Science and Technology Policy: Priorities of Government. By C. A. Tisdell. (New York: Chapman and Hall, 1981. Pp. xii + 222. $25.00.)

Abstract

A T C&EN, WE DEFINE THE CHEMICAL enterprise broadly because we believe that our readers are interested in a broad perspective on how that enterprise is performing, evolving, and interacting with society at large. This week's issue illustrates well the breadth of news, events, and trends around the world that have a chemical component to them. In the cover story, C&EN Senior Correspondent Jean-Francois Tremblay examines the rapid expansion of chemical and pharmaceutical R&D facilities in Shanghai. "What was a fad is now a craze," Tremblay writes, as one major company after another establishes or expands its research capabilities in Shanghai. The trend has led to a shortage of qualified chemists in the area and an upward surge in salaries and the cost of living, so much so that, Tremblay notes, some firms are looking to other areas of China to establish R&D labs. The three stories in C&EN's Business Department analyze second-quarter sales and earnings for chemical, pharmaceutical, and biotech companies that C&EN tracks. Although chemical earnings were only 0.4% higher than in the year-earlier quarter, the picture was complicated by Dow Chemical's poor performance. Without Dow, the other 23 companies C&EN tracks had a 97% increase in earnings. Chemical industry performance in recent quarters is a welcome change from several years in the doldrums in the early 2000s. Pharmaceutical and biotech earnings surged 16.3% and 27.9%, respectively, in the second quarter. There are too marry stories in the issue to touch even briefly on all of them, but several are noteworthy. In the lead Government & Policy Department story, Senior Correspondent Lois R. Ember profiles New York Rep. Sherwood L. Boehlert, who is retiring at the end of this term after 24 years in Congress. Throughout his tenure, he has served on what is now the Science Committee , the last six as chairman. Boehlert is a strong champion of science and technology and a committed environmentalist who has fostered bipartisan cooperation on his committee. Hell be missed. The Government & Policy Insights by Senior Editor Bette Hileman examines the shifting position of some environmental activists on nuclear power. While most environmentalists traditionally have been staunchly opposed to all things nuclear, many now see the threat of global warming to be so grave that they believe nuclear power to be a necessary component of efforts to cut C0 2 emissions. In addition to two fairly standard and quite interesting Science & Technology Department stories on a biorefinery and the discovery of a sulfation code in the carbohydrate chondroitin sulfate, this department z mntaimnvoa^lightfulandslight-g ry offbeat stories. Senior Editor 3 Ivan Amato writes on the propen-| sity of nanoparticles of different « dimensions to assemble into an | array of quite beautiful patterns; ? the different materials may well 2 also have useful properties. And C&EN summer intern Rebecca Evanhoe has written a highly informative "What's That Stuff?" on an unlikely topic, the common egg. You'll even...