. In another African country, Rwanda, an OR project has enabled
more than 17,000 community volunteers to provide family planning education to
remote regions of the country.
In Latin America, scores of women in Peru took advantage for the first time of
family planning services when they were offered to clients of a Lima social security
hospital. And in the Caribbean country of Grenada, home visits aimed at providing
family planning counseling and methods to post-partum women resulted in
increased levels of contraceptive knowledge and use among the women visited.
During 1991, while continuing to offer family planning services to growing
numbers of people in developing countries, USAID also maintained its considerable
funding of biomedical research in contraceptive development and introduction. The
Norplant R Subdermal implant was approved by the Food and Drug Administration
and became the first truly new contraceptive method introduced in the United States
in many years. USAID supported approximately half of the development work done
by the Population Council, a U.S. non-governmental organization, on Norplant,
including the U.S. clinical trials. Work continued on an improved Norplant R
system called Norplant R II. Among USAID's other major related accomplishments
are development of the tubal band for tubal occlusion in the sterilization of females;
evaluation and introduction of progestin-only oral contraceptives for breast feeding
women; and initial development of the vaginal sponge.
Despite the gains being made in contraceptive approaches, major challenges still
remained in 1991. Nonetheless, in a March 15, 1991 report to the Senate
Appropriations Committee, a USAID spokesperson concluded on a positive note as
follows: "It took nearly 60 years in the United States for total fertility to drop from
6 to 3.5 children per woman, but that drop occurred between 1842 and 1900, long
before any modern methods had been developed. Contrast this with the rapidity of
an identical fertility decline in countries in which women were able to achieve
desired smaller families by using modern methods. For example, the same decline
in Sri Lanka took about 27 years (1952 to 1979) and in Colombia only 12 years."
Fiscal Year 1991 was especially productive for the Division of Reproductive
Health of the Centers for Disease Control (DRH/CDC). Under the auspices of its
Resources Support Services Agreement with USAID, nineteen DRH/CDC staff
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members made 33 research and evaluation trips to 16 countries in the first half of
the year alone. The number of USAID supported DRH/CDC projects initiated by
the agency's Division of Reproductive Health in various corners of the world,
including Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean, has grown dramatically.
Projects in Africa upgraded and installed computerized contraceptive-planning
systems in Kenya and Zaire; taught government and university personnel in
Mauritius how to conduct a contraceptive prevalence survey; undertook a survey of
the contraceptive supply in Mozambique; worked with the Rwandan National
Family Planning Program in reviewing and revising contraceptive commodity
requirements; and worked with the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council in
determining necessary condom supplies to combat the growing HIV/AIDS threat.
In Latin America and the Caribbean, DRH/CDC's Division of Reproductive Health
provided technical assistance on a variety of family planning topics to governments
and volunteer groups in Belize, Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti and Jamaica.
Also at the forefront of population research in 1991 was the Center for Population
Research (CPR) of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
(NICHD), a part of the National Institutes of Health. Among the projects funded by
the NICHD in 1991 were a WHO collaborative study of neoplasia and steroid
contraceptives in 13 countries, a study of the rapid fertility decline in Taiwan and
reproductive research activities with the Indian Council of Medical Research which
included an innovative workshop held in India entitled "In-Vitro Systems for
Measurement of Reproductive Hormones for Reproduction Research." Other
projects included a genetic-analysis study by an investigator at Toronto's Mount
Sinai Hospital that is providing a powerful new approach to genetic analysis of
development; and a study of the impact of familial behavior and the local
availability of maternal and child-health services on the health and survivability of
children in Guatemala during the 1980s.
While gains in reproductive physiology and population research in 1991 were
many, the rapidly growing world population has sparked increasing concern about
environmental degradation, sustainable economic growth and regional stability in
the decades ahead. Continued efforts to expand the knowledge of reproductive
physiology and introduce more effective family planning methods will remain high
priority areas for USG and international research programs.
New Drug Development from Natural Products
Tropical and temperate forests contain numerous diverse plant and animal species
that are playing an increasingly significant role in the discovery and development of
new drugs. New treatments may become available from such natural sources for a
number of diseases such as AIDS, cancer, malaria, parasitic infections and diarrheal
disorders. The progress made in developing new drugs from these natural sources
has generated considerable interest on the part of the scientific community. In
particular, the effectiveness of taxol (from the bark of the Pacific yew tree) in
treating patients with ovarian cancer has sparked much recent enthusiasm.
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There is an increased effort by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) to identify and
collect natural products from more than 30 nations as sources of new drugs.
Previously, these naturally occurring substances were little used medicinally outside
of the developing world. Typically, many traditional compounds now under
investigation were for centuries part of the pharmacopeia of indigenous tribal
peoples. The eventual goal is to use and/or adapt these same compounds to treat,
control and possibly cure diseases of both industrialized and developing nations.
Many tropical plants are threatened with extinction due to destruction of tropical
forests in the developing countries. In response, workers engaged in several
National Institutes of Health (NIH) programs are working vigorously to ensure that
the potential knowledge and benefits that may be derived from natural product
resources do not vanish forever. NCI is working with USAID, NSF and the United
States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to strengthen the capabilities of
institutions that catalog and monitor biological diversity in developing countries,
develop inventories of native species and indigenous knowledge of them, encourage
training in biodiversity activities and address the priority health needs of developing
countries rich in biological diversity. In addition, NIH and NSF are working to
establish a new program for the development of drugs from natural sources from
around the world.
In its attempt to preserve these resources for drug research, NCI has stepped up its
effort to collect, preserve and study a wide range of biological materials. The
Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center has funded research and
categorization activities, and visits by scientists from many of the developing
countries where natural compounds are gathered. Many of the plant samples and
marine macro-organisms collected are kept in cold storage at NCI's Natural
Products Repository at Frederick, Maryland. In a typical research project there,
extracts from raw materials are tested in vitro (in test tubes) for their effectiveness
against human cancer cell lines. Similar tests to detect agents active against human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are also being performed.
A database of natural as well as synthetic compounds is kept by the National
Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). There are over 3,000
compounds in the database, more than 200 of which are natural and some of which
have been tested in vitro against the HIV virus. The results have been reported in
the medical literature.
Another NIH institute involved in natural substance research, the National Institute
of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), is continuing work on a
poison secreted by a genus of frogs found in Central and South America that appears
to have analgesic properties that could be more powerful than those of morphine.
Studies are now underway to determine if the substance is as addictive as morphine.
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In securing materials for screening, NCI has forged agreements with a number of
other independent agencies and universities that are also gathering plants and
marine organisms for evaluation. For example, NCI has awarded plant-gathering
contracts totaling nearly $4 million to the Missouri Botanical Garden for work in
Latin America; and to the University of Illinois at Chicago, Harvard University's
Arnold Arboretum and the Bishop Museum in Honolulu for work in Southeast
Asia. NCI has also launched collaborative studies with China's Kunming Institute
of Botany for the study of Chinese medicinal plants; with the Seoul National
University for the study of Korean medicinal plants; with the Smithsonian
Oceanographic Sorting Center for the collection of Philippine marine organisms;
and with Tel Aviv University for the study of Red Sea marine invertebrates.
NCI is exploring creative and innovative approaches to utilizing some portion of
the profits generated by the sale of drugs developed from research on natural
products to support continued research by host country institutions. This
distribution of profits, which will be accomplished through a series of formal
agreements, could serve as an effective means of utilizing market-driven monetary
incentives to promote local institutional capabilities and develop an advocacy for
conserving biological diversity.
As NIH's work in this area has intensified, cooperation with many of the nations of
the developing world has grown as well. From Cameroon's Institute for Medical
Research and Studies of Medical Plants to Peru's Instituto de Investigaciones de la
Amazonia Peruana, scientists are beginning to realize that the answers to managing
and possibly controlling many of the diseases plaguing their countries may be "right
in their own back yards," and intimately related to preserving biological diversity.
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ENERGY, ENVIRONMENT AND ECONOMICS
Introduction
Recognition of the complex relationships among energy, the environment and
economics is an essential step in devising workable solutions for many
environmental problems. Environmental issues have increased in international
visibility, and efforts to address them have become a high priority for many
governments. This section discusses the nature of the relationship among energy,
the environment and economics and its amenability to international cooperation. As
an item of particular interest during FY-1991, this section also briefly describes
international cooperation on environmental aspects of the Persian Gulf War.
Energy investments can impose heavy environmental, economic and social costs if
they are not chosen wisely. Market factors and poorly conceived economic policies
can and do compound deleterious impacts of energy use on environmental quality.
For example, fossil fuel market prices frequently do not fully reflect the total costs,
including environmental costs, of using those energy sources. Energy subsidies
further complicate the problem, leading to wasteful use of energy resources and
technology choices which are less than optimal from both environmental and
economic perspectives.
While energy production and use are linked to air pollution, acid precipitation and
other forms of environmental degradation (e.g., oil spills) and possibly to global
climate change, they are nonetheless crucial to the economic vitality of the U.S. and
other nations, for development, and for maintaining and improving the quality of life
of people in developing and developed countries alike.
Many environmental issues are transnational and even global in nature, thus
international cooperation is essential. Through international cooperation,
intellectual and other resources can be more efficiently employed to deepen
comprehension about pertinent relationships, acquire better knowledge to reduce the
scientific uncertainties about, for example, global climate change, and devise
considered measures for progress.
Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment
Environmental Effects of Energy Sources
Virtually all forms of energy production and consumption (in both developed and
developing countries) impact on the environment in some way. However, the
effects and magnitude can vary dramatically.
Fossil fuels have been the dominant energy source since the dawn of the industrial
revolution and are likely to retain the number one ranking for the foreseeable
future. Fossil fuels account for upwards of two-thirds of world energy consumption
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in the proportions of about 23% for coal, 29% for oil and 15% for natural gas. The
environmental effects of fossil fuel utilization are more obvious in some instances
than others. Oil spills and problems of strip mining are two obvious externalities of
fossil fuel production. The largely carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide and sulfur
dioxide air pollution which afflicts specific areas of the Earth can be linked directly
to automobiles and other fossil fuel combustors. Recently the problem has become
more pronounced in some developing countries. Combustion of fossil fuels also
contributes to acid precipitation and possibly to global climate change. However,
precise analyses have yet to be performed to define adequately a comprehensive
resolution of some of these issues. Nonetheless, these environmental issues have
become topics of global concern.
Nuclear powered electricity generation has increased and now represents
approximately 5% of world energy production. There are currently some 426
nuclear power station reactors in service worldwide with over 318,000 megawatts of
electric generating capacity. In some countries, such as France, nuclear power is the
dominant form of electric power generation (74.6%), and it has a significant share in
other major industrial countries such as Germany (29%), Japan (27.8%) and the U.S.
(19.1%).
Properly operating nuclear power plants do not emit gases and particulates that
may contribute to the possibility of global climate change, acid precipitation or a
general decline in air quality. Nuclear power does have some environmental and
health drawbacks associated with the radioactive and toxic aspects of the nuclear
fuel cycle the mining, enrichment, milling, transportation and use of radioactive
materials, and storage and disposal of spent nuclear fuel. In addition, while
extremely rare, nuclear power reactor accidents such as the one at Chernobyl can
contaminate large amounts of land, food, and water, with related health impacts and
dislocation of inhabitants.
Hydroelectric power accounts for approximately 20% of the world's energy
production. Hydroelectricity is a relatively low current-cost energy source once it is
operating, but hydroelectric facilities entail high initial costs for their development
and construction. Smaller mini- and micro-hydropower plants are now being used
in developing countries to provide power where it is needed but in an
environmentally sustainable manner. As with all sources of energy production,
there are advantages and disadvantages associated with the development and
operation of hydroelectric power. Advantages include the fact that no fuels are
burned and hence no potentially dangerous emissions are released. Hydroelectricity
has the advantage of using a renewable non-polluting resource. Dams with
hydroelectric power plants also are often designed for multiple purposes, for
example, flood control, navigation, water supply for municipal, industrial and
agricultural users, recreation opportunities, and greater regulation of stream flow to
provide for improved water quality and fish habitat.
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Disadvantages caused by dam construction and resultant impoundments can
include inundation of existing ecosystems and human settlements, changes in the
natural flow and sediment regime of the watercourse and, if the impoundment is
large, local climate changes. Dams may change water level and natural water flow
as well as become a physical obstacle to migration. These changes could have
serious impacts on species reproduction and survival. Egypt's High Aswan Dam,
while successful in expanding energy supplies and mitigating disastrous annual
flooding, has also caused some serious environmental problems such as erosion of
the Nile Delta, proliferation of waterborne pests and diseases and disruption of
natural well systems.
Other energy sources include solar, wind, geothermal and wave/tidal power. These
sources represent only a small portion of total world energy supply, but they are
especially relevant in developing countries, where environmentally sustainable
alternatives to fossil fuels are economically urgent. While these sources do not
amount to a large proportion of total world energy production and are mainly
concentrated in electricity generation, they have become more important in recent
years and some are dominant in certain areas.
Solar energy, while environmentally benign, is still not a significant source of
energy supply. The Earth receives solar radiant energy at the rate of 1,300 watts per
square meter. However, natural phenomena and technological limitations such as
inefficient solar to electrical conversion rates, as well as high production costs for
solar facilities, reduce the amount that can be converted to useable energy to only a
tiny fraction of this figure. Solar electric energy (photovoltaics) has proven to be
cost effective in remote areas (in both the U.S. and developing countries) where the
extension of power lines is not technically or economically practical. Solar thermal
energy has proven effective as a means to reduce the cost of space heating, hot
water and thermal energy for commercial processes.
Recent commercial breakthroughs in large wind turbines make it possible to
generate electricity from winds of variable speeds, thus opening up the potential for
grid access. As have photovoltaics, smaller wind turbines have proven to be cost
effective in remote areas where the extension of power lines is not technically or
economically practical.
Geothermal energy, the Earth's natural heat, is being tapped as a commercial
source of energy in parts of the U.S., Japan, New Zealand, and Europe where
geologic conditions have resulted in exploitable subterranean steam deposits.
Although the total amount of thermal energy locked up in the Earth's crust is
enormous, tapping into it with current technology is difficult and expensive.
Geothermal energy production has few serious environmental consequences,
although hot geothermal water can contain large amounts of corrosive chemicals.
