new State Committee for Environmental Protection. The new committee is slated to become the EPA counterpart under the intergovernmental environmental agreement, and reportedly will have comprehensive authority on issues ranging from research through regulation and enforcement. The implications of this move portend well for the encouragement given by both countries at the Washington and Moscow summits to strengthen their cooperation in environmental protection.

The

EPA and the new (1988) State Committee for Environmental Protection (GOSKOMPRIRODA)--which is incorporating the environmental responsibilities of GOSKOMGIDROMET--are the executive agencies for this intergovernmental agreement. agreement renews at five-year intervals unless terminated on six months' advance notice. Joint activities cover the areas of air and water pollution, agricultural pollution, urban environments and park management, nature protection, marinepollution, biologic and generic effects of pollution, environmental effects on climate, earthquake prediction, legal and administrative measures, and environmental education.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Involvement of the Public Health Service (PHS) in international activities enhances its mission of protecting and promoting the health of the American people. PHS bilateral agreements are aimed at fulfilling that goal and at providing mutual benefit to partner countries. Important advances in the biomedical sciences frequently have been based on the work of individual scientists from many countries, who each contribute important building blocks which eventually can lead to the larger discovery. Communications and exchange of experts, biologics, data and research findings promote scientific achievement as well as reduce duplication of effort and conserve scarce resources. PHS bilateral programs, historically, have focused on mutually beneficial objectives, while at the same time responding to diplomatic initiatives, such as those with India, China and the Soviet Union.

The spectrum of interests and responsibilities of the PHS ranges from, inter alia, the fulfillment of regulatory requirements, such as those of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to biomedical research of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and prevention and control of infectious disease by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

The following are highlights of activities and relationships carried out over the past year that deserve special mention.

A landmark study on AIDS, entering its fourth year, is
being carried out in Africa by the NIH and the CDC. Known
as Project SIDA, and carried out with the participation of
the Zaire Ministry of Health and the Institute of Tropical
Medicine of Belgium, the study has identified to date over
6000 AIDS cases in Zaire with a 1 to 1.3 male-to-female
ratio. The study was instrumental in confirming that HIV
may be transmitted heterosexually. The equal risk of HIV
infection in adult men and women of childbearing age in
Africa has resulted in frequent HIV transmission during
birth. Maternal-infant transmission is an increasing risk
in the U.S. Project SIDA is expected to provide
U.S.-based studies with valuable supplementary data on
maternal HIV infection.

The CDC has stationed an epidemiologist/virologist in the
Ivory Coast to study the natural history and epidemiology
of human retrovirus infections, to strengthen activities
of the national AIDS committee, and to translate research
conclusions into public health interventions. The newly
recognized HIV-2 infection will be studied to determine
its epidemiology, natural history and laboratory
characteristics, as well as its relationship to HIV-1.
Results from a U.S.-Swedish collaborative study sponsored
by the National Institute on Aging, NIH, indicate that
brain tissue transplants can reverse learning deficits in
severely impaired, aged animals. This work demonstrates
the value of basic animal transplant research for studying
brain mechanisms which may be important to human disease.
More knowledge about Alzheimer's Disease and Down's
Syndrome resulted from collaborative efforts between U.S.
and French scientists. The scientists found that patients
with nonfamilial Alzheimer's disease and some types of
Down's Syndrome have an extra copy of the gene involved in
making amyloid, a substance found in high concentrations
in the brains of Alzheimer's patients. These findings
help to explain why those with Down's Syndrome often
develop Alzheimer's Disease.

New FY 1987 data from epidemiologic studies of
cardiovascular disease in China and Japan show significant
differences in disease patterns and outcomes when compared
with data on U.S. populations. For Chinese men and women,
mean blood pressure and prevalence of hypertension are
lower in the south than in the north of China--opposite of
the U.S. pattern; serum cholesterol levels of all Chinese
populations are lower than in the U.S.; serum HDL
cholesterol levels are higher for Chinese men than U.S.
men. In Japan, stroke is the most common outcome of
hypertension, while in the U.S. heart attack is most
common. Studies show that the prevalence of
atherosclerotic lesions is three times higher in the U.S.
than in Japan, and Japanese populations show that,
although the Japanese diet is becoming more Western and
presumably more therogenic, ischemic heart disease rates
are declining in Japan. The data from these studies
raised important scientific questions to be explored in
further joint research.

