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Congress's three-year-old Office Technology Assessment (OTA) has come under sharp, and potentially damaging, criticism from another Congressional committee and from the former chairman of its own advisory council. Both have argued that it has failed to live up to expectations and that there is still no clear understanding of its role and function. Colin Norman reports from Washington.
The European Commission recently unveiled proposals for a Community science policy. Progress towards the aim of a common approach, reports Chris Sherwell, may prove to be more pedestrian than the enthusiasts are prepared to admit.