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A Special Problem for Developing Countries
While scientists may (and should) continue to debate the meaning and implications
of "sustainable development," political realities dictate that governments must
pursue policies that promote economic growth. This is particularly true in
developing countries where populations are both young and increasing at very rapid
rates. Even in the most developed countries where living standards are very high by
world standards and environmental quality is an important political issue, there is
little political support for parties espousing "no-growth" policies.
Developed economies are high per-capita energy consumers. Likewise, raising
living standards in developing countries will require large increases in their levels of
energy production and use (although not necessarily to levels currently prevailing in
the West). Annual per capita energy consumption in oil-equivalent ranges from
2,860 liters in Japan to 6,520 liters in the United States. By contrast, the figure for
India is approximately 200 liters. India's per capita electric power generation is
about 300 Kwh per year, versus 12,000 Kwh per year in the U.S.
Developing economies are caught in a "triple bind" of capital resource constraint,
weak institutional performance and environmental degradation. Developing
countries are finding that "business as usual" energy sector development strategies
no longer generate the capital resources necessary to provide adequate electric
power for development and sustained growth. This capital crisis is attributed to the
financial performance of many developing countries' utilities, hampered by factors
including poor planning practices, accounting, billing, operations and maintenance.
Increasing concern over environmental degradation is adding to the worsening
capital problem. Energy activities are the most significant contributors to gas and
particulate emissions that may affect climate change, and contribute to acid
precipitation as well as a general decline in air quality, particularly in urban areas.
Increased contributions of such emissions from developing countries will
accompany the rapid development of their power sectors. Adding new equipment in
order to address these environmental concerns will cause an increase in the initial
capital cost of new power plants as well as the cost to recondition or retrofit existing
aging power plants.
Fertile Ground for International Cooperation
Energy, environment and economic issues are intrinsically transnational in nature
and an especially pertinent area for international cooperation, including science and
technology cooperation, to the benefit of humankind. Much energy-related
environmental degradation crosses borders. For example, acid precipitation has
become an issue between source and recipient nations, e.g., Canada and the United
States, each of which is both a source and recipient. On March 11, 1991 the United
States and Canada signed the U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement, removing a
major irritant to bilateral relations.
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Still other energy-related environmental impacts affect large areas of the Earth for
which responsibility is shared among nations. Examples of such problems are oil
spills on the high seas and in polar regions.
As reflected in the country narratives in Chapter 3, many countries have yet to
grasp the complexity and totality of the relationships among energy, the
environment and economics. Countries' approaches tend to be oriented toward
environmental protection and cleanup and/or energy production and/or economic
development, but rarely to all as an interrelated whole. Nonetheless, FY-1991 saw
movement toward greater international comprehension of the interrelationships and
toward pertinent international cooperation.
In the United States, energy, environment and economic issues are a central focus
of the Administration's National Energy Strategy (NES). The NES lays a
foundation for a more efficient, less vulnerable, and environmentally sustainable
energy future. It defines international, commercial, regulatory, and technological
policy tools that will substantially diversify U.S. sources of energy supplies and
offer more flexibility and efficiency in the way energy is transformed and used. The
NES contains specific initiatives to:
achieve greater energy security;
increase energy and economic efficiency;
secure future energy supplies;
enhance environmental quality; and
fortify the foundations of research and development, technology transfer and
human resource development.
The United States recognizes that economics and economic research play an
integral role in our ability to understand global change processes and evaluate
critical national and international policy issues. The United States, as part of the
U.S. Global Change Research Program, has planned a government-wide economics
research program relating to global change, focusing on economic forces affecting
or affected by global environmental decisionmaking under conditions of uncertainty,
technological forces and policy, and evaluation of policy instruments. This effort
has both a national and international focus, with special emphasis on developing
countries and economies in transition. Links with other international economic
research programs are being established and expanded.
Energy and environment issues are to be a major topic of the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), scheduled to take place in
Brazil in June 1992. During FY-1991, there were a range of activities and two large
international preparatory conferences leading up to this Conference. The nature of
UNCED obliges the participant countries to expand the degree to which they take
cognizance of environment and development together. Although UNCED itself will
not result in a legally binding international
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agreement and direct energy and environment consequences, the preparatory
negotiations and activities during FY-1991 pointed to the possibility of significant
conceptual and political breakthroughs at the conference on, for example, an agreed
definition for environmentally benign "sustainable development."
Certain international agreements, now being negotiated, may be signed during
UNCED. Most applicable is the work of an Intergovernmental Negotiating
Committee for a Framework Convention on Climate Change, established in 1990 by
the U.N. General Assembly. Although many details remain to be negotiated, the
convention is expected to create a process by which parties adopt environment and
energy measures that address in a comprehensive way sources and sinks of
greenhouse gases.
Under World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and United Nations
Environment Programme (UNEP) auspices, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change (IPCC) worked during FY-1991 to prepare an update of its 1990 report on
the science and impacts of climate change and potential response strategies. Among
the topics being addressed in this supplement, which was expected to be completed
by June of 1992, are issues concerning energy and industry. The IPCC is assessing
existing energy-efficient technologies, and is conducting country-specific
technology use studies as well as thematic studies to identify differences between
actual and potential uses of energy-efficient technologies.
Other international science and technology cooperation relevant to energy, the
environment and economics generally falls into two categories: accumulation of
data to determine whether or not energy production and consumption may be
damaging the environment; and technical efforts to reduce the environmental
impact of energy use, including the development and dissemination of energy
technologies that are more environmentally benign to countries lacking these
technologies.
Bilateral S&T Activities
The U.S. is cooperating with other countries on a bilateral basis in two general
areas:
Development, adaptation and technology cooperation toward efficient use of
less polluting energy sources, and
Assistance and training in the policy and planning areas, particularly toward
rationalizing energy pricing, tax and incentive policies and choosing
economically and environmentally sound energy investments.
A number of bilateral activities are being undertaken to assess energy use and
impacts as well. For example, EPA, in conjunction with DOE's Lawrence Berkeley
Laboratory, is working with Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Nigeria, India, Indonesia,
Thailand, China, and Malaysia to examine energy use in these countries, develop
policy options to increase energy efficiency, and estimate the cost of these different
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options. In Brazil, EPA is working with the Brazilian national utility, Electrobras,
to study the potential for increasing energy efficiency in the electricity end use
sector. EPA is also working with both China and Poland to examine means of
reducing methane emissions from coal mines. With China, India and the
Philippines, EPA is cosponsoring a program to develop a more reliable estimate of
emissions from the small cookstoves and woodstoves used for cooking in most of
the world's households.
The Department of Energy (DOE) and the Agency for International Development
(USAID) are also active. With China, eastern and central European countries and a
number of other developing countries, DOE is developing an energy use model in
the transportation and industrial sectors in order to assess long-term energy
demands. USAID is conducting a project with Morocco that undertakes energy
audits of major industrial energy users, prepares feasibility studies of potential
investments to improve efficiency of energy use by these users, and finances
applications of proven technologies in selected firms.
A number of Federal agencies are undertaking cooperative efforts with other
countries to pursue less polluting conventional energy systems. There are DOE
agreements (see Appendix) that deal with research into ways to make the burning of
fossil fuels more environmentally benign. DOE also has agreements with other
nations to develop new sources of energy. Prominent among them is the
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project with Japan, the
Soviet Union, and the European Community for the development of a nuclear fusion
reactor. The heavy hydrogen (deuterium) fuel for such a reactor is potentially cheap
and plentiful, there would be far less radioactive wastes than produced by a fission
reactor, and no emission of greenhouse gases. Realization of economically viable
energy from fusion, though still far in the future, would be a major step forward in
accommodating concerns.
The Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission also have
numerous agreements with other nations aimed at improving the safety of nuclear
fission reactors and finding solutions to the problem of radioactive wastes.
Technological improvements in energy-use efficiency, and the transfer of these
improved technologies to other countries, are also important objectives. Basic
research in generic technologies has a role in both the search for clean and
economical sources of energy and utilizing energy efficiently. USAID, for example,
is supporting with India a Program to Accelerate Commercial Energy Research
(PACER), which supports the commercial development of innovative energy
technologies. Again with India, USAID is undertaking the Energy Management
Consultation and Training (EMCAT) project, which is designed to introduce
technology, financing, and management innovation in the Indian power supply and
end use sectors, to permit enhanced productivity, improved delivery of energy
services and reduced environmental impacts.
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USAID is also supporting a Regional Energy Efficiency Project for eastern Europe,
which supports the development of policy and institutional frameworks for energy
investments and east-west energy trade. Also in eastern Europe, USAID is
providing assistance to Hungary with regard to energy supply and end uses,
including the promotion of energy price reform.
The Interior Department cooperated with national agencies in Poland and
Yugoslavia to characterize coal deposits by studies designed, through content
identification, to determine the coal's economic usefulness and its potential impact
on the environment. Such information will allow leaders to make better informed
decisions on the use of such energy resources in relation to potential environmental
degradation.
USAID is working with Egypt both to strengthen Egypt's capacity to collect and
analyze data needed for energy policy planning, and to conduct field tests of
renewable energy technologies and promote their use in a variety of agricultural,
food processing and village energy applications. With USAID funding support and
technical assistance from the Interior Department's Bureau of Reclamation, the U.S.
private sector is providing the necessary technology and equipment to the Egyptian
Electricity Authority to rehabilitate and modernize the High Aswan Dam complex
to increase energy production from the existing power plant.
USAID's Energy Training Program (ETP) offers training for qualified energy
professionals in oil, coal, gas, electricity generation, hydropower, energy planning,
energy management, mining safety, resource analysis and utilization, environmental
management and monitoring, conservation and renewable energy technologies.
USAID is collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the
Department of Energy and the Department of Commerce to establish a Technology
Transfer Clearinghouse on environmental technology. Initially, the Clearinghouse
will be an on-line computer-based service. The first test of the Clearinghouse will
be with Mexico.
Assistance in technical innovation is only a part of the picture. USAID also
considers as significant developing countries' abilities in energy planning, and
assessment of the economic implications of energy use. Energy planning
methodologies, variously called integrated resource planning or least-cost planning,
as well as the rationalization of energy pricing, are included in USAID programs
ranging from feasibility studies and technical assistance to professional workshops
and training seminars.
The Department of Energy is leading an active multi-agency program, the
Committee on Renewable Energy Commerce and Trade (CORECT), to promote
technology transfer of renewable energy technologies. DOE has also initiated a
program to spur the export of more efficient coal technologies to developing
countries and promotes, in cooperation with other agencies, export of U.S. energy
technologies and services. DOE is also working with Poland to retrofit existing
coal-powered plants with technologies to reduce their impacts on the environment.
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EPA is also cooperating in a number of projects in this area. With Mexico and
India, it is assessing the potential of renewable energy to reduce carbon emissions
by displacing conventional fuels. These two countries are of particular importance
because of their growing energy demand, availability of indigenous fossil fuel
resources, and demonstrated interest in renewable energy.
The use of biomass as a renewable energy source is being promoted in a number of
countries. In conjunction with China, DOE is undertaking a project to determine the
feasibility of an integrated biomass energy system to supply energy, reduce
deforestation, and reduce net emissions of greenhouse gases. USAID is supporting
research in India on woody biomass by providing training, technical advisory
services and specialized research equipment. In a number of other developing
countries, USAID is promoting investments in commercially-proven technologies to
recover energy as a byproduct from disposal of crop, wood and municipal solid
wastes. Funds for this project are devoted to applied research, analysis of proposed
affect the success of these investments.
investments, implementation of investments, and analysis of local policies likely to
International Cooperation on Environmental Aspects
of the Persian Gulf War
The aftermath of the January-February, 1991, Persian Gulf war, particularly the
deliberate destruction of Kuwaiti oil facilities by Iraqi occupation forces, left a very
serious regional environmental situation that required a major multilateral response
from the international community. Large amounts of crude oil had been released
into the Gulf threatening not only its wildlife and fragile ecosystem, but also the
water supplies of states in the region which obtain their water from desalination
plants. In addition, over six hundred Kuwaiti oil wells were set afire, spreading a
thick blanket of smoke and soot over the region and raising fears over effects on the
health of the region's inhabitants.
With State Department coordination, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) took the
lead within the USG in dealing with the situation. NOAA, in cooperation with the
National Science Foundation and other agencies, including DOE and EPA, and with
the international community, played a major role in the World Meteorological
Organization (WMO)'s monitoring plan for tracking the smoke plume and
modelling its potential health consequences. U.S. agency studies of the oil fire
plumes were structured to help understand and predict environmental and health
consequences of the plumes in the Persian Gulf area.
NOAA worked with the Kuwaiti and Saudi governments and meteorologists, and
installed an array of solar-powered meteorological towers to provide data to help
predict episodes of high pollution and to track the recovery of the atmosphere as the
oil fires were extinguished. Shortly after the fires were set, EPA sent an emergency
response team to the region to assess possible acute health risks from the fires and
worked with regional governments on air monitoring.
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A major success was achieved by the international effort, in which U.S. companies
were key, to extinguish the burning oil wells. While many experts feared that
extinguishing all of the fires could take as long as three years, the task was actually
completed in less than nine months.
As part of the UN Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission's (IOC) program
of investigation of the marine environmental impacts of the oil spills, plans were
made to deploy NOAA's research vessel, the Mt. Mitchell, to the Persian Gulf in
January 1992 to conduct scientific studies of the region's oceanography and
ecosystems over an approximately 100-day period. The research will be performed
principally by scientists from the region, with some expert assistance from the U.S.
government, the international scientific community and private sectors.
