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792

LETTERS

Handler's "Dissent" Explained

It has been reported that "Handlerdissents on NSF budget" (16 Apr., p.247). And, indeed, I did make knownmy very serious concerns. But the re-port also contained some unfortunateinaccuracies.

1) I said that the House committeeswhich relate to National Science Foun-dation affairs had expressed misgivingsconcerning the inauguration of Interdis-ciplinary Research Relevant to Prob-lems of our Society. I did not, as youindicated, relate misgivings on the partof the National Science Board.

2) You stated that I reiterated myfears that too much emphasis on ap-plied research might turn NSF into a"job shop," whereas I said that, al-though such concern might justifiablybe felt, Leland Haworth and I hadpromised that we would be consciousof this danger and not permit it tohappen. Nor do William McElroy orHerbert Carter so intend.

3) My concern is not that "toomuch applied research will erode thecountry's basic research capability."That erosion, if it continues, will re-flect failure to adequately support basicresearch; education in science at theundergraduate, graduate, and post-doctoral levels; and the institutions inwhich these occur.My "dissent," then, consisted in mak-

ing it clear that not only is the incre-ment in support of basic research pro-posed for fiscal year 1972 seriouslyinadequate, it is to be accomplishedby drastic reduction of NSF's educa-tional and institutional support pro-grams, a process which began withsubstantial reduction in the funding offellowship and traineeship support infiscal 1971.

PHILIP HANDLERNational Academny of Sciences,Washington, D.C. 20418

Boston's Sufferance ofSulfur Dioxide

In their report on the effects of sulfurdioxide emissions from power plants(29 Jan., p. 381) Golden and Monganargue that large point sources contrib-ute only small amounts to the annualaverage SO, dosage received in urbanareas. They conclude that power plantsare likely to cause relatively uniform

"background" pollution over a widearea and that this background pollutionwill be within the limits of standardsfor air quality set by most communi-ties. On the basis of our own extensiveanalysis of several power plants in andnear Boston we take exception to theseconclusions.Our calculations (employing the

model suggested by the Department ofHealth, Education, and Welfare inWorkbook of Atmospheric DispersionEstimates) were performed in prepara-tion for a recent public hearing atwhich our local utility sought a vari-ance from the state's low-sulfur re-quirement on precisely the grounds pre-sented in the report. The utility claimedthat it contributed no more than 10percent to the average annual dosagereceived anywhere in the Boston area.While this statement may be correct,we believe it is misleading. One knowsthat the plume from a large pointsource typically affects a relativelysmall (though perhaps densely popu-lated) area at any one time, a behaviorverified by experience and our ownmathematical modeling. During thetime of exposure, however, the affectedarea is being subjected to very highlevels of pollution, levels which bythemselves far exceed the state's re-cently adopted 1-hour standard. For avariety of reasons (changes in wind di-rection, reduced generating loads atnight, changes in atmospheric stability,and so forth), the average of theseintense exposures over the period of ayear gives a total annual dose at agiven point which may indeed be only10 percent of the total accumulatedexposure from all sources. This is noguarantee, however, that damage topublic health and welfare is not beingincurred through these short-durationepisodes. Indeed, many persons wholive in areas in Boston affected in thisway attended the public hearing andoffered dramatic testimony that theywere being subjected to undue hardship.The pitting of automobiles and the de-struction of clothing by "acid smut'from power plants were described bylocal residents in very strong terms.

These physical losses could likely bereduced in direct proportion to the sul-fur content of the fuel burned by theutility. Health damage during such epi-sodes is difficult to document, but aprudent public health policy would as-sume that it occurs unless it can beshown otherwise. The emphasis on an-nual average concentrations from largepower plants obviously fails to pre-

SCIENCE, VOL. 172

sent the total impact of these sources.Because of our findings we are con-

cerned that the Environmental Protec-tion Agency has failed to include 1-hourstandards for SO) in its proposed Na-tionaLl Primary and Secondary AmbientAir Quality Standards. Without sucha standard in Massachusetts we wouldhalve had no bench mark with whichto compare the calculated concentra-tions. We hope EPA will correct thisoversight when standards are promul-glatect.

JAMES J. MACKENZIlConiIIittee oni En1vironImen1tal PolliutionI,P.O. Box 289, M.I.T. Branch Stationi,Canbridlge, Massachunsetts 02139

Drug Abuse?

If more evidence were needed of theschizophrenia of our society, the sanc-tion of the use of amphetamines forhyperkinetic children (26 Mar., p.1223) supplied it.

I have worked in the Los AngelesJuvenile Hall, and have seen many kids'busted" for using the same "yellowjackets," "reds," and "bennies" that myBeverly Ilills patients use regularly.And here they are sanctioning the useof drugs for which other children arearrested. No proof-but let's try it. Noproof marijuana is harmful-but let'sjail its users.

Schizophrenia if I ever saw it!MAURICE L. KAMINS

6333 Wilshlire Boulevard,Los A ngeles, Californzia 90048

Snake Eggs

Burghardt's report "Chemical-cuepreferences of newborn snakes . . ." (5Mar., p. 921) states, "Newborn gartersnakes ... responded similarly to wormand fish surface extracts regardless ofwhether the mothers were fed exclu-sively on fish or worms during thegestation period."

All snakes are either oviparous orovoviviparous. In neither case is thereany connection between the mother andthe young which is developing withinthe egg. Consequently, any experienceby the mother regarding food or en-vironment would have nothing to dowith the young.

CHAPMAN GRANT1114 Idahlio Street,Esconidido, Californiia 92025

21 MAY 1971

The founder and former editor ofHer-petologica has stated a commonlyheld view which, by implication, ren-ders my experiment superfluous. How-ever, contrary evidence has been in theliterature for many years. In a recentreview, Bellairs (1) states, "Viviparityin reptiles thus showNs all gradationsbetween a state of affairs where themother does little more than act as amobile incubator for her unborn young,to one in which she probably suppliesthe embryo with a fair amount of foodto suLpplement its inadequate yolk." Inthe species I used (Thlamn110ophlis sir-talis) there is a functioning placentalconnection with the mother (2).

GORDON M. BURGHARDTDepartment of Psychology, Universityof Tenniiessee, Knoxville 37916

Referenices

1. A. d'A. Bellairs, The Life of Reptiles (Universe,New York, 1970). vol. 2, p. 452.

2. I1. Claik et al., C'opeia, pp. 9-13 (1955).

Calculus of Risk

In his review of Nuclear Power andthe Putblic (Book Reviews, 26 Feb., p.792) Lee Loevinger has performed along-needed service in pointing out thesophistry in comparing risks from auto-mobile and aircraft accidents to risksfrom radioactive pollution. I havelistened with impatience many times tothis argument, which, as often as not,is made by well-known and competentpersons. [Loevinger said: "The implicitsuggestion that (these risks) are com-parable illustrates some of the confu-sion in this field. Most of the concernabout nuclear power plants has to dowith the effects of . . . normal opera-tion . . . , not the danger of nuclearaccidents. . . . The hazard from radio-active pollution is cumulative, genetic,and statistically almost indeterminable

quite in contrast to the discrete, non-genetic, and quite determinable hazardof automobiles and airplanes."]

I would like to add that, althoughautomobile transportation is a necessity,the driver has some choice as to when,where, how long, and how carefully hewill drive-in other words, he has areasonable control of the risk. Popula-tions exposed to fallout and eitherplanned or accidental releases not onlyhave no control of the risk but are oftenunaware that a risk exists.

PHILIP S. RUMMERFIELDUniversity of Californzia,Sanl Diego, La Jolla

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SCIENCE, VOL. 172796