Biotechnology : professional issues and social concerns / editors, Paul DeForest [and others].
- Date:
- [1988]
Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Credit: Biotechnology : professional issues and social concerns / editors, Paul DeForest [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![110 Option 3: Increase research funding to selected target areas. If funding is increased to selected areas, it could most profitably be directed to the divisions of funding agencies sponsoring most of the relevant research. These include, at NSF, the Directorate for Biological, Behavioral, and Social Sciences, and its com¬ ponents, the divisions of molecular biosciences, biotic systems and resources, informa¬ tion science and technology, and others; the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at NIH; components of the Division of Science and Education at USD A; and at DOE, the Office of Health and Environmentiii Research in the Office of Energy Research. Particulcir value is likely to be derived from funding earmarked for interdisciplineuy studies, or collaborations between scientists in the various disciplines important to гш- derstanding and predicting the consequences of environmental perturbations. Em¬ phasis should be given to studies focusing on the single most important factor afTecting the fate and consequences of planned introductions: natural selection, or the selective interactions between competing organisms, and the selective pressures on organisms due to environmental factors. Other promising areas include basic research in moleculcu: and developmental biology, studies of gene regulation, microbial ecology, community inter¬ actions and processes, and evolutioneu-y and ecological relationships. The disadvantage of such targeting is that it assumes the specific areas where the most important research should be done can be accurately predicted. The results of research are, by nature, unpredictable; this may be especially true of the interdisciplinary research important to planned introductions. Administrative flexibility and adaptability would therefore be importcmt in any such programs, along with the avoidance of undue specificity in the targeting of funds. Risk assessment and management are vital areas that will increase in importance with the numbers of planned introductions. They lack, however, a strong, vocal constituency to argue for increased funds. The primary agency now funding such studies is EPA, and much of the sponsored research is applied in nature. Both EPA and NSF could be en¬ couraged to enhance their support for basic research relevant to biotechnology research assessment. In the absence of a strong, organized, vocal constituency to help advise on the most effective program, progress might be driven by iillocating for risk assessment and management research a fixed proportion of the funding designated for research in other relevant areas. Public education specific to biotechnology is another important cu-ea presently lack¬ ing a strong constituency to argue for improvements. [It] could be achieved through ac¬ tions taken by the Science Education divisions of both NSF and USDA. Specific measures might include brochures and pamphlets, newsletters, public conferences and debates, yeiirbooks and cumual reports, and extension service activities. Option 4: Increase personnel education and training. Because they already have similar programs, the primary agencies to administer any new training programs would logically be NSF, NIH, and USDA. For the near future, the most effective investment would be in programs to provide mid-career training for established investigators. Other víduable programs could include funds for graduate stu¬ dent and postdoctoral training. There is гт urgent need for scientists who are neither molecular biologists nor ecologists, but investigators comfortable with and competent in the techmques and back¬ ground knowledge of both areas, able to use whichever tools are appropriate to the task. Interdisciplinary training is vitally important to the production of such investigators. Part](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b18035619_0119.JP2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