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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES
Introduction
Global scientific research and development activities are generating powerful new
technologies useful in a wide range of products and processes in different industrial
sectors and likely to provide the foundation for the next generation of technological
innovations. These emerging technologies, if effectively deployed by U.S. firms,
can play a major role in strengthening our economic competitiveness, improving the
position in the international system.
quality and length of life of our citizens, and maintaining our nation's pre-eminent
It must be emphasized that, however important, developing technology prowess
can make important contributions only if U.S. industry learns to utilize them
alone cannot ensure economic prosperity and national security. New technologies
effectively in the development of innovative, high quality, cost-competitive
products. The technologies themselves will continue to evolve, probably quite
advance, and the Government should support a policy framework which
rapidly as well. U.S. industry must be prepared to meet the pace of technological
rapidly, and the commercial relevance and opportunities they present will change
firms to capitalize on the benefits of emerging technologies in all industrial encourages sectors
(e.g., the Research and Experimentation tax credit).
base is in cooperation with other countries. The following narrative briefly
One way in which the United States is seeking to exploit its existing technological
describes six sample technology areas, and gives illustrations of pertinent U.S.
discussions can be found in the individual country narratives in Chapter Three,
Government collaborations with selected countries. More detailed country
accomplishments. which also describe significant host country developments, activities and
Materials
The development, synthesizing and processing of new types of materials has
that materials have made it possible to build computers and communications systems
revolutionized products in a wide range of industries. New electronic and photonic
are both more powerful and more reliable than their predecessors.
ranging from lighter and more durable engine parts to high temperature
Developments in ceramics research hold out the promise of important new products
future such as the proposed hypersonic transport.
increasing importance in the aerospace industry and hold the key to aircraft of the
superconductors. Composites and high-performance metals and alloys are gaining
Several cooperative efforts in the materials area took place between the United
between States and its global partners in 1991. For example, in Yugoslavia, a joint project
(NIST) and the Jozef Stefan Institute was undertaken which will deepen the
the Commerce Department's National Institute for Science and Technology
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understanding of rare earth doped titanate ceramics. It will also devise proper
ceramic fabrication technology which will result in controlled densification and
optimal microstructure. In India, collaborative studies between the Naval Research
Laboratory (NRL) and various Indian laboratories have led to the development of
several new products including synthesis of a new quasi-crystal phase, and the
characterization of several friction-reducing carbide and nitride films. Indian
scientists also collaborated with NRL on the development of advanced high strength
ferrous alloys.
Based upon an independent evaluation and decisions of its eight-nation Steering
Committee in 1991, a five-year renewal is underway of the Versailles Project on
Advanced Materials and Standards (VAMAS). This cooperative program was
initiated in 1987 following the Versailles Summit by the Group of Seven Countries
and the Commission of the European Communities. VAMAS works through
international cooperation on standards research and harmonization toward
accelerating the introduction of advanced materials into manufactured high
technology structures and products. In the U.S., the National Institute of Standards
and Technology coordinates this research under the guidance of OSTP.
Manufacturing
New manufacturing processes and technologies are enabling industry to bring a
stream of innovative, cost-competitive, high-quality products into the marketplace.
The growing importance of flexible, computer integrated "intelligent"
manufacturing and processing equipment has been reflected in a wide range of
industries from electronics to automobiles. Micro and nano-fabrication
technologies now under development have great potential for spurring advances in
both the electronics and medical fields.
U.S. companies and the U.S. Government were both active in this area during
FY-1991. For example, recognizing the need to encourage U.S. industry to monitor
Japanese technology, Commerce's Under Secretary for Technology led a group of
industry leaders on a study mission to investigate Japanese manufacturing
technologies in September, 1991. The mission visited nine manufacturing facilities
in Japan and met with officials of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI), the Science and Technology Administration (STA), and a number of private
organizations with industrial interests. Topics such as strategic planning,
technology integration, and industrial philosophy were discussed.
Both Japanese government agencies and private companies actively continued to
initiate new cooperative arrangements with the United States and other technology
leaders. The U.S. government, led by OSTP and the Commerce Department's
Technology Administration, successfully positioned these initiatives under the
auspices of the umbrella U.S.-Japan S&T Agreement, thereby enabling the United
States to seek equitable benefits for all potential participants in Japanese industrial
technology project proposals.
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Possibly the most important initiative, and the one in which discussions with the
Japanese government have progressed the farthest, is on Intelligent Manufacturing
Systems (IMS), a high visibility initiative with global implications for
manufacturing technologies, and a potential model for international collaboration in
other areas. The Department of Commerce drafted terms of reference for a
feasibility study to determine the ways, means and technical areas for a possible
collaborative IMS program. The terms of reference have been accepted by Japan as
well as the other participants, Canada, Australia, the EC and the European Free
Trade Association. The first International Steering and Technical Committee
meetings, which will constitute the formal start of the feasibility study, were
scheduled for early 1992.
Japan also opened to foreign participation a ten-year project to develop technology
for high-performance micromachines for such applications as medical diagnosis and
sensors. In response, at the October 1991 Joint High Level Committee talks held
under the auspices of the U.S.-Japan Science and Technology Agreement, OSTP
Director Dr. Bromley raised this project as one that would require dialogue to
ensure the establishment of an equitable and mutually agreed framework for
implementation.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the European
Strategic Programme on Research and Development of Information Technology
(ESPRIT) sponsored two international workshops on collaboration for
manufacturing technologies. The purpose of these workshops was to bring together
projects in Europe and America that have common interests in information
technology applied to manufacturing research in its precompetitive and
prenormative, i.e., prior to standardization, phase. By the end of the second
workshop last August, numerous such projects had been identified and a number of
collaborations were forming over a wide range of computer-integrated
manufacturing areas. The common theme is the use of computing and information
technology to improve quality and productivity in manufacturing.
Information and Communications
New information and communication technologies have continued to evolve at a
breathtaking pace, permanently changing our approaches to communication,
education, and manufacturing. In this area, microelectronics and optoelectronics
advances have made it possible to increase the power of computers vastly while
greatly decreasing both their size and cost. High-performance computing and
networking, as well as computer simulations and modeling, have allowed scientists
and engineers to work together to tackle computational problems ranging from
designing safer automobiles to studying the evolution of the cosmos through
modeling that was previously considered far too complicated even to attempt. Work
around the world on high-definition imaging and displays is focusing on developing
high definition television (HDTV) systems with the potential not only to
revolutionize consumer electronics, but to have important medical and industrial
applications as well. Other important areas in this category are sensors, signal
processing, data storage and peripherals. Such new hardware will be only as
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good as the software that controls it, and maintaining the flow of increasingly
complex software will continue to be an important task.
During FY-1991, the U.S. government held discussions with Japanese officials
concerning another project sponsored by Japan's Ministry of International Trade and
Industry, the New Information Processing Technologies (NIPT) initiative,
informally referred to as the Sixth Generation Computer Project and recently
renamed Real World Computing. In response to the Japanese initiative, the United
States and Japan plan to undertake a feasibility study on cooperation on
optoelectronics technologies for advanced computing research.
In the framework of the U.S.-EC Joint Consultative Group, cooperation was
initiated on standards in information technologies including networking and
infrastructures, systems engineering, opto-electronics, databases and high
performance computing, and other cooperative work was identified.
In the Middle East, the U.S.-Israel Binational Industrial Research and
Development (BIRD) Foundation supported joint projects between U.S. and Israeli
companies for industrial R&D leading to the introduction of new products and
processes into the marketplace. Total funding of $13.7 million was allocated during
FY-1991, about half of which was targeted for computer software and
communications technologies.
Biotechnology and Life Sciences
Biotechnology and life science advances will permit new approaches to major
problems in such diverse fields as medicine, agriculture, manufacturing and the
environment. A particularly exciting field in this area is applied molecular biology,
which has allowed scientists to engineer new organisms for uses as diverse as
increasing food production and cleaning up oil spills. Probably the greatest
breakthroughs in biotechnology have been in medical technology where discoveries
hold out promise for new treatments for such deadly diseases as cancer, cystic
fibrosis and muscular dystrophy.
U.S. Government agencies and private sector entities have both been active in
international cooperative activities in the life sciences. For example, the U.S./EC
task force on biotechnology research recently convened its second meeting to
review activities in this area, including promoting public acceptance of
biotechnology products. In the OECD, the Science and Technology Policy
Committee has an active program seeking improved international collaboration on
biotechnology issues.
The Human Genome project is a major collaborative effort in biotechnology that
involves a number of countries, including the United States, in an effort to produce
functional maps of human chromosomes, and determine the complete chemical
sequence of human DNA, the substance that makes up genes.
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The Basic Science narrative earlier in this report includes additional material on
biotechnology and the Human Genome Project.
Transportation
In the area of surface transportation, the United States cooperated in research
efforts with several countries on new high speed rail systems. In a joint venture
with France, the United States will receive information on the design of the TGV
(Train a Grande Vitesse) train to enable the United States to approve its installation
in a project in Orlando, Florida. The U.S. and Germany have an agreement which
provides for U.S. observation and examination of Germany's certification of its
Transrapid magnetic levitation technology, to enable the U.S. to approve its
installation in a project in Orlando, Florida. Japan is proceeding with the further
development and deployment of its superconducting magnetic levitation train
technology for service around the end of the decade. The U.S. is reactivating a
program of technical information exchange with Japan in this field. The U.S. is also
involved in experiments integrating use of a unique testing facility in Poland with
special stress measurement techniques to assess how much residual stress can be put
into a rail by certain manufacturing processes or by the action of railroad cars.
(Residual stress is a high risk factor for rail failures and derailments).
Research and cooperation in Intelligent Vehicle/Highway Systems continued in
several countries. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted a
"Round Table" meeting that brought German government and private sector
officials together with U.S. counterparts to discuss roadway investment
opportunities in the newly unified country. The FHWA also negotiated cooperative
agreements with Japan, Sweden and the World Bank that are designed to provide the
basis for sharing technical road information.
Energy and Environment
As suggested also in the discussion of Energy, Environment and Economics earlier
in this report, new energy and environmental technologies are those which have the
potential to provide safe, secure and enduring sources of energy, ensuring that a
healthy environment is preserved for future generations. Important new energy
technologies may allow greater exploitation in the near future of solar power, fuel
cells and improved nuclear fission reactors. During FY-1991, intense international
research efforts also continued on nuclear fusion, which may become a
commercially viable source of energy sometime in the next century.
In the environmental area, research addressed the development of technologies
applicable to pollution minimization and remediation, as well as waste
management. In the area of technical cooperation related to global climate change
alone there were over 115 individual projects, totalling over $140 million in FY
1991. The projects are bilateral and multilateral in nature and cover energy
efficiency and supply, agriculture, climate science, coastal zone resources and a
variety of related energy and environmental problems.
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Conclusion
International cooperation in emerging technology fields is increasing and is often
seen as essential to long-term economic competitiveness. Because international
R&D collaboration provides an opportunity to improve access to, and utilize,
foreign technologies and technical information, such collaboration can build upon
and improve a country's technological base. This can contribute to enhanced
economic performance, national security and public welfare.
Because advanced R&D is growing exponentially in cost while product life cycles
continue to shorten, even the largest multinational firms recognize they can not be
technologically self-sufficient in every area. As a result, more companies and
countries perceive that R&D collaboration, if equitably structured, can benefit all
participants by pooling resources to reach long-term goals and speed the
development of new technology. Traditionally, the U.S. government has taken the
lead in dismantling international barriers to trade and investment, and this has
facilitated the collaboration of U.S. based firms with overseas partners in the
development of new technologies. The U.S. is also a leader in championing
intellectual property rights which, by protecting the interests of innovators, spurs the
development of new technologies. More recently, the U.S. is breaking new ground
in developing mechanisms, as with the IMS initiative, which will provide equitable
access for U.S. private entities.
Commercialization of technologies for civilian use is best accomplished by
dynamic private sector firms operating in a competitive market. The Government
can assist by pursuing regulatory policies that are conducive to innovation,
investment, and risk taking. The United States continues to be a world leader in the
development of new technologies and remains a fertile ground for start-up firms.
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AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Introduction
The advantages of global science and technology interaction on agriculture, natural
resources and earth sciences are now well recognized for reasons similar to those
underlying basic science cooperation -- utilization of foreign expertise and assets,
access to specialized sites and resources, etc. Although the Department of State has
lead responsibility for the conduct of U.S. foreign relations, other USG departments
and agencies work extensively with foreign countries to provide assistance in areas
of expertise.
The Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Commerce Department's National
Atmospheric and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Agency for
International Development (USAID) have significant roles in international S&T
cooperation in the agricultural area. Natural resources engage a number of other
U.S. agencies, in particular NOAA, and agencies of the Interior Department
including the U.S. Geological Survey and others. NASA as well as NOAA have
roles to play in space-based monitoring of agricultural and natural resources
matters. The international activities of many agencies draw considerably on USG
foreign assistance resources provided through USAID, which also directs and
supports collaborative development-related research of its own.
This chapter is designed to convey in a thematic way the substance and flavor of
U.S. Government S&T cooperation with international partners on agriculture and
natural resources, including earth sciences and natural hazards. This narrative is not
an agency catalog of activities, although much of the material, necessarily, is drawn
from and keyed to particular agencies. Appendix 2 (database of international S&T
agreements by agencies) is the principal agency-specific element of this Title V
report, and readers are invited to refer to it as desired.
The narrative is divided into two sections: agriculture, and natural resources
(including earth sciences). These subjects are not mutually exclusive nor is there
intent to portray them so. The narrative also briefly addresses international
cooperation on natural hazards such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis
(previously known as tidal waves).
The narrative on Basic Science earlier in this report discusses plant and animal
biodiversity and management and conservation of ecosystems.
Agriculture
An illustration of the scientific focus on agriculture is the fact that, in the last two
decades, the global number of agricultural researchers has doubled to over 100,000
and agricultural research expenditures have more than doubled to $7.5 billion
worldwide. Congress, USDA, USAID and the U.S. land grant colleges and
universities now speak in terms of the globalization of agriculture. This has
affected how U.S. participants perceive American interests in the development of
new products and processes that will help the U.S. to compete in world markets.
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Simultaneously, there is growing awareness that the agricultural development of
Third World countries helps their economic growth and per capita income gains,
which, in turn, benefit U.S. trade. Also, information and knowledge gained by U.S.
scientists from participating in the process of development in many countries can be
extremely important factors in the future growth of U.S. agriculture.
Recent USDA and USAID Developments
Administrative responsibility for programs involving technical assistance to low
income countries was assigned to the Agency for International Development
following the enactment of the Foreign Assistance Act in 1961. However, a number
of activities for implementing international cooperative programs in agriculture
were retained in USDA because they were logical extensions of USDA domestic
missions. Appropriations to implement the Foreign Assistance Act administered by
USAID have been the principal source of funding for U.S. programs of international
agricultural research, education and technical assistance since 1961. In practice, the
majority of the international programs funded by USDA's appropriations have
involved collaboration between USDA and USAID-graduate and other more
institutionally advanced countries.
