February  2002 Continue                                                    13 middle-income college students to a reduc- tion in spending on projects.  The budget pro- posal released by the Presi- dent eliminated 1,612 local projects  from  $2.1  billion worth of programs to fund the Pell Grant program. Relying heavily on a study by  the  Chronicle  of  Higher Education,  the  President states that research earmarks are “counter to the competi- tive process of selection based on merit.  The use of earmarks improperly signals to poten- tial investigators that there is an alternative to creating quality research pro- posals for merit-based consideration, includ- ing the use of political influence or by ap- pealing to parochial interests.” Proponents of earmarks argue that this mechanism  provides  funds  to  programs and projects that would not receive fund- ing otherwise.  In many cases, the projects that are funded are for the construction of facilities that benefit local communities but could not be afforded by the local govern- ments or organizations. Top on the list of earmark beneficiaries in fiscal year 2001 were the University of Alaska at Fairbanks ($35 million), Loma Linda Uni- versity ($35 million), Marshall University ($27.6 million), the University of New Hamp- shire ($27.5 million) and Dartmouth College ($25.9 million).   n n NAS Rejects Reproductive, Supports Therapeutic Cloning A  National  Academy  of  Sciences  panel chaired by Irving Weissman of Stanford Uni- versity urges the U.S. government to ban hu- man reproductive cloning with the purpose of creating a child.  The report, issued by the National Research Council’s Panel on Scientific and Medi- cal Aspects of Human Clon- ing,  calls  for  a  “legally  en- forceable” ban to be reviewed in five years.  The panel states with  equal  conviction  that such a ban should not extend to nuclear transplantation to produce stem cells. The release of the report is particularly  important  be- cause of the current debate in the Senate on legislation that would criminalize both repro- ductive cloning and nuclear transplantation. The full text of the Report can be accessed at http://books.nap.edu/html/human_cloning. n n ASCB Urges Thompson to Enhance Bioterrorism Research At a meeting with ASCB members in Decem- ber, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson asked for guidance on how biological research might contribute to the national fight against bioterrorism. The letter sent to Secretary Thompson urges the Administration to include, as part of the national strategy to combat terrorism, “con- Homeland Security (Budget authority in billions of dollars) 2001 2002 2003 Total,  Homeland  Security 16.0 19.5 37.7 Supporting  first  responders 0.3 0.3 3.5 Defending  against  biological  terrorism 1.4 1.4 5.9 Securing our borders 7.6 8.8 10.6 Sharing  information  and  using  information to secure the homeland 0.1 0.2 0.7 Aviation  security 0.4 1.5 4.8 Other  homeland  security 6.3 7.4 12.2 Top on the list of earmark beneficiaries in fiscal year 2001 were the University of Alaska  at  Fairbanks  ($35 million), Loma Linda Univer- sity ($35 million), Marshall University  ($27.6  million), the   University   of   New Hampshire ($27.5 million) and  Dartmouth  College ($25.9 million).