• Tariffs and surpluses hinder development. Europe's food industry is apathetic and confused over where to go with biotechnology, and the European Economic Community and Europe's farmers are to blame, according to Trevor Palmer, technical director of Tunnel Refineries. Lakes of wine, mountains of butter, and a glut of pigs and chickens discourage companies from investing money in biotechnology to make food more efficiently, he told attendees at the First National Conference on Biotechnology in the Food & Drink Industries, held in Brighton, UK.

• Increasing demand for biotechnology analysts. Securities firms are beefing up their research efforts in biotechnology and related fields. Growing investor interest and the slew of biotechnology public offerings has increased demand for qualified analysts. According to one researcher, an analyst can cover only about 20 companies thoroughly, and follow perhaps 20 more. The list of publicly held biotechnology specialty firms now numbers well over 20, so many securities houses may soon need a full-time biotechnology researcher. Such analysts require some scientific background in order to evaluate these highly technical companies, and Wall Street firms are actively recruiting from industry, academia, and other brokerage houses, as well as retraining in-house personnel.

• New EPA regulations. The US Environmental Protection Agency has made a bold move in announcing that it intends to regulate the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment. Despite the cost (approx. $10,000 to file) and the delay (at least 90 days) involved with submitting premanufacturing notices to the EPA, biotechnology product manufacturers will benefit from the regulations. They should welcome the EPA's recent move, a strictly legal interpretation of the influence it already exercises under the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.