Early in 1990, the Secretary of Agriculture made an important policy statement on
the need for the USDA to become more active in global science, education and
development, as part of a U.S. strategy to promote economic growth, trade
expansion and stability worldwide. In November 1990, Section 1613 of the Food,
Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (the 1990 Farm Bill) broadened
further USDA's authorities to enter into collaborative arrangements with sister
departments and agencies around the world. These included those of developing
countries and the emerging democracies currently receiving economic support and
development assistance from USAID.
Section 1458 and other amendments enacted by the 102nd Congress also
broadened the Department's global responsibilities related to international
agricultural research, technical cooperation, animal and plant health, international
forestry and global warming. However, Congress, with minor exceptions, has not
yet provided funds for such programs.
USDA and USAID: Collaborative Development of New Initiatives
Section 1613 requires the Secretary to carry out related USDA international policy
"in consultation with the Agency for International Development." The two agencies
agreed to form a Joint Steering Committee (JSC), co-chaired by USDA's Assistant
Secretary for Science and Education (S&E) and USAID's Assistant Administrator
for Science and Technology. The focus will be on five initial areas of mutual
interest: soil and water management, plant genetic resources, animal and plant
bases. disease and pest management, high value cash crops, and agricultural information
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Working groups have identified priority activities for each area. The groups also
recommended increased levels of USDA networking with the International
Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs), and highlighted the need to access global
information and technologies in cooperation with developing countries and
emerging democracies. FY-1991 activities included better definitions of USDA's
global priorities and more effective U.S. institutional collaboration therein, and
identified and overcame bottlenecks to collaboration across national boundaries.
USDA is developing a new mode of operation based upon its knowledge of the U.S.
agricultural research system, other significant international and global agricultural
research systems, and the benefits to the U.S. and the world from international
agricultural research and technology transfer.
USAID Support for International Agricultural Research.
USAID's international agricultural research program has three major components,
which together constitute an integral part of an emerging global agricultural
research system. These components include: (a) centrally funded programs,
developed through USAID's Research and Development (R&D) Bureau, which
work with public and private centers of excellence in the United States; (b) the
multilaterally funded International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs); and (c)
regional and bilateral efforts to strengthen and improve research capacity within
developing countries supported through USAID's field offices. Each cooperating
institution brings a particular comparative advantage to the research effort.
There is extensive involvement by the wider U.S. agricultural community.
Projects are designed to enhance sustainable productivity of the agricultural sector
while more effectively managing its natural resource base. For example,
Collaborative Research Support Projects (CRSPs) link university and USDA
scientists from every region of the country and provide research efforts with diverse
expertise. These institutions, along with developing country partners, conduct
collaborative research on topics of mutual interest and benefit.
New initiatives in biotechnology, sustainable agricultural practices and integrated
pest management are being developed by fostering both open competition and peer
review. This has caught the attention of leading scientists and administrators from
the private for-profit sector, universities and USDA. For example, a new project
(Agricultural Biotechnology for Sustainable Productivity) was jointly awarded to a
premier land-grant university and a state-of-the-art commercial tissue culture
laboratory following extensive external peer review.
These are examples of how USAID-financed international research is planned and
administered in conjunction with prominent governmental and private U.S.
agricultural and natural resource institutions. Much demonstrated mutual benefit
has derived from this unique type of collaboration. However, both USAID and
USDA are seeking ways to enhance cost effectiveness and collaboration in
USAID-funded international projects. One such way entails funding "special
constraint" research where U.S. institutions assist IARCs in overcoming specific
obstacles in their research efforts on key problems.
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Another critical component in this international research system is institutions at
national levels. Broadly taken, national programs constitute both private and public
sector agricultural and natural resources research. National programs are
fundamental to the application of results and improvement of production systems
and peoples' lives. However, in many cases national programs are weak. They
sometimes lack human resources and almost always lack adequate funding.
Especially through its bilaterally funded projects, USAID has been a major partner
in developing stronger national research programs. These projects typically contain
both research and training components. Research linkages are fostered with U.S.
institutions, IARCs or other national programs, increasingly through collaborative
research networks. Centrally and regionally funded projects also contribute to these
efforts, often by providing technical assistance. New efforts are being provided to
strengthen the private sector base. For example, a new centrally-funded
biotechnology project is linking directly with private sector efforts in developing
countries identified through bilateral projects.
USDA agencies provide a substantial resource in support of U.S. programs of
international economic assistance and cooperation. In the past decade, some 15
USDA agencies have responded to requests for technical services from USAID and
others. In addition, USDA professional staff have assisted on short and longer term
reimbursable details in USAID Washington bureaus.
USDA agencies also directly administer a variety of international programs
authorized in the farm bill legislation. While these do not in themselves fall in the
category of development assistance, they constitute a small but critical component
of U.S. programs of cooperation for development.
International Agricultural Research Networking and the U.S.
USAID-sponsored programs, including those in cooperation with USDA, link
extensively to the sixteen International Agricultural Research Centers (IARCs)
sponsored by the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
(CGIAR). (CGIAR is a 41-member group of nations, foundations and
multinational/international organizations, co-chaired by the World Bank, the Food
and Agriculture Organization, and the United Nations Development Programme.)
Some 40 international donors support the IARCs, the U.S. providing around 20% of
the CGIAR systems' $230 million annual cost. The IARCs are internationally
staffed (20% Americans, of whom 47% are PH.D.s) and located at sites around the
world.
The IARCs work on key commodities and agro-ecosystems, developing improved
germplasm and other technologies for adaptation by national programs and
ultimately by farmers in developing countries. The centers are primarily applied
research institutes, although increasingly they are involved in new biotechnologies.
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The linkages between IARC scientists and their U.S. counterparts are wide ranging
and have been mutually beneficial. The U.S. Foreign Assistance Act/Title XII
legislation, which provided the basis for the Collaborative Research Support
Projects (CRSPs), has also enhanced this type of collaboration. This legislation
stated that, in order to prevent famine and establish freedom from hunger, the U.S.
should strengthen the capacities of the U.S. land grant schools in program-related
agricultural institutional development and research, and should apply more effective
agricultural sciences to the goal of increasing world food production.
In FY-1991, the U.S. agricultural system, through USDA, initiated discussions
with the IARCS and USAID on how to expand ties to the IARCS network. Several
modest and low-cost steps were agreed upon to initiate USDA's formal participation
in, and support of, the programs of the IARCs. In addition to working to facilitate
access by IARCs to USDA's own Current Research Information System (CRIS),
these included:
participating with the IARCs in facilitating sabbaticals or special study
exchanges for scientific as well as administrative staff;
participating in collaborative research, exchange of materials, and sharing
knowledge about methodologies, techniques and information on current
research;
filling long-term IARC vacancies at all levels with personnel from the U.S.
system;
participation by top USDA-system agricultural scientists on IARC Boards of
Directors, where they will be able to recommend means to strengthen
collaboration in the expanding global research system that will contribute to
the economic self-sufficiency of developing countries; and
seeking funds that would allow USDA's junior scientific staff, including those
at the land grant colleges and universities and 1890 schools, to undertake
post-doctoral and special studies at the IARCs.
A similar mechanism is under consideration to link USDA more closely with other
international systems such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the
Interamerican Institute for Agricultural Cooperation, as well as selected national
agricultural research and technology systems overseas.
USDA funds to undertake the significant international networking role necessary
to have a global impact, and to link into current global knowledge that will help to
keep U.S. agriculture competitive, amount currently to less than $5 million yearly.
This compares with USDA's annual budget for domestic research of more than $1
billion.
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Other Programs
As indicated earlier, most formal scientific linkage programs in agricultural
research and product development are funded by USAID and implemented through
a variety of collaborators including universities, USDA and, more recently,
commercial agricultural researchers. One example is the Scientific Liaison Officers
program coordinated by USAID in cooperation with USDA. This program selects
leading U.S. scientists to be posted with the IARCs to improve links with them.
Many of these scientists are from land grant colleges, universities or experiment
stations.
USDA scientists located on American university campuses and at experiment
stations across the country participate in Collaborative Research Support Programs,
co-funded by USAID and the Title XII universities, to carry out research whose
results also benefits developing countries. Several of these collaborations are linked
into the USDA Current Research Information System (CRIS) network and into
some of the 16 International Agricultural Research Centers worldwide. USDA
scientists also participate with colleagues from the land grant colleges and
universities in the USAID-funded International Benchmark Sites Network for
Agrotechnology Transfer (IBSNAT) and the Improved Biological Nitrogen Fixation
Through Biotechnology (NIFTAL) network.
Another important USAID-funded network is the Soil Management Support
System (SMSS) program, which performs the critical soil science and classification
research that identifies similar soils around the world, with special emphasis on
developing countries. SMSS feeds the basic information on soil climate and
ecology into CRIS and into the networks of IBSNAT and, more recently, NIFTAL,
where crop response and other production-related information is added. This
system of networks is very important to USDA and the IARCs because it offers the
potential for the identification of both crop response patterns and better management
techniques that can be transferred to similar soil and ecological areas, and then be
locally adapted to produce cost-effective and environmentally sound improvements.
The potential for savings on crop varietal trials, field experiments, and needless
duplication are probably several million dollars yearly.
The National Sea Grant College Program of the Commerce Department's National
Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) has funded mariculture research
in the Pacific Islands (Belao, Micronesia and Northern Marianas Islands), and funds
and helps to coordinate cooperative research between U.S. and Chinese and
Japanese scientists. Research activities have included development of giant clam
hatcheries on Belao and the Marshall Islands, research on the pathology, nutrition
and growth of penaid shrimp, and algae culture. Work in the Pacific Islands is
funded through the Pacific Island Network, DOI and USDA. Work with China and
Japan is coordinated and funded through NOAA under respective agreements with
those countries.
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NOAA and USDA together operate a Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (JAWF).
NOAA meteorologists at JAWF provide USDA's World Agricultural Outlook
Board with weather and climate information it needs to issue estimates of
agricultural commodity production.
Space-Based Agricultural Monitoring
There is growing global interest and demand for satellite technology capable of
providing early warning information on the health and vigor of vegetation. Such
information is utilized by national government agencies involved with issues of
food security and disaster relief. NOAA plays an important role. Scientists at
NOAA's National Environmental Satellite, Data and Information Service (NESDIS)
Climate Applications Branch (CAB) apply data from polar orbiting satellites to
methods which monitor and assess vegetation conditions on a global basis.
A successful early-warning system for monitoring vegetation conditions depends
on how quickly problem areas and impacted regions can be detected. Traditional
field surveys, though generally reliable, are time-consuming and expensive. Earth
resource satellites such as LANDSAT and SPOT and weather satellites, such as the
NOAA-n series, can provide assessors with timely, qualitative estimates of crop and
pasture conditions over large areas. NOAA's Climate Applications Branch has used
advanced equipment aboard NOAA-n satellites, in conjunction with precipitation
data and statistical crop yield models, to provide near-real time assessments of
vegetation in southeast Asia and in the Sahel region of Africa. Recently, NOAA's
Climate Applications Branch conducted a satellite crop monitoring technology
transfer project in southeast Asia; this activity was jointly funded by USAID's
Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and the United Nations Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific. CAB has also been successful in devising
assessment processes useable on personal computers, and transferring that ability to
developing countries.
Locusts ravenously consume agricultural raw products and are a formidable
contributor to famine in sub-Sahel Africa. The Interior Department's U.S.
Geological Survey (USGS), under a contract with USAID, used "greenness"
mapping capability from NOAA satellites to assist in grasshopper/locust control by
predicting potential outbreaks of these insects.
USGS' National Mapping Division (NMD) continues to conduct under USAID
auspices a Famine Early Warning Systems Program to spotlight populations at risk
of famine in Burkina Faso, Chad, Ethiopia, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Sudan. The
program consists of the application of remote sensing and information system
technology to target populations at risk of famine. Other USAID-funded NMD
technical assistance activities in Africa include time series monitoring of vegetation
conditions for grasshopper and locust habitat identification in Algeria, Chad, Mali,
Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Sudan and Tunisia; and implementation of remote
sensing and information systems for research and monitoring of Sahelian Africa.
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Recent Developments
It seems reasonable to expect that there will be a growing awareness in the U.S.,
including in the private sector, of the value of the technological improvements
possible through greater international scientific networking led by prominent U.S.
agricultural institutions. Various analyses also show significant trade benefits to the
U.S. when the economies and per capita income of developing nations gain.
There were several actions underway in FY-1991 to bring about an improved
climate for international S&T cooperation in agriculture. After extensive
deliberation within USDA's congressionally-mandated Joint Council on Food and
Agricultural Sciences, the Department proposed, the Administration adopted and
Congress subsequently authorized a Policy on International Science, Education, and
Development (administration proposal, 1990 Farm Bill and Section 1613 of the
1990 Food, Agriculture, Conservation and Trade Act -- FACT). The policy
emphasizes the:
new worldwide importance of agriculture as a key means to revitalize and
expand the economies of many countries;
high priority of agricultural science and education in this process; and
importance of U.S. participation.
Two basic motives underlie this policy: a) skills and talents of U.S. agricultural
scientists can help speed the process of development in many countries of the world,
and b) the information and knowledge to be gained by these same scientists can be
of inestimable value to U.S. agriculture.
Some Representative Cases of Cooperation
Nearly 350 collaborative international agricultural research projects were active in
FY-1991, involving but not limited to the following countries: Antigua, Argentina,
Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Egypt, France, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, India,
Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal,
Singapore, Soviet Union, Taiwan, Turkey, United Kingdom and Yugoslavia. These
activities were in pest and disease control and prevention, crop germplasm genetic
improvement, soil and water resources, forestry and wood products, post-harvest
technology and utilization, animal improvement, dry land agriculture, aquaculture,
and human nutrition.
