Laboratory and field determinations of the 

 rates of transformation of different nitrogen 

 substances in soils under drainage conditions 

 have been completed. Mathematical models 

 are now being developed to describe the 

 downward movement of water and nitrate 

 under irrigation and cropping cycles. During 

 the next two years, the researchers will focus 

 on integrating the results of the entire pro- 

 gram into a user-oriented output in the form 

 of interpretations of standard soil mapping 

 associations for characterizing cropping sys- 

 tems as to their tendencies to release nitrate 

 to drainage pathways. This will result in the 

 ability to determine what soil/crop manage- 

 ment systems are most likely to contaminate 

 water supplies and how alternative practices 

 can be adjusted to minimize nitrate pollution. 



• "N-Nitroso Derivatives of Pesticides," D. 

 Fine, Thermo Electron Corporation. Accord- 

 ing to the Environmental Protection Agency 

 (EPA), "A family of chemical carcinogens, 

 the nitrosamines, have no equals." Nearly 

 every nitrosamine subjected to animal toxi- 

 cology studies have been found to be carcino- 

 genic. Many agricultural herbicide, insecti- 

 cide, and fungicide formulations in use today 

 contain compounds that are secondary or ter- 

 tiary amines or compounds that can be readily 

 hydrolyzed to form secondary amines. Since 

 it is known that these amine groups do react 

 with nitrite ions to form nitrosamines, it is 

 presumed that these reactions can occur with 

 pesticides and nitrites in soil. 



After a series of discussions with representa- 

 tives of EPA's Southeast Research Laborato- 

 ry in Athens, Georgia, a collaborative project 

 was developed involving Thermo Electron 

 Corporation, EPA, the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture (USDA) to investigate the forma- 

 tion of nitrosamines through the action of soil 

 nitrites on amine-type pesticides. 



With instrumentation developed at Thermo 

 Electron Corporation Dr. Fine and his co- 

 workers were to examine samples of soil, 

 water, and agricultural crops collected by 

 EPA and USDA from areas in the United 

 States that were treated with known amounts 

 and types of pesticides and determine the 

 amounts of nitrosamines, if any, in these 

 samples. Before initiating this phase, labora- 

 tory studies of the amine-type pesticides were 

 to be made to assay their chemical content 

 and ability to react with nitrites. 



After examination of the pesticide formula- 

 tions, unusually high levels of the nitrosa- 



mines were found in specific commercial 

 grade herbicide formulations used for house- 

 hold as well as agricultural purposes. These 

 nitrosamine levels were considered well in the 

 range that can be hazardous to man. This 

 unexpected finding of nitrosamines in herbi- 

 cides as produced by the manufacturer led to 

 a preliminary survey of nitrosamines in other 

 products where the potential also exists. As a 

 result, certain cutting oils used in metal work- 

 ing and machine shops were found to contain 

 over 1,000 parts per million of nitrosamines, a 

 concentration that cculd only be described as 

 enormous, from a toxicological point of view. 



As a result of these findings, affected indus- 

 tries have begun taking steps to control the 

 problem by repackaging and reformulating 

 products. The National Institute of Occupa- 

 tional Health and Safety (NIOSH) circulated 

 a Current Intelligence Bulletin advising in- 

 dustrial concerns on health measures that 

 ought to be taken in the factory environment. 

 In addition, a surveillance and monitoring 

 program, follow-up epidemiological studies, 

 and annual testing studies are also being car- 

 ried out by NIOSH on the cutting oil prob- 

 lem. 



Because of the importance to public health of 

 the unexpected findings on the project, the 

 Foundation has encouraged the grantee to 

 accelerate the research to an earlier conclu- 

 sion and to extend it to an examination of a 

 much wider range of products. 



The question of research priorities for the next 3 

 to 10 years is difficult to respond to for two rea- 

 sons: First, research planning depends to a large 

 degree upon available future resources. Second, 

 RANN program objectives are problem-oriented in 

 nature and usually do not focus on basic research 

 issues, at least in the long term. The passage quot- 

 ed in the first paragraph of this discussion of the 

 Directorate for Research Applications describes 

 the part played by basic research support in 

 RANN programs. In the long term, it is almost 

 impossible to separate out the basic research prior- 

 ities from the problem-oriented objectives. With 

 this caveat, there are listed below some of the 

 near-term basic research priorities of programs 

 that currently have a relatively high basic research 

 component: 



• To obtain a comprehensive data base on the 

 nature of earthquake motions at typical sites 

 and in representative structures, and to devel- 

 op new and improved understanding of the 

 dynamic and long-term behavior of structures 



NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION 221 



