Issues in Science and Technology articles from March 2000

Issues in Science and Technology archives from March 2000

FORUM.(Editorial)
March 22, 2000... Airline deregulation I agree with John R. Meyer and Thomas R. Menzies that the benefits of deregulation have been substantial ("Airline Deregulation: Time to Complete the Job" (Issues, Winter 1999-2000). I also agree that some government...

Clinton again proposes big budget increases for NIH, NSF.(National Institutes of Health)(National Science Foundation)(Bill Clinton)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... President Clinton would boost total spending on federal research and development (R&D) by 3 percent to $85.3 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 2001 budget (see chart). But the budget also includes a $1 billion increase for biomedical research at...

Clinton bars genetic discrimination against federal employees.(Bill Clinton)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... President Clinton has signed an executive order prohibiting federal employees from being discriminated against on the basis of genetic information and has challenged Congress to pass legislation that would provide similar protection to citizens...

NIH, FDA pledge more oversight after death in gene therapy experiment.(National Institutes of Health)(Food and Drug Administration)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... In the wake of the death of a young man enrolled in a gene therapy experiment, NIH and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), both of which have authority to oversee gene therapy experiments, have launched two initiatives designed to...

Richardson, Congress clash over DOE reorganization.(Energy Secretary Bill Richardson)(Department of Energy)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... Energy Secretary Bill Richardson and Congress are clashing over his implementation plan for a new semiautonomous agency responsible for weapons-related research within DOE. Members of Congress are particularly unhappy with Richardson's decision...

Richardson acts to save DOE's research parks.(Energy Secretary Bill Richardson)(Department of Energy)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... In "Preserving DOE's Research Parks" (Issues, Winter 1997-98), we argued that some of the nation's most irreplaceable outdoor laboratories for scientific research and education are at risk of being disposed of by the Department of Energy (DOE)....

States take lead in utility reform.(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... In "Unleashing Innovation in Electricity Generation" (Issues, Spring 1998), I argued that removing the barriers to competition would disseminate state-of-the-art electric systems, foster technological innovations, double the U.S. electric...

Let Them Eat Pixels.
March 22, 2000... The digital divide is real, but it's not nearly as important as many other inequities. President Clinton says, "Our big goal should be to make connection to the Internet as common as connection to telephones is today... We want to join...

Can Peer Review Help Resolve Natural Resource Conflicts?
March 22, 2000... Yes, but the system used must be far different from the traditional academic model. Congress, businesses, environmental organizations, and religious groups are all calling for peer review systems to resolve conflicts over the protection of...

Ecosystem Data to Guide Hard Choices.
March 22, 2000... An international research effort to assess the health of the world's biological systems will provide a foundation for wise policymaking. Although the native fish of Lake Victoria in Africa have long supported a productive local fishery,...

Forging Environmental Markets.
March 22, 2000... Treating environmental improvement as a business will lead to greater returns and lower costs, for the environment as well as for the economy. To achieve a truly sustainable environment, we must recognize that environmental improvement and...

Conservation in a Human-Dominated World.
March 22, 2000... To advance conservation throughout the world, we must foster fairness and democracy based on sound principles and good science. Forging a tangible connection among environment, development, and welfare is a formidable challenge, given the...

The Illusion of Integrated Pest Management.
March 22, 2000... Despite three decades of research, there is very little "I" in IPM. It's time to start over with an achievable goal. In 1993, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Food and Drug...

Paying for the Next Big One.(policies of insurance companies and natural disaster prone areas)
March 22, 2000... Our system for financing recovery from natural disasters is in shambles. New policies that promote shared risk and responsibility are needed. The devastation caused by recent large-magnitude earthquakes in Turkey and Taiwan provides a...

U.S. Fighter Modernization: An Alternative Approach.
March 22, 2000... Buy fewer next-generation planes, upgrade existing ones, and make money available to better prepare for emerging challenges. During the next few decades, the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps plan to buy three new types of fighters, some...

Biodiversity and population growth.(Statistical Data Included)
March 22, 2000... How important is population growth to current global biodiversity loss? Although there is no credible numerical answer to that question, the bulk of the evidence suggests that population growth is and has been an important underlying cause of...

India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation.(Review)
March 22, 2000... India's Nuclear Bomb: The Impact on Global Proliferation, by George Perkovich. Berkeley, Calif: University of California Press, 1999, 468 pp. Since India and then Pakistan exploded nuclear devices in May 1998, the world has been...

Hormonal Chaos.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Hormonal Chaos, by Sheldon Krimsky. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999, 256 pp. Concerns about chemicals possibly affecting human and animal health through mimicry of or interference with normal hormonal processes (so-called...

Forged Consensus: Science, Technology, and Economic Policy in the United States.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Forged Consensus: Science, Technology, and Economic Policy in the United States, 1921-1953, by David M. Hart. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998, 267 pp. This is a path-breaking book, destined to influence subsequent...

Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Sleeping with Extra-Terrestrials: The Rise of Irrationalism and Perils of Piety, by Wendy Kaminer. New York: Pantheon, 1999, 2 78 pp. What are we doing wrong? Or more to the point, what is it we're not doing? Science, the ultimate product...

Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America.(Review)
March 22, 2000... Preventive Defense: A New Security Strategy for America, by Ashton B. Carter and William J. Perry Washington, D.C.: Brookings Institution Press, 1999, 243 pp. In late 1992, Ashton Carter and William Perry joined John Steinbruner in writing...

James Craig Watson.(US astronomer)(Brief Article)
March 22, 2000... In the mid-19th century, a slight anomaly in Mercury's orbit proved a bafflement to astronomers. Unable to reconcile observation to what Newtonian mechanics predicted regarding the planet's path, French astronomer U.J.J. LeVerrier, whose...