The majority of these projects included significant co-funding by the cooperating
foreign institutions. Those that were for the most part funded by USDA addressed
significant problems immediately affecting U.S. agriculture. An illustrative sample
list of such projects during FY-1991 involving other countries (shown in
parentheses) includes:
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biological controls for leafy spurge (Italy) and knapweeds (USSR), involving
non-herbicidal approaches using insects;
weevils for biocontrol of snakeweeds (Argentina);
moths for biocontrol of bindweeds (Italy, Greece);
wasps against Gypsy Moths (Europe);
rust disease for biological control of musk thistle (Turkey);
molecular marker identification of parasites and predators of the Russian wheat
aphid (several countries);
new durum wheat germplasm resistant to Hessian Fly (Morocco);
European honey bees resistant to parasitic mites (Yugoslavia, U.K.);
biological control of rangeland weeds (Europe, Soviet Union, China);
cattle and sheep genetic resistance to parasitic nematode infection (St. Croix;
other tropical countries).
CRSP scientists and their collaborators have developed and released dozens of new
cultivated varieties (cultivars) of bean, cowpea, millet, peanut and sorghum, with
greater productivity, disease and insect resistance, drought tolerance and improved
nutritional quality. New and improved breeds of sheep and goats have been
developed and are being utilized. Plant and animal (including aquatic) genetic
resources have been preserved and are being used in improvement programs. New
technologies for soil and water management, improved soil nutrient utilization and
control of soil erosion have been developed.
The activities described above are all essential components of an interagency
agricultural research effort which, given the necessary resources, can and does
mount substantial programs to seek solutions to major food and natural resource
management problems. Widespread famine, thought inevitable just 20 years ago,
has been largely averted in many areas. Very significant advances have been made
-- conservative estimates cite that some 500 million people are fed due to advances
in the rice-wheat green revolution alone. But population growth, combined with
pressure on the natural resource base, mean that more challenges lie ahead. The
international agricultural research system supported by the U.S. through USAID and
USDA will be key to meeting them.
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Natural Resources
The work of the Commerce Department's National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) entails significant international cooperative
activities pertaining to natural resources and earth sciences. The Interior
Department also has bureaus engaged in relevant international cooperative
activities They are: U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Mines, Bureau of Land Management,
Bureau of Reclamation and the Minerals Management Service. NOAA and USGS
also carry on important international S&T cooperative activities in the areas of
natural hazards; USGS principally on earthquakes and volcanoes, and NOAA on
ocean phenomena (e.g., tsunamis) and weather.
In the Department of State, the Office of Ecology, Health and Conservation
(OES/EHC), located in the OES Bureau's Environmental Directorate (OES/E),
works with other U.S. Government agencies and provides advice and coordination
on U.S. policy for promoting the long-term sustainability of the earth's natural
resources base, including forests, wetlands, wildlife and biological diversity.
Illustrative accounts follow of international collaborative work during FY-1991 of
a number of agencies. As noted in the introduction, these descriptions are not
all-inclusive but are representative, intended to convey the flavor and benefits of
such activities. Readers are invited to refer to Appendix 2 for further agency details
if desired.
Department of Commerce
National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration
The Commerce Department's National Oceanographic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) plays an important role in earth sciences and natural
resource management - as a participant in the Global Change program, a key
repository and manager of environmental data and information on earth systems,
and, in the natural resources area, as steward of the nation's ocean space, including
management of marine fisheries.
The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) is a part of NOAA. Many
important fisheries resources range beyond the areas in which the U.S. exercises
exclusive management jurisdiction and require international cooperation for
assessing and ensuring their conservation. NMFS engages in U.S. international
conservation activities, such as in the 17-member International Council for the
Exploration of the Sea (ICES) pertaining to the North Atlantic area, and cooperative
bilateral scientific observer and enforcement programs regarding the high seas
driftnet fleets of Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
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NOAA projects of interest during FY-1991 included the following (see also under
Natural Hazards, below):
Joint cruises of the USSR's research ship Khromov and NOAA's ship Surveyor
studied northern Pacific waters in the Bering Strait region, where there are
noteworthy still unexplored phenomena. For example, unique climate and
sea-circulation interactions may contribute to the fact that the area has the highest
marine biological productivity in the world.
NOAA continued to engage in cooperative research programs with other nations
such as the USSR and Japan in support of its Deep Seabed Mining Environmental
Research Program and to promote environmentally sound deep seabed mineral
exploration. NOAA's environmental research efforts have focused on determining
the biological effects of the increased sedimentation on the seafloor that would
result from deep seabed mining operations.
Ongoing NOAA cooperation with Japan continued to enhance scientific
exploration at the frontiers of marine exploration in, for example, seafloor venting,
plate tectonics, material fluxes, living marine resources, deep seabed manganese
nodules, and related technologies.
NOAA worked with France on exploration of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge.
Under a project funded by USAID, NOAA helped Egypt to address its water
management problems with development of a state of the art river forecast system
for the Nile.
NOAA's Coast and Geodetic Survey (C&GS) continued to produce various charts
and publications required for international air traffic control. A member of the
International Hydrographic Organization (IHO), it participated in related
hydrographic work and publications.
C&GS provided positioning and other data key to the operation and accuracy of the
NAVSTAR Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) array, used by persons on at least
four continents to obtain highly accurate positions for surveying, mapping,
transportation and navigation applications. It also assisted Saudi Arabia in work to
create a unified geodetic reference for mapping and land information systems.
Department of Interior
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
As an important adjunct to its domestic programs, USGS' international cooperative
S&T activities during FY-1991 continued to be directed toward assessing
worldwide mineral, energy and water resources; increasing knowledge of geology,
geophysics, geochemistry, hydrologic and geological hazards (including seismology
and vulcanology); improving cartography; and improving the knowledge and
expertise of earth scientists. USGS conducts cooperative international activities in
the forms of jointly-funded scientific investigations with developed countries, or as
technical assistance to a developing country under auspices of other U.S.
government agencies, international scientific or financial organizations, or foreign
governments.
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During FY-1991, USGS engaged in cooperative programs under the aegis of
bilateral S&T agreements between the U.S. and the governments of China, Hungary,
India, Italy, Japan, Mongolia, Poland, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. These
covered a wide range of geological, earth sciences and mapping topics, many of
which entailed very specialized areas of scientific and natural resources interest.
Some USGS projects of notable interest during FY-1991 included the following:
USGS foreign data acquisition pertinent to possible global climate change centered
on Lake Baikal in southeastern Siberia. Because of its high latitude location
(increased sensitivity to global temperature changes), unique sediment accumulation
through widening of the major continental rift in which it is located, and the fact that
it has not been glaciated, this largest, deepest at 1600 meters (one mile) and oldest
lake in the world contains an unparalleled record of climate change in its five
kilometer (three mile) thick sedimentary sequence.
Deep continental drilling was continued on the Kola peninsula and provided USGS
geologists with samples from depths previously inaccessible, whose study
contributes to the understanding of deep-crustal processes. The USSR has
conducted scientific drilling to depths of as much as 14 kilometers (8.75 mile) at
Kola and at Krivoy Rog (Ukraine).
Comparative studies using water level changes in wells as indicators of strain to
predict earthquakes were conducted in the Caucasus area of Soviet Georgia and on
the San Andreas fault near Parkfield, California.
USGS and the Saudi Arabian Directorate General of Mineral Resources conducted
a 31st year of cooperative studies in that country. Work continued on the discovery
and assessment of non-fuel mineral resources, technical, data and computer support,
determination of the mining feasibility of gold and phosphate rock, and training of
Saudi and other regional scientists in field and laboratory studies.
At the request of the U.S. Embassy and Government of Abu Dhabi Emirate, USGS
provided support in water resources research in the arid Arabian environment.
Objectives are to assess ground water resources of the Emirate, train personnel in
assessment methodologies, and to establish an organization for water management.
Under USAID funding, USGS continued a technical assistance program begun in
1985 in Pakistan on coal resource assessment and training of Pakistani geologists.
In the Western Hemisphere, USGS (together with the Bureau of Mines) continued
a significant involvement in activities of the Center for Interamerican Mineral
Resources Information (CIMRI). This involves exchanges of information and
expertise on geologic, geochemical, geophysical, remote sensing and other
information on non-fuel mineral resources in Central and South America and the
Caribbean, and the production of publicly available databases. Training programs
have been initiated in Bolivia, Chile, Venezuela and Peru and, during FY-1991,
were Uruguay. under discussion with Argentina, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and
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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is the U.S. management agent for
implementation of the important Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species (CITES). FWS is also engaged in the implementation of several other
significant international conventions pertaining to conservation and ecology, in
particular, the International Convention on Nature Protection and Wildlife
Preservation in the Western Hemisphere (the Western Hemisphere Convention).
This convention pertains to virtually all migratory bird management activities
carried out in Latin America and the Caribbean. 21 countries are engaged. FWS
also conducts an extensive array of research on endangered species and their
habitats, for example, in India, Pakistan and Egypt.
During FY-1991, FWS' Office of International Affairs continued to conduct
international cooperative research programs such as (with the Soviet Union):
expanded joint monitoring by satellite of collared polar bears and walruses, nesting
and migration studies of waterfowl, wildlife disease research, wetlands
management, determination of genetic characteristics of Pacific salmon, and
research on the biology, ecology and population dynamics of marine mammal
species.
National Park Service (NPS)
The National Park Service participates in cooperative monitoring and research on
ecosystem processes, ecological communities and wildlife populations involving
units of the National Park System and ecologically similar protected areas in other
countries. Emphasis is on cooperation along or near the boundaries with Canada,
Mexico, the USSR, the United Kingdom (British Virgin Islands), as well as NPS
units of the International Network of Biosphere Reserves. The NPS recently
established a coordination office for cooperative program activities, including
research, with Mexico. Ongoing international activities include ecological network
planning with European biosphere reserves (through the U.S. Man and the
Biosphere Program); wildlife population studies in desert ecosystems (Mexico);
monitoring of migratory birds (Costa Rica) and coral reefs (Lesser Antilles); and
comparable studies in small watersheds (with USSR biosphere reserves).
Bureau of Mines
The Bureau of Mines (BOM) collects data on the production and consumption of
over 100 mineral commodities from 160 foreign countries. During FY-1991, BOM
successfully concluded with China a Protocol on Nonferrous Metal Mining and
Minerals Research, under the U.S.-PRC Science and Technology Cooperation
Agreement. BOM continued to support programs under Department of State S&T
agreements with Yugoslavia, Poland and Hungary in areas such as coal mine safety
and privatization of mining industries.
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Bureau of Land Management
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) exchanges scientific and technical
information with other countries at conferences and professional meetings and
through direct contacts. Topics covered by such exchanges during FY-1991
included automated land information systems, land use planning and environmental
impact assessment methodologies, land and mineral leasing procedures, land parcel
recordation and tracking systems, restorations of stressed riparian areas and upland
rangelands, climate change monitoring protocols, and mineral land reclamation
practices. As an extension of its domestic programs, BLM regularly worked with
Canada and Mexico on transboundary management problems and opportunities.
When requested, BLM also provides training and technical assistance to other
countries. For example, in FY-1991 BLM provided training to wildlife biologists in
minerals management agency.
Sri Lanka and provided assistance to the Hungarian Government in establishing a
Bureau of Reclamation
The Bureau of Reclamation participates in cooperative research and technology
exchanges with other nations in support of its domestic programs and offers training
and assistance in all aspects of water resource development, management and
related fields. The Bureau has worked in over 60 countries and has trained over
5,000 resources engineers and scientists from over 80 countries.
Minerals Management Service
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) engages in cooperative research
programs with other nations in support of its domestic oil and gas program and to
promote environmentally sound offshore operations worldwide. The United
Kingdom, Canada and Norway are major participants. Research is conducted in
measurement. technology development related to oil spill response, pipeline safety and ice force
Natural Hazards
As noted earlier, USGS and NOAA have important roles in the field of
international natural hazards prediction. The National Weather Service (NWS), a
part of NOAA, provides marine weather and sea state forecasts for designated high
seas areas in accordance with World Meteorological Organization agreements and
aviation forecasts and hazard warnings.
safety of life at sea conventions. It is one of 15 international centers issuing
NOAA participates in a Pacific Tsunami Warning System (PTWS) comprised of
most Pacific Rim states, with an operational center near Honolulu, charged with
responsibility for detecting and locating major earthquakes in the Pacific region to
warnings. determine whether they have generated tsunamis and to provide appropriate
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NOAA's National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service
(NESDIS) centers carry out many activities related to exchange of earth sciences
data under various agreements. Among other things, these activities include
monitoring solar flares and other solar-terrestrial phenomena that can detrimentally
affect human activities such as telecommunications.
USGS continued to operate two global seismographic networks to provide rapid
and accurate information of earthquake occurrence worldwide. The World-Wide
Standardized Seismographic Network (WWSSN) currently comprises about 100
stations operating in more than 50 countries. USGS also operates the Global Digital
Seismographic Network (GDSN), a new satellite-linked seismographic network.
The GDSN provides extremely high-quality digital seismic data for seismological
research and is a unique international information resource. Working in cooperation
with Argentina, Chile, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Peru, the Philippines, Thailand
and the United Kingdom, USGS also is developing action plans and pilot programs
in each of three geographic regions to demonstrate the feasibility and need for
uniform global earthquake hazard mapping and risk assessment/management
Under auspices of USGS' Volcano Hazards Program and the joint Volcano
Disaster Assistance Program of USGS and USAID's Office of Foreign Disaster
Assistance (OFDA), USGS maintains and keeps ready for volcanic crises caches of
specialized equipment and monitoring instrumentation. The June 12-15, 1991
eruption of Mount Pinatubo volcano in the Philippines, 100 kilometers (62 miles)
northwest of Manila, was the largest eruption in the past five decades and led to the
largest-known evacuation of people due to a volcanic threat. Quick deployment of
monitoring instruments and the preparation of volcanic hazards maps by USGS
personnel and scientists from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and
Seismology permitted characterization of precursory volcanic activity, and provided
the basis for accurate warnings of impending eruptions.
These warnings were widely disseminated and led to the evacuation of more than
58,000 residents near the volcano, including 14,500 U.S. military personnel from
Clark Air Base prior to June 12. When the climactic eruption of June 15 occurred,
more than 200,000 people had left the area. By the end of FY-1991, more than 23
USGS geologists, seismologists, hydrologists, and electronics and computer
specialists had each spent between 3 and 8 weeks at Pinatubo to assist the Philippine
Institute and advise American military commanders.
