The environment and biomedical research.

The administration and Congress intend to increase funding for U.S. scientific research significantly. As for biomedical research, some congressional leaders seek to double funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the next 5 years; the increase for funding for the next fiscal year (FY) will be 14%. Total funding in those 5 years will be (assuming necessary increments to equal that total) $119 billion. In FY 2005 the annual budget would be about $26 billion, with a continuing buildup thereafter. Funding for biomedical research portfolios in other federal agencies will also increase. These funds will cause a major economic boom in nonprofit biomedical research; it is to be expected that for-profit expenditures will increase gready as well. Companies providing research equipment and supplies will also participate in that expansion. Enormously increased expenditures at university, college, and independent research center campuses will occur for new construction, including upgrades and new laboratory and office equipment, all with energy use implications. There will also be a significant increase in the types and volume of wastes (solid, hazardous chemical, medical pathological , radioactive, and multihazardous) that will require management and appropriate disposal. How can the environmental health leadership develop a program of pollution prevention and energy efficiency to prevent this enormous growth in the biomedical research enterprise from creating severe increases in pollution deleterious to human health and the environ-ment? How can such a program have spin-off uses for other scientific research areas for which increased funding also will be available? Considerable support to deal with these issues is likely. The White House has promulgated a number of requirements for federal activities regarding pollution prevention, energy efficiency, and other environmental issues, and will be interested in supporting this initiative. The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), an institute of the NIH, has indicated its strong support for a program of improving the environmental soundness of the biomedical research enterprise, both nonprofit and for-profit. Education included a paragraph that states The Committee understands that NIEHS is working with its laboratories and offices to help make it more environmentally sound. The Committee commends NIEHS for its efforts and hopes that other medical and scientific research facilities will also take the necessary steps to become more environmentally sound. The Committee has learned ... that NIEHS is leading an effort to help make the medical research field more environmentally sound, by working with both intramural …