VARMUS PUSHES HARD FOR E-BIOMED

It's hard to believe National Institutes of Health Director Harold E. Varmus is getting any work done this summer. Ever since May 5, when he posted his idea for an electronic publishing site titled "E-biomed," the energetic Nobel Laureate has been getting an earful of comments from interested scientists, concerned commercial and nonprofit scientific publishers, and the scientific and general media. Varmus, of course, is not shy about giving as good as he gets, and that's just what he did late last month at two forums. The first was held at the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) in Washington D.C., on June 24 and was called "a summit of electronic publishers." That meeting was attended by representatives from many scientific societies, including the American Chemical Society, which publishes C&EN and 32 other journals and magazines. On June 30, Varmus, along with representatives from three publishing organizations, talked to science writers at the National Library of ...