An NOAA polar orbiting satellite has tracked the progression of the ash/aerosol
cloud produced by the Mount Pinatubo volcano since June 15, 1991. NOAA
provided forecasts of the plume trajectory just after the eruption and subsequently
developed a new forecast and visualization technique for forecasting plume
trajectory and spread from any volcano in the world.
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CHAPTER 3
NARRATIVES ON SELECTED COUNTRIES AND
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
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ARGENTINA
General
Unlike the U.S. where the private sector has a significant role in conducting
scientific research and development, about 95 percent of science and technology
research in Argentina is conducted by government institutions and universities. The
two major institutions responsible for carrying out government policies in this field
are SECYT (the Secretariat of Science and Technology) and its operating arm
CONICET (National Council for S&T Research). As a result of a decade or more of
virtual economic stagnation and budgetary restrictions, science and technology
suffers from a serious brain drain of scientists seeking employment abroad.
Scientists continue to be among the lowest paid employees in the country with
salaries for researchers ranging from $500 to $1600 per month. In addition,
scientists face very limited funds for equipment, books and operating expenses. As
a percentage of GNP, Argentina invests less than 0.5 percent in R&D, though efforts
are being made to raise this to roughly 1.0 percent in 1992.
Argentina presently has about 20,000 scientists, many of whom have received
graduate degrees from abroad, primarily the U.S. and Europe. There are
approximately 30 universities offering degrees in science and engineering and 167
research institutes or centers under the direction of CONICET.
Cooperative science and technology research activity between the U.S. and
Argentina is based on a 1972 bilateral umbrella agreement which has been
periodically revised and updated. The agreement next expires in August 1992 but is
expected to be renewed prior to that date. NSF supported approximately $200,000
in direct R&D grants for Argentina in FY-91 and about $3 million through indirect
activities. During the 1991 visit of Vice President Quayle, the two governments
signed two major space agreements. The first was a framework agreement with a
focus on civil space cooperation, while the second provided for NASA to launch an
Argentine solar research satellite, the SAC-B, sometime in the mid-1990's. In
September of 1991, a Peace Corps agreement was signed with Argentina. The
programs to be developed will focus primarily on environmental and natural
resource related issues.
Basic Science
Within its limited financial resources, Argentina has been quite active in basic
science research, hosting international scientific conferences, and working with
other countries on scientific and technological projects. Recent examples include:
Global climate change
Argentina is undertaking a new global climate change research initiative to focus
on possible future change in the biosphere. The proposal includes studies of current
environmental conditions, such as atmospheric and stratospheric ozone,
levels. measurement of gases with greenhouse effects, desertification and changes in ocean
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The studies will be conducted at six research centers located in Argentina, as well as
at universities and other institutes. Argentina plans to spend $20 million in 1991 on
this project.
Computer data network
SECYT is also organizing a national computer data base called RECYT (Scientific
and Technological Network), which will facilitate the integration of the national
S&T system, as well as communication with specialized foreign entities.
Astronomy
In late July 1991, the Argentine Astronomical Association hosted the International
Astronomical Union's General Assembly in Buenos Aires. More than 1200
astronomers from around the world participated, including approximately 400 U.S.
scientists with research support from NSF and NASA.
In a joint effort with the Cambridge Center of Astrophysics (Harvard University), a
new radio receptor was installed on one of the radio telescopes at the university of
La Plata's Radio Astronomy Institute (IAR). The receptor mirrors a similar device
at Harvard university to search for extraterrestrial life.
Space
SECYT, in conjunction with Argentina's newly created space commission,
CONAE, signed an MOU with NASA to help develop and launch a solar research
satellite, SAC-B, as noted above. SAC-B will carry out solar burst research, as well
as provide background x-ray and gamma-ray observations. The University of
Buenos Aires Institute for Astrophysics and Space Physics (IAFE) is developing the
satellite platform and various instrument packages, in cooperation with Goddard
Space Flight Center and the University of Pennsylvania. The SAC-B platform is
experiments. expected to form the basis for future Argentine research satellite designs and
Health and Life Sciences
following: A number of infectious diseases are of major concern in Argentina, including the
Hemorrhagic fever
This is a disease found only in Argentina and Korea, and has a mortality rate of
about 10 percent. It affects mostly the rural areas of the provinces of Buenos Aires,
Santa Fe, Cordoba and La Pampa. From January to September 1991, a number of
deaths were reported among the 700 confirmed cases. Over a twelve year period, a
vaccine known as Candid I was developed in the U.S. by an Argentine scientist, Dr.
Julio Barrera Oro, and was tested on human volunteers in the U.S. and Argentina. It
was found to be 97% effective. As part of a special U.S.-Argentine cooperative
effort, in August 1991 the U.S. provided Argentina with the first 50,000 of an
eventual 200,000 doses of the vaccine. Argentina hopes to produce the vaccine on
its own within five years.
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AIDS
The Argentine government announced a national AIDS program in July, 1991. $2
million will be spent over 18 months for treatment, condoms, training and research. The
government is also trying to use mass media to increase public awareness of the dangers
of AIDS. Currently there are 1,234 reported cases of AIDS in Argentina, although it is
estimated that 20,000 to 40,000 people are HIV-positive. The Catholic church has
recently issued a document calling on Argentines to combat AIDS through education.
Measles
Measles experienced a resurgence in Argentina in 1991. From January to September,
over 9000 cases of measles, resulting in 41 deaths, were reported. In September the
Ministry of Health (MOH), anticipating a rise in the number of people affected through
the end of the year, declared a measles epidemic. The government has belatedly initiated
a national inoculation program. A total of 230,000 doses of vaccine have been donated by
France, Chile, Brazil and Spain. A further 500,000 doses were purchased from France.
PAHO and the World Health Organization (WHO) have also been called in to assist.
Chagas disease
Chagas, a cardiovascular disease which manifests itself 20 to 30 years after initial
infection, is by far the most widespread illness in Argentina. A large part of the country,
mostly poor areas, is infested with the insect that carries the disease. According to official
estimates, about 2.5 million people are infected (out of a population of 33 million), of
which 10-20% have suffered irreparable and incapacitating damage from the disease.
Cholera
Unlike neighboring countries, Argentina has so far reported no cases of cholera. The
Ministry of Health, however, fears its eventual arrival is inevitable. The government is
encouraging people to take the usual precautions against cholera such as washing hands,
boiling water, and peeling vegetables, but the general sanitary conditions in rural
Argentina are poor and deteriorating. The press reports that out of the total 33 million
population, 11 million are without potable water and 21 million have no sewage system in
their homes. Besides making the public aware of the dangers of cholera, the government
has also increased waste treatment and water chlorination throughout the country.
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Bolivia and Chile are attempting to coordinate their
anti-cholera programs.
Energy, Environment and Economics
A mysterious oil spill off the Argentine coast near the province of Chubut reminded
Argentines of energy/environment interactions. In September 1991, thousands of
Magellan penguins arrived for their annual breeding season covered with oil from a yet
undetermined source. Volunteers started cleaning and feeding the penguins. Nearly
18,000 penguins out of a total of about 650,000 were affected by the oil. The Argentine
government requested the U.S. to help determine, from space, the origin and extent of the
oil spill. As of the end of FY-91 the source of the oil spill remained unknown.
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Environmental protection in Argentina is mainly the responsibility of the federal
Ministry of Health and Social Action. A National Commission of Environmental Policies
(CONAPA) was created in 1989 but has to date been relatively ineffective. In June 1991,
President Menem announced the creation of a new, cabinet-level secretariat for the
environment, though actual implementation of this agency is not expected until early
1992. In November, 1991 President Menem appointed a new Secretary for the
Environment who apparently will report directly to the President's office. Some provinces
also have local environmental offices.
Environment, however, has not been a high priority in Argentina, and coordination
between federal and provincial authorities remains minimal. Limited funding in a
stagnant economy is another factor. The government is trying to redress the situation in
view of the air and water pollution problems throughout the country. Other serious
problems are lack of adequate long-term disposal of hazardous and nuclear waste,
desertification, soil erosion, urban and rural floods, and urban noise pollution.
Non-governmental organizations such as Argentine Greenpeace and the World Wildlife
Federation are beginning to gain more political clout at grassroots levels.
President Bush's Enterprise for the Americas Initiative (EAI) was strongly endorsed by
the government of Argentina. The debt for environment provision was specifically
highlighted by the scientific community as a means of providing continuous funding of
programs for research in global climate change and other environmental areas.
The U.S. Ambassador and the Governor of Buenos Aires recently signed a technical
development program (TDP) agreement for the study of hazardous wastes and
environmental protection in the province of Buenos Aires. A U.S. contribution of
$500,000 included support for a feasibility study on the treatment of hazardous wastes.
While not directly relevant to E³, another major environmental event struck Argentina
during FY-1991 in the form of a major eruption in August of the Mount Hudson Volcano,
close to the Chilean-Argentine border, which spewed ash over an area of 100,000 square
kilometers in the southern province of Santa Cruz. Argentina requested U.S. help to
evaluate the health and environmental effects of the ash. The USG responded with
immediate disaster assistance for the populace as well as providing experts to help analyze
this natural disaster.
Emerging Technologies
Biotechnology
SECYT has developed a national program for biotechnology as part of its national
science and technology plan. Priority areas include development of productive biotech
processes, fermentation processes, production of recombinant proteins, cell cultivations,
production of vaccines, antigens, biopharmics, diagnostic reagents and biomolecules.
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Semiconductors
As part of the national program of computer networking and electronics, Argentine
researchers produced their first Very Large Scale Integrated
(VLSI) chips. Using CMOS technology and "sincronised chronogram of multiuser
projects," a chip equivalent to 5,000 transistors was manufactured. Some seventeen
researchers and eight different institutions were involved in this project.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Desertification caused by overgrazing seriously affects about one-third of the Patagonia
region, the main sheep-raising area of Argentina. If the process continues, the country
may suffer severe economic as well as ecological consequences. Desertification is
considered to be the main ecological-agricultural problem in the Patagonia and has caused
serious vegetation loss and irreversible soil erosion in many areas. INTA, the National
Institute for Agricultural Technology, and other federal, provincial and private institutions
are presently promoting a 5-year project to prevent and/or control desertification in
Patagonia. The German government has granted Argentina US$2.9 million for a 4-year
project to fight desertification in Patagonia.
In the Salta province of northern Argentina the uncontrolled cutting of trees and the lack
of adequate environmental protection policies have accelerated the process of
desertification. Argentina is presently working with a number of Italian companies on a
forestry project to transform the country into a producer and exporter of wood and thereby
reverse the process of desertification. The provincial government of Cordoba together
with the national government is seeking International Development Bank loans to plant 40
million trees over the next 5 years.
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BRAZIL
General
Brazil has often been referred to as the "country of the future." Ranking fifth in land area
and sixth in population among the world's nations, Brazil is one of the richest in natural
resources, with extensive land areas suitable for agriculture, some 20% of the world's
fresh surface water, the world's largest tropical forest, the world's largest wetlands, and
vast mineral reserves. Brazil also has the largest industrial plant in Latin America and the
greatest number of scientists and technicians in the region, with over 500 research
institutes and over 100 organizations involved in notable science and technology-related
activities.
The U.S. has had a formal S&T agreement with Brazil since 1971. A six-month
extension in May 1991 allowed time to complete negotiations on an annex on intellectual
property rights. The S&T agreement was renewed in November 1991.
Basic Science
There are numerous professional science organizations in Brazil. For three decades, the
most prominent has been the Brazilian Society for the Promotion of Science (comparable
to the AAAS), which still attracts over 5,000 participants to its annual meetings. Its
activities in the past were often political, entailing a continuous struggle against the
military dictatorship for greater freedom and democratic government. That goal having
been achieved, the Society's influence has now largely given way to that of over two
dozen specialist professional scientific societies which promote research in their areas.
The Government of Brazil (GOB) spent 0.6% of 1989 GNP on S&T and supported about
70% of the R&D work done in the country. However, fiscal austerity measures in 1990
took a heavy toll on all sectors of the budget, including S&T. 1991 saw additional
tightening. An inquiry by the Brazilian congress showed that the science sector's
infrastructure had become obsolete as the result of a ten-year dearth of investment.
Funding institutions reported that, as ability to maintain adequate laboratories became
more impaired, applications for grants were increasingly for basic equipment and facilities
rather than research.
During 1991, the science sector showed not only strain but the beginnings of cracks, with
unheard-of strikes by scientists, boycotts of council meetings of the National Council for
Research (equivalent of the U.S. National Science Foundation), and the start of a brain
drain as some of the better talent began looking for a more stable work atmosphere. The
economic and financial problems caused reduction in government science programs and in
morale. A shift of government funding to technology programs underlined this trend, but
has also resulted in some adaptive changes, such as creation of technologically-oriented
and/or industrially-linked programs.
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One bright spot during FY-1991 was ability of the various funding institutions to
maintain, and even increase, the number of scholarships for university students, thus
continuing to build a solid human resource base. Brazil retains a significant
foundation in the basic sciences, the traditional focus of the universities and an area
in which a high percentage of scholarships for study abroad are given.
Brazil has traditionally cooperated with U.S. institutions in basic science. Among
the most long-lasting relationships has been that between NSF and Brazil's National
Research Council (CNPQ). A outgrowth of that cooperation, the program in
high-energy physics between Fermilab and the National Physics Laboratory of
Brazil, has long been regarded as especially beneficial to the two partners. More
recent collaboration between Argonne National Laboratory and the Institute for
Physics at the University of Sao Paulo is also proving valuable.
Health and Life Sciences
Brazil's tropical location and its strong group of biological scientists has made it
an important country for research in tropical diseases such as malaria,
leishmaniosis, chagas and schistosomiasis. Brazilian scientists are working closely
with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in research in these and in other areas,
world. such as AIDS, where Brazil has one of the highest number of reported cases in the
Brazilian scientists have accomplished health research breakthroughs in the past.
However, their ability to continue to do so is now almost completely dependent on
collaboration with, and support from, international partners. Ministry of Health
resources have, by necessity, become focused on more basic problems, such as a
massive, successful, education program against cholera, and large-scale vaccination
campaigns against common childhood diseases.