Under the Reagan-Gandhi Science and Technology Initiative (STI) a new diagnostic test for filariasis based on recombinant DNA technology was successfully tested in India and may have important implications for microbial infections which occur in the U.S. The STI collaborative program on blindness continued its pioneering work on the therapeutic use of vitamin A to prevent blindness in children with measles. A joint case-control study of cataracts explored reasons why onset of cataracts occurs at a comparatively early age in India.

The CDC provided technical cooperation to 12 countries with a total population of 171 million people. Activities and achievements on a country-by-country basis are extensive. In general, immunization activities included strengthening the vaccine storage, distribution and delivery systems in all countries. Sterilization

materials and techniques were improved. Vaccination coverage was increased in nine countries for which data were available. Measles immunization coverage continued to expand. A marked reduction in polio cases was reported

at Kinshasa, Zaire from pre-program levels, and measles
and pertussis levels in Rwanda decreased as well.

Diarrheal disease control efforts were directed toward
expanding effective case management techniques in a number
of countries and closely monitoring the functioning oral
rehydration therapy (ORT) practices in existing ORT
units. Activities dealing with malaria involved continued
surveillance for chloroquine resistance, developing
simplified treatment schedules for non-literate

populations, and developing and implementing appropriate
control strategies.

Bilateral cooperation projects are selected according to the interest and priority of the agencies involved in the agreement. Activities conducted intramurally are reviewed for acceptability and technical merit in the same way that other intramural projects are decided upon. Activities that will be conducted through extramural sources receive peer review in the same way as domestic grant proposals or a similar process, depending upon the funding source. Monitoring and evaluation is a continuous process, sometimes through a joint committee that meets annually, biennially or during agreement renewal reviews.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Fish and Wildlife Service

The Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is involved in a broad range of international activities in support of its responsibilities under the Endangered Species Act, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, and other statutory and treaty responsibilities associated with its general mission and related to the maintenance of biologic diversity. Its programs, devoted to fostering sound wildlife protection practices, provide excellent opportunities for international cooperation.

The FWS takes part in conservation activities with the Soviet Union under the bilateral U.S.-USSR Environmental Agreement. During 1988, 15 delegations of American and Soviet scientists were exchanged on a short-term basis to conduct research on marine mammals, endangered plants, cranes, biosphere reserves, desert ecosystems, and fish husbandry. The FWS also cooperates with counterpart agencies in the People's Republic of China under the U.S.-PRC Nature Conservation Protocol. Activities in 1988 included visits by Chinese delegations to the U.S. on migratory birds and alligator ecology, while 12 American biologists visited China to take part in a joint bird banding symposium. Delegations were composed of representatives of both the public and private

sectors.

Using U.S.-owned foreign currencies, the FWS conducts programs in Egypt, India and Pakistan for the conservation of threatened or endangered species. Conservation has a high priority in each country, and the programs in India and Egypt have been supported by the heads of government. Activities include training, research, development of educational materials, and institution building.

The FWS is the implementing agency for the U.S. and for the Western Hemisphere Convention for Protection of Nature and Wildlife Preservation. The Convention calls for

hemisphere-wide cooperation in the management of migratory

species, control of trading rare species, and protection of habitats for wild flora and fauna. Activities include cooperative research and planning, training, and conduct of model projects for replication elsewhere in Latin America. Over half of the birds found in North America migrate to Central or South America for part of the year. Many species are important to sportsmen (a $1 billion business in the U.S.), many are critical to agriculture through insect pest control, and others are valued for intangible or aesthetic reasons. Survival of these species depends upon how they and their habitats are managed, researched and conserved in Latin America. This program is the only U.S. government effort to provide for survival of these species.

U.S. Geological Survey

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) conducts international activities in science and technology as adjuncts to domestic programs, under authorization provided in the Organic Act, as revised, and the Foreign Assistance Act and related legislation. International activities and studies have been deemed by the Department of State and the Department of Interior to be in the interests of the U.S. government. Programs with foreign governments are operated under bilateral or multilateral agreements sanctioned by the aforementioned departments and provide opportunities for: (1) comparative studies of scientific phenomena both abroad and in the U.S.; (2) acquisition of data on existing and potential foreign resources of interest to the USGS, the private sector, and the U.S. government; (3) broadening the knowledge, understanding, expertise and international reputation of the USGS staff; (4) developing and maintaining relations with foreign counterpart institutions, and for the conduct of programs that facilitate scientific cooperation and technology transfer; and (5) support of programs of other U.S. government agencies, particularly the political, economic and strategic interests of the U.S. Department of State. Some USGS activities in science and technology serve as contributions to foreign policy decisions.