Energy, Environment and Economics
At the time of the first oil-price shock in 1973, Brazil took a number of innovative
policy decisions which included exploration for domestic oil reserves, development
of ethanol-fueled cars and support of a nuclear energy program. Brazil today has a
fleet of four million cars fueled by ethanol. Brazil is an exporter of gasoline and a
leader in deep-water drilling techniques.
The sugar cane based fuel ethanol was never economically competitive with
gasoline and, in 1990, a shortage of ethanol forced a reevaluation of the program.
Pressure to retain an emphasis on ethanol stemmed not least because of
environmental concerns. The two megalopolises of Rio de Janeiro (some 9 million
people) and Sao Paulo (about 15 million) would face totally unacceptable air
pollution levels if ethanol-fueled cars gave way to gasoline powered vehicles. The
Persian Gulf war in early 1991 gave further impetus to continuation of work on
alternative fuels and creation of pricing structures which would promote cleaner
fuels. The latest innovations in 1991 included introduction in several urban centers
of fleets of busses using natural gas.
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Hydropower remains the main source of electric power generation in Brazil. The
world's largest hydroelectric dam is on the Brazil-Paraguay border.
Environmental concerns are slowing development of thermal plants dependent on
Brazilian coal, which has a high ash content. Imported metallurgical coal and
charcoal have been the primary fuels for steel plants. While there are no plans to
change this, insistence on reforestation programs to make charcoal a truly
"sustainable" fuel source has grown in recent years. There are also changes in the
energy pricing structure to try to reflect all the costs of production and utilization,
including those of environmental protection.
With only one nuclear power plant in operation, Brazil's nuclear program has had
little success as an energy source. Another plant is partially complete, but at
enormous financial cost. An autonomous, unsafeguarded nuclear program has
focussed on mastering the fuel cycle and developing small reactors. International
proliferation concerns were eased by the signing of a bilateral safeguards agreement
between Brazil and Argentina in July 1991, and by the start of negotiations for a
full-scope IAEA safeguards agreement.
USG agencies are cooperating with Brazil in a number of areas related to
environmental concerns. These include EPA programs on agricultural chemicals
with the Ministry of Agriculture; a new U.S. Forest Service program begun in
August 1991 on fire management; funding from USAID for a variety of sustainable
development demonstration projects in the Amazon region, being carried out by
non-govemmental organizations; climatology studies by NOAA with Brazil's
Space Institute (INPE); and atmospheric studies with INPE by NASA.
Emerging Technologies
Brazil's list of "critical technologies" includes new materials, biotechnology,
aerospace technology, information and communications, and energy. However,
traditional closed-market policies and lack of adequate intellectual property rights
protection in some key areas have prevented significant international cooperation.
Attempts by the GOB to open the Brazilian market may change this in the near
future.
In the meantime, there is little practical cooperation taking place beyond some
areas of basic research where France and Germany are the leading partners. China
has recently signed a contract with Brazil to develop two remote-sensing satellites,
and the Soviet Union has expressed strong interest in the computer science sector.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Brazil maintains a wide range of technical cooperation ventures in agriculture with
several countries as well as a number of key international agencies, mainly the Food
and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the Interamerican Institute of Cooperation for
Agriculture (IICA), the World Bank, and the Interamerican Development Bank
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(IDB). Bilateral cooperation agreements with the United States are primarily
between U.S. Universities and EMBRAPA, the research institute for the Brazilian
Department of Agriculture. At the end of 1990, about 30 cooperation projects were
in force with 20 U.S. universities, involving research on crops, biological controls
(in which EMBRAPA has made a number of breakthrough discoveries), dairy cattle,
pastures, soil conservation, and germplasm.
Brazil also provides technical assistance in agriculture to some 20 countries in
Latin America and Africa in the areas of basic foodstuffs, pasture improvement
programs, rural administration, and plant genetics.
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CANADA
General
Sharing more than 4,800 kilometers of border with the United States, Canada is a
staunch ally and our largest trading partner. A dense web of science and technology
cooperation involving both private industry and not-for-profit laboratories has
developed between the two countries.
Private and official environment, science and technology linkages are key factors
in the U.S.-Canadian relationship. This has been nowhere more evident than in the
area of acid precipitation. The 1990 passage of the U.S. Clean Air Act and the
March 1991 signing of the Air Quality Agreement by President Bush and Prime
Minister Mulroney signalled the resolution of this issue, which had been an irritant
to bilateral relations for more than a decade.
Official bilateral S&T cooperation spans the spectrum of disciplines. Canada is a
major collaborator in Space Station Freedom and a Canadian payload specialist is
scheduled to fly on shuttle flight 42 in early 1992. In the field of energy,
cooperative efforts are as varied as research on improved batteries, nuclear safety,
and nuclear fusion energy. Canadian health researchers have very close ties with
their American colleagues and compete successfully for grant support from the
National Institutes of Health. In all, cooperative activities involve a dozen U.S.
agencies and their Canadian counterparts.
As of the end of FY-1991 the government's newest constitutional proposals for
shaping Canada's future, tabled September 24, were being deeply debated
nationwide. This debate addresses what kind of a Canada is to be in the future, and
its outcome may well have a significant influence over the future of both domestic
and international Canadian S&T.
Basic Science
During FY-1991, science and technology in Canada saw low-growth budgets and
an increased emphasis on the diffusion of S&T in an effort to improve the
competitive position of Canadian industry. The government's commitment to
diffusion was evidenced by its decision to name the Minister of Industry, Science
and Technology concurrently as Minister of International Trade.
Despite budgetary constraints, Canada remains actively involved in building the
Mobile Servicing System (MSS) for Space Station Freedom. Having invested
several hundred million dollars in the MSS, Canada followed closely the debate in
Washington over the future of the Space Station and expressed deep concern over
the possible unilateral termination of the program. As a result of these perceived
uncertainties, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) began to consider broadening the
scope of its future international collaboration to include projects managed by the
European and/or Japanese space agencies.
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The government also bucked the low budget trend in sub-atomic physics in
announcing its willingness to provide C$236 million to support construction of the
KAON accelerator at the Tri-Universities Meson Facility (TRIUMF) in British
Columbia. However, the commitment is dependent on the Government of British
Columbia's providing or securing the remaining construction costs (an estimated
additional C$500 million) as well as significant out-year operating costs. U.S.
officials have indicated a willingness to provide some $75 million to support KAON
construction. In another area of sub-atomic physics, President Bush, in a letter to
Prime Minister Mulroney, formally invited Canada to participate in the
Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) project. While noting budgetary difficulties,
Canadian officials are actively reviewing SSC requirements with a view toward
identifying areas of potential scientific and industrial interest.
Health and Life Sciences
Bilateral cooperation between the U.S. and Canada may be closer in the life
sciences than in any other S&T field. U.S. and Canadian researchers and public
health officials routinely participate in myriad conferences and symposia on both
sides of the border. Both governments fund researchers in the other country and a
senior Canadian public health officer serves on the board of the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control. Periodic meetings are held to discuss public health issues,
including disease prevention, health statistics and health promotion.
Pacific yew bark, available only in the northwest United States and in British
Columbia (BC), is the source for taxol, an experimental drug for the treatment of
ovarian cancer. There is an urgent need for taxol for clinical trials under auspices of
the U.S. and Canadian National Cancer Institutes. While the BC Government has
authorized the export to the U.S. of 158,000 kilograms of yew bark, individuals and
groups on both sides of the border have raised questions about the potential
environmental impact of large-scale harvesting of yew stocks.
Energy, Environment and Economics
As noted above, the passage of the U.S. Clean Air Act and the March 13, 1991
signing of the U.S.-Canada Air Quality Agreement removed a major irritant to
bilateral relations. Under the Agreement, both sides agreed to limit emissions of
sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxide and to implement measures that will prevent air
quality deterioration and protect visibility. A bilateral air quality committee,
established under the agreement, will review progress being made and issue regular
public reports.
Energy, environment and economics are central to the debate over the Great Whale
hydroelectric project in northern Quebec. The project would produce 3,200
megawatts of electricity and include the planned sale of 1,000 megawatts to the
state of New York over a period of 15 years. The nature of the environmental
impacts and the reviews required are in litigation as parties attempt to determine
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where jurisdiction lies and which law or agreement applies. Hydro Quebec and The
New York Power Authority have established a November 1992 deadline for
agreeing on a firm contract.
Great Lakes water quality was the subject of close bilateral cooperation during
FY-1991, with both government adopting pollution prevention plans.
In a move with major policy and practical impacts, the Canadian Government
adopted an environmental Green Plan in December 1990. The plan calls for the
expenditure of some C$3 billion in support of environmental programs during the
next six years and requires that, in the development of policy, all government
agencies take environmental issues into account.
Emerging Technologies
Several Canadian firms and research facilities are very interested in high speed rail
transport and have begun efforts to establish a center for excellence in the field.
Championed by Bombardier Inc. and the Ecole Polytechnique, both of Montreal, the
center would involve a consortium of Canadian universities. At least two U.S.
universities have been invited to participate in the effort. Bombardier estimates that
there is a North American market ultimately worth some $200 billion for high speed
train transport.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
U.S.-Canadian ties in agricultural R&D are very intense. There are 112 bilateral
cooperative projects in areas ranging from animal health to environmental
protection to water quality. The Ministry of Agriculture estimates that half of
Canada's agricultural research scientists interact with American counterparts on a
day to day basis. American students and researchers are common in Canada's
superb network of agricultural research facilities, which operate under both
university and Ministry of Agriculture auspices. The broad lines of agricultural
research programs in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and France are the subject of annual
quadripartite meetings.
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CHILE
General
Although a relatively small and developing country, Chile has considerable
scientific and technological infrastructure. Chile devotes about 0.5% of its GNP to
scientific research and development of technology. This amounted to $90 million in
1988, which was twice the level of a decade earlier. Currently there are some 5,000
scientists working in Chile, more than 1,500 of whom hold Ph. D.'s. Science related
issues are becoming part of the nation's public policy debate. Research is
coordinated by a central government body and carried out at universities and
technical institutions throughout the country.
The Government of Chile (GOC) has identified the principal aims of its science
policy to be improving the domestic and export markets for Chilean science and
technology products, and providing state support for projects which will result in
major social benefits such as employment and economic development. The
principal science policy body in Chile is the National Commission on Science and
Technology (CONICYT). CONICYT's action plan for 1992-95 includes the
administration of four funds oriented respectively toward S&T development (basic
sciences); R&D development (applied sciences); "young scientists"; and "high
performing scientists."
Research is carried out in about 400 research units located in different universities
throughout the country. In the ten years that private (non-state, non-church
affiliated) universities have been allowed to exist, Chile's system of higher
education has expanded in both size and scope. Currently there are 23 traditional
universities, 38 new private universities and 82 professional institutes (community
college-equivalent). The four or five largest universities capture 60 percent of
available funds yearly and account for more than 75 percent of all S&T publications.
R&D activities are carried out both by institutes that belong to government
ministries and by private sector institutions. There are over 50 research institutes
under either ministerial guidance or within public enterprises or private companies.
These R&D institutes work largely on applied research covering areas such as
agriculture, marine resources, forestry, copper mining, nuclear energy, geology,
hydraulics, air pollution and antarctic science.
Chile has important international science and technology relations, including
formal agreements with the U.K., France and Germany. Despite the absence of
formal agreements, Chile also has significant scientific interactions with the United
States, Italy, France and Japan. In December 1990, the USG proposed to the GOC
establishment of an umbrella S&T agreement. As of the end of FY-1991 Chile was
studying a U.S.-provided draft text for an agreement.
Basic Science
Chile's most developed fields of basic scientific research are medicine, biology,
astronomy, mathematics and physics. Almost all Chilean scientists (M.S. and Ph.D.
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level) working in these areas have had training abroad. The most rapidly expanding
disciplines are biotechnology and computer science. The opening of a U.S. Agency
for International Development (USAID) Advanced Developing Country Program
office in Chile three years ago brought new resources to Chilean basic science.
Through its Program on Science and Technology Cooperation, USAID has provided
$1.4 million in funding for eleven basic science projects in areas such as
biodiversity, biotechnology and life sciences.
Chile has maintained some activity in space science through its relationships with
the U.S. and other spacefaring nations. In 1989, NASA transferred all of its
Peldehue tracking station assets, including some $15 million worth of machinery
and equipment, to the Space Studies Committee (CEE), a branch of the engineering
faculty of the University of Chile. CEE has continued operating the satellite
tracking facility, offering services both to NASA which still needs it for satellites
using bands not otherwise covered and to other users located in Chile or in third
countries.
NASA has maintained its contract for CEE's services in tracking certain satellites
and has permitted CEE to continue pulling down signal information generated by
remote sensors installed aboard NASA, NOAA and other U.S. satellites. More
recently, as a result of a joint venture between the GOC and the German
government, CEE is pulling down meteorological and geophysical information
collected by the German ERS satellite.
Chile is strongly committed to maintaining a presence in the Antarctic, over a
portion of which it maintains a territorial claim. Chile is a founding member and
active participant in the Antarctic Treaty System. It maintains its own Antarctic
bases and has a vital role in logistics for Antarctic activities. There is important
interaction on Antarctic issues between the U.S. National Science Foundation's
Division of Polar Programs (NSF/DPP) and Chilean government researchers.
Permanent contact between NSF/DPP and its counterpart, the Chilean Antarctic
Institute, takes place under the framework of a memorandum of understanding for
joint cooperation. The Chilean Air Force provides ongoing support for U.S.
Antarctic Program operations, including air access to Antarctica via semiannual
NSF/DPP sponsored flights.
Through a bilateral cooperative effort, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the Chilean Navy have jointly established three global sea level
observing stations at strategic sites in Chile. These monitoring stations are a critical
component of international efforts to understand global climate change, particularly
sea level rise. The data are used to support international scientific research
programs such as the Tropical Ocean and Global Atmosphere Program and the
World Ocean Circulation Experiment, and also have immediate practical
applications for both countries (navigation, weather prediction, etc.).
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Health and Life Sciences
Chile faces a number of key challenges in the health area; AIDS, cholera and drug
addiction have particularly come to the forefront. The health and life sciences play
a crucial role in Chilean scientific and technological activity. Chilean life scientists
have strong ties with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), either directly
through USG support or through the World or Pan American Health Organizations.