USGS benefits by gaining knowledge and experience in the countries studied, which then may be applied to domestic studies and investigations elsewhere. Institution building, training programs, and participation and representation in international earth-science organizations, commissions and congresses by USGS scientists establish contacts beneficial to U.S. foreign and domestic policy interests.

Major programs newly authorized in FY 1988 included a 4-year assessment of water resources in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; a one-year cooperative field program with France on bore-hole geophysical applications to water research; a marine geology research program with Norway; and five programs utilizing remote sensing from LANDSAT and SPOT imagery, three in Africa (i.e., the Famine Early Warning Systems (FEWS), AGRHYMET, a program to improve collection of agricultural, hydrologic and meteorologic data, and Grasshopper and Locust Habitat Identification and Monitoring); one in Bolivia for map revision; and one in Jordan for training in the Mini Image Processing System. However, most USGS international activities in FY 1988 were continuations under the previously authorized programs described below.

The International Strategic Minerals Inventory, a program by the USGS and the U.S. Bureau of Mines in cooperation with Australia, Canada, the Federal Republic of Germany, South Africa and the United Kingdom continues to develop a global assessment of deposits, resources and supply-demand relations for a number of critical commodities including cobalt, nickel,

platinum and titanium. Mineral resource assessments or research and modeling of mineral deposits under bilateral agreements continued in China, France, Japan, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Venezuela, Yugoslavia and the Pacific Trust Territories. The assessment programs provide knowledge of worldwide availability of minerals, especially those critical to supplies in the U.S., and assist foreign nations in exploring, exploiting and utilizing their own deposits, some of which might be plentiful enough for export.

The World Energy Resources Program, an extension of the USGS domestic program for oil and gas assessments, presented a report to the 12th World Petroleum Congress at Houston, Texas, in which oil and gas were quantitatively assessed country-bycountry worldwide. Also during FY 1988, comprehensive oil and gas reports were completed for: (1) a revised assessment for West Siberia, (2) an initial assessment for southern Africa, and (3) a three volume assessment of China. Other energy studies were the ongoing resources assessments and/or scientific research on coal in Pakistan and Yugoslavia, peat in Indonesia, petroleum in Hungary and the southwest Pacific region, sedimentary basin analysis in Korea, and bore-hole geophysics in Canada. These energy resources studies aid foreign countries in the identification, development and utilization of indigenous supplies, thus diminishing the need to import expensive petroleum products and reducing the reliance on economic assistance programs from without.

In addition to the new programs on water investigations cited above, short-term (less than one-year duration) water resources assessments and research on modeling, including flood control facilities, were conducted by USGS in Antarctica, China, the Dominican Republic, India, Norway, Venezuela and Yugoslavia. The many cooperative programs serve to substantiate the unique character of the USGS as a world-renowned organization having highly qualified personnel with knowledge and expertise in the water resources field.

Activities to mitigate geologic and hydrologic hazards, the predictive investigations and monitoring for volcanic eruptions, and the global research on geophysics, seismicity and earthquakes continued to be USGS international cooperative programs during FY 1988. Funding and activities were increased substantially for the Interagency Volcano Early Warning Disaster Assistance Program and the program for comparative studies of earthquake and tsunami potential in critical zones surrounding the Pacific. Geologic hazard assessment programs continued with El Salvador and in the southwestern Pacific coastal areas; cooperative research on hydrologic hazards was done with Japan. Volcano monitoring and early warning prediction capabilities for eruptions were researched in several Latin American countries and in Indonesia and Italy. In addition to its continuing multilateral programs to establish and coordinate the Global Telemetered Seismic Network and to monitor worldwide seismic data for earthquake prediction, the USGS carried on bilateral geophysical, seismic and/or earthquake studies with various countries including Chile, China, West Germany, Italy, Jordan, Panama, Saudi Arabia, the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia. The continuing hazard studies hopefully will lead to worldwide capabilities to predict hazardous events and mitigate resulting destruction, thus saving countless lives and untold suffering and losses, a benefit not only to the U.S. but also to all humans.

Surveying and mapping in FY 1988 provided geodetic data, aerial photography and satellite imagery to prepare base maps and other cartographic products. Base maps were prepared for Antarctica to support geologic and glaciologic investigations, and the Scientific Committee on Antarctica Research (SCAR)