Chile has access to U.S. health (and other) scientists through the academic Bitnet
computer network. Most of the spectacular growth experienced in the usage of
Bitnet in Chile (from 500 to more than 4000 users in four years) is due to the
interconnection, through Bitnet, to Medline, NIH's on-line medical library.
Currently, any authorized user can access the NIH library from almost any medical
facility in Chile. This research resource provides on a continuing basis information
to medical doctors and other Chilean bioscientists.
Chile also has ties with other nations which have strong life and health science
sectors and research programs relevant to Chilean concerns. For example, both
Chile and Japan have a high incidence of gastric cancer, and most Chilean
researchers in this field now receive their training in Japan.
Several health related issues have recently acquired new prominence in Chile's
public policy agenda.
AIDS
As of the end of FY-1991 there were some 250-300 AIDS patients in Chile.
Unofficial statistics indicate that there are probably more than ten times as many
who are HIV carriers. Chilean health authorities have implemented all basic tests
applied in the U.S. to detect the virus and to try to prevent the disease from
spreading beyond those already infected. The GOC has prepared and shows an
educational program on AIDS during prime time television.
Drug Abuse
The GOC has become concerned about the spread of cocaine use in Chile,
particularly among youths in the northern cities of Arica and Iquique, which are
relatively close to producing areas in Bolivia and Peru. Marijuana use is also
growing. As a result, there has been increased research into the prevention and
treatment of drug abuse.
Epidemiology
Chile suffered an outbreak of cholera in late 1990. The steps taken by the GOC to
track the outbreak and to take legal and educational measures to contain it
demonstrated a high level of sophistication in public health administration. In
addition to cholera, other diseases which may have significant human and or
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economic impact are closely monitored by Chilean scientists. Afthosa (foot and
mouth disease), for example, has been eradicated in Chile.
Energy, Environment and Economics
Issues of energy, environment and economics have also become key as Chile tries
to balance development with improving quality of life. Having gone through a
process of free-market oriented economic reforms, the Chilean economy has grown
significantly in recent years with attendant increase in the demand for energy. With
much of its power generation industry now privatized, Chile has experienced a
period of vigorous expansion in construction of generating capacity. Interest has
been particularly great in harnessing Chile's very great hydroelectric potential. The
GOC, which is in the process of drawing up a national energy strategy, has also
indicated its interest in revitalizing Chile's coal industry. In this regard, the U.S.
Department of Energy has provided Chile technical assistance on clean coal
technology.
Metals mining and prospecting remain a key but environmentally problematical
economic sector. Newer mines built by foreign investors respect international
environmental protection standards, but older state-owned facilities have major
environmental drawbacks. This is particularly the case with smelters, which emit
significant amounts of sulfur dioxide. A decree on sulfur dioxide emissions was
recently issued.
Economic growth has had significant environmental consequences in Santiago,
Chile's capital and major urban center, which suffers from one of the worst air
pollution problems in Latin America. There are now restrictions on driving
downtown, and older, highly polluting buses are being withdrawn from service.
Starting in 1992, all new automobiles sold in Chile will be required to have catalytic
converters to use unleaded gasoline.
Environmental quality has become an important public issue and relevant research
is taking place. Because of limited national resources, foreign assistance has been
crucial to Chile's understanding of environmental phenomena. With help from
USAID funding, a group of researchers at the Catholic University in Santiago has
prepared a detailed survey of Chilean environmental problems. The Italian
government has established an environmental research center on the Biobio River in
south-central Chile.
At the end of FY-1991 the National Environmental Commission, an interagency
GOC body, was in the process of drawing up new legislation and regulations on the
environment.
Emerging Technologies
Chile is not a big player on key, cutting edge "emerging technologies," although
some interesting work is going on. Nevertheless, with a significant pool of
scientific and technical talent, and a highly entrepreneurial business community,
Chile has been able to make some contributions. For example:
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Chilean researchers are seeking new uses for copper, a major Chilean natural
resource. An effort is being made to develop a copper battery which could compete
with environmentally problematic lead batteries.
Chile has a very active computer software industry which produces and exports
programs used in the banking, medical and forestry industries.
Enaer, the aircraft firm owned by the Chilean air force, has produced the "Pillan"
trainer and the "Nancu" light aircraft featuring a composite body.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
Agricultural and natural resources products are vital to Chile's economy. The
production of fruits and vegetables for export has been a major success story in
diversifying the economy, as have been the fisheries and forest products industries.
Considerable scientific research is done in agriculture through the National
Agriculture and Cattle Research Institute, which concentrates on applied areas such
as pest eradication. There is also significant international exchange. For example,
every year approximately 30-40 U.S. Department of Agriculture and Forest Service
scientists visit Chile.
The Chilean National Fisheries Institute has been given new resources and
responsibilities under a recently passed fisheries law which aims for integrated,
scientific resource management of that sector. The GOC has similarly strengthened
its main mining related institutions, the National Geology and Mining Service,
which maintains Chile's Geological Survey; and the Center for Research into
Metals and Mining, which does research into mining technology under contract
from state and private mining firms.
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CHINA
General
Two old slogans were resuscitated in 1991 to place new emphasis on the
importance of science and technology to China's ten-year plan for economic and
social development to the year 2000. The first, "Science and technology are the
primary productive forces," which China's senior leader Deng Xiaoping put forth in
1986, became continually highlighted by Chinese media. Premier Li Peng endorsed
a second slogan dating from 1982, "Economic development must rely on science
and technology while the development of science and technology must be geared to
the needs of economic development," in announcing China's eighth five-year plan in
March, 1991.
The slogans were substantively reflected by the consolidation of six previous S&T
plans into one coherent "Breakthrough Plan." "Breakthrough" refers to China's
attempt to "leapfrog" other countries to a level of science and technology that is
competitive in international markets with the major industrialized nations. 1991
funding for the "Breakthrough Plan" was around $2.5 billion.
Basic Science
China depends on and invites international science and technology cooperation.
Since 1980, China has carried out science and technology cooperation with 108
countries at both governmental and non-governmental levels, and has concluded
S&T agreements with no less than 56 countries, including the United States.
China's eighth five-year plan (1991-1995) and the ten-year economic and social
development plan (1991-2000) identify key science and technology projects, which
entail international cooperation in many instances. Over the next five years, China's
basic research in the natural sciences will include research on high critical
temperature superconductivity, the structure, performance, numerator design and
equipment manufacture of photoelectric functional materials, climatic dynamics and
weather forecast theory, the theory and method for large-scale scientific and
engineering computation, and modern metrological science and technology based on
quantum physics.
Cooperation with the U.S. under the Marine, Fishery and Atmospheric bilateral
S&T agreements has figured prominently in China's development in marine and
atmospheric sciences. Under these agreements the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, in cooperation with other U.S. Government agencies,
academia and private industry, has helped China to become a contributing scientific
partner. Under the Marine and Fishery S&T agreement, NOAA's National Ocean
Service and National Oceanographic Data Center helped the PRC establish a
Chinese National Oceanographic Data Center; a U.S.-PRC team conducted a joint
study of sedimentation dynamics in the Yangtze River/East China Sea; and U.S.
and Chinese investigators have conducted joint cruises in the western Pacific.
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Health and Life Sciences
China's medical and health services goal for the year 2000 is for every citizen to
enjoy primary medical and health care, while continuing the nation's commitment to
a comprehensive system of preventive medicine. During the eighth five-year plan,
China hopes to reduce the nation's infant mortality rate by 10 to 15%; reduce the
incidence rate of major infectious diseases by 20%; maintain effective control over
snail fever; inoculate the populace in 85% of all townships and cities against the
major infectious diseases; make potable water available to 85 percent of the rural
population (i.e., over 850 million people); and add 450,000 hospital beds as well as
500,000 more professional health technicians.
Energy, Environment, and Economics
Environmental protection is Chinese "state policy," although the developing
countries' Beijing Declaration, issued in June 1991, places responsibility for global
environmental protection with developed countries. The eighth five year plan calls
for China to maintain an acceptable level of environmental protection that does not
curb economic development.
Coal, usually low grade and high in sulfur, supplies 75 percent of China's energy
requirements. China's own air pollution studies recognize that coal is the major
contributor to ambient concentrations of particulates and sulfur dioxide which are
among the world's highest. Hydroelectric and thermal power are to be given greater
priority, including the long-delayed and controversial Three Gorges Dam, which
Chinese and foreign critics alike fear will cause massive environmental damage
along upper reaches of the Yangtze river. China's decision to develop nuclear
energy for commercial use has also triggered some environmental concerns.
Emerging Technologies
China's high-tech research and development program has identified seven key
technologies to be developed by the year 2000 and beyond: new materials;
biotechnology; and space, information, laser, automation and energy technologies.
Amidst financial constraints, biotechnology, space and information have priority.
Biotechnology will focus on increasing agricultural output and improving public
health; space technology will focus on the development of a manned space vehicle;
and information technology will focus on artificial intelligence based on a new
generation of computers.
Agriculture and Natural Resources
China stresses international S&T cooperation in agriculture, including post harvest
techniques, and fisheries and forestry production. The Ministries of Agriculture,
Forestry, Commerce, Light Industries and Water Resources, numerous associated
livestock, crop and functional institutes, and commissions and universities have
participated in a wide range of international meetings, cooperative research
activities and exchanges of technicians and scientists.
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Among the principal activities with the United States has been the Ministry of
Agriculture's annual agricultural science and technology exchange program with
USDA's Office of International Cooperation. In FY-1991, ten Chinese and
American teams traveled to each other's countries in groups of three to five people
for several weeks each. Studies by the PRC teams ranged from environmental
protection to efficient uses of wood fiber, and by the U.S. teams, from a livestock
and feed study to research on forage germplasm. Two other important long-term
U.S.-China cooperative projects involve a joint biological control laboratory under
the auspices of USDA's Agricultural Research Service (ARS) and the Chinese
Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS); and an ARS-CAAS germplasm
agreement in which the two countries are engaged in cooperation and scientific
exchange on plant genetic resources.
The new five-year plan also envisions basic research on the utilization of sterile
male hybrid cereal, cotton and oil crops, and research on predicting changes in the
environment and on developing policies for coping with them.
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CZECHOSLOVAKIA
General
Czechoslovakia has a strong scientific tradition dating from the Middle Ages and a
cohort of scientists and researchers with solid basic skills.
The demise of the communist regime in November, 1989 left Czechoslovak
science with a 40-year legacy of centralized command and ideological correctness.
In the brief period since then, the Czechoslovak scientific community has set out to
restructure the organization of science in the country and restore the professionalism
and competency of Czechoslovak scientists across the board. Efforts have been
concentrated on making those basic policy and institutional changes that will
support Czechoslovakia's resumption of its once active role in the world scientific
community.
The reform process has included democratization of science institutions,
reorganization of government ministries at both federal and republic levels and of
academies of science, and outreach to the West, particularly the U.S., in search of
partnerships that will accelerate the reform and revitalization process.
After negotiations lasting over a year, Czechoslovakia and the U.S. signed a
bilateral Science and Technology Agreement during President Havel's visit to
Washington in October 1991. This umbrella agreement provides for cooperation in
basic science, environmental protection, medical sciences and health, agriculture,
engineering research, energy, natural resources, standardization, science and
technology policy and management, and other areas as may be mutually agreed by
the two parties. The agreement is jointly funded, with the U.S. contribution coming
through the Department of State budget. The agreement will complement and
expand joint scientific work already under way between a number of U.S. technical
departments and agencies and their Czechoslovak counterparts.
Basic Science
The door is fully open to intellectual exchange with the United States in all fields
of basic science. Although Western advances in technology and scientific
instrumentation reached Czechoslovak scientists only as a distant echo during the
Cold War period, theoretical research continued, stimulated in part by the need for
ingenious approaches to scientific problem solving when modern technology was
lacking. Development of the soft contact lens by a Czechoslovakian scientist has
been the most frequently noted achievement, but good work was also done in such
areas as physics, chemistry and materials science.
The Czechoslovak science community recognizes that basic science contributes to
the modern technological infrastructure essential for the development of a free
market economy. However, with so many urgent national priorities, it is
particularly difficult to fund activities with no obvious immediate payoff. Thus,
cooperation with other countries is especially important to sustain the existing pool
of talent in basic science and build upon it for the future.
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In this period of rapid change in Czechoslovakia, the term "basic science"
cooperation has also come to encompass the whole process of democratization of
the scientific establishment and science policy making. The U.S. National Science
Foundation (NSF), National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) are engaged with
Czechoslovakian technical ministries and academies of science in a dialogue geared
toward assisting the development of new institutions and a more coherent
policymaking process, and better use of scarce human and other resources.
NSF currently has a basic sciences cooperative agreement with the Czechoslovak
Academy of Science. NSF, NAS and AAAS are all actively collaborating with
Czechoslovakian scientists and scientific organizations.
Health and Life Sciences
The health sector underwent major review during FY-1991 by the Czech and
Slovak Republic governments (there is no federal level ministry of health,) and by a
World Bank health sector team. As of the end of FY-1991, reforms were under
consideration that could affect all aspects of health care policy, organization,
services and financing. The Czech Ministry of Health also proposed the
establishment of a regional health center that would serve the entire central and east
European region.
Life expectancy, particularly for adult males, has since the 1950s stagnated or
declined in Czechoslovakia relative to Western Europe. Approximately 80 percent
of adult deaths are due to cardiovascular disease, cancers and injuries. The World
Bank study attributes the high incidence of cardiovascular disease and cancer to
alcohol and tobacco use, a diet high in animal fat and low in fresh vegetables, lack
of exercise, obesity and stress. Infant, child and maternal mortality has declined
greatly from the early post-World War II period, but the rate of decline since 1975
has lessened compared to neighboring west European countries. Abortion is relied
upon heavily as a means of birth control.
There is considerable evidence that environmental pollution also contributes to
health problems, but additional research is needed to establish specific relationships
between various sources of environmental pollution and health problems. Although
data on the health status of the population are extensive and readily available, the
World Bank study concludes that epidemiological studies are needed to clarify the
relative impacts on health of environmental pollution, social conditions and
lifestyles.
Other priority needs include institutional reforms in health care delivery, training
(including that of nurses), access to family planning information, and reforms in the
health care financing and social insurance areas.
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