Office Of Technology Assessment Research Articles

Expertise for emerging technology: Information, prestige, and the Office of Technology Assessment

AbstractPolicy makers often struggle to adapt and respond to the uncertainties and ambiguities associated with new and emerging technologies. In such situations decision makers often widen their search for information and acquire more expertise in order to better define complex problems and to understand the potential consequences of proposed alternatives. I argue that acquiring information also carries social and symbolic value: having reports and other kinds of information provided to you signals that you are a policy maker important and influential enough to keep informed. The Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) provided the US Congress with nonpartisan reports on technology‐related issues from 1972 until 1995 when its funding was zeroed out. Using data on all OTA reports published from 1974 to 1995, I find evidence that, while almost every committee requested at least one report, the reports largely were concentrated among a few committees in each chamber. The committees more likely to request reports also tended to be lower in prestige among members; acquiring OTA reports thus helped raise the committee leaders' profile on science and technology‐related issues but was not directly related to the surrounding issue environment or immediate legislative efforts. OTA reports also were concentrated on a relatively small number of policy issues, which further suggests inequalities in the dynamics of expertise in policy making.

Beraten und Prognostizieren. Unsicheres Wissen in der institutionellen vs. der massenmedialen Politikberatung

Scientific policy advice provides a special framework for processing scientific uncertainties. Socio-political decisions often require a reliable scientific basis that can be used as orientation and legitimation for political decisions. On the one hand, policy advice takes place institutionalized (e. g. by the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag [TAB] and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina), but also in public media discourse, when scientists give interviews or inform about scientific topics in talk shows. The need for advice concerns future actions and is thus closely linked to uncertain knowledge and the providing of forecasts, i. e. a look into the future. In this article, we focus on the practices of consulting and forecasting in the context of policy advice and capture them in their differentiations as well as show what role uncertain knowledge plays in their argumentation. In addition, we analyze to what extent the formulation of prognoses and advice is influenced by the genre and media context of the statement (expert opinion vs. interview / talk show, i. e. also: written and oral contexts).

Defensive Medicine as a Tool against the Malpractice Issues

Background: Defensive medicine is the requesting for procedures, tests, referral and /or avoidance of high-risk patients with the aim that to minimize the malpractice liability. These tests or measures are done mainly as a safeguard and not for the benefit of patients. OTA (The Office of Technology Assessment) described the procedures done to the patients as they ordered to minimize the risk of malpractice and so not all action of defensive medicine are bad to patients. Defensive medicine can take either positive or negative forms, depending on the direction of deviation from typical practice. Negative DM involves withholding or avoiding high-risk treatments and diagnostic tests to avoid possible associated risks and poor outcomes that might lead to a malpractice suit. Conversely, positive type of DM is characterized by the do excessive, unnecessary diagnostic tests and interventions to decrease risk of being found negligent. The practice of defensive medicine DM is a significant financial burden on health care systems. In Egypt, Defensive medicine creeping rapidly, this may be due to the fear of doctors from being accused of malpractice, inflicting harm to the patient for not doing enough or decrease the patient satisfaction. Conclusion: Defensive medicine is a deviation from the ethical medicine but when discussing the DM, we should take in mind the concerns of doctors about the legal issues and their harm being in court due to their efforts with the patients, so in doctors view it is the only action to minimize the risk of malpractice issues, or in another words it is fear from patient dissatisfaction.

In Memoriam : Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021): It All Started with Ants.

In Memoriam : Edward O. Wilson (1929-2021): It All Started with Ants.

System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot

System Error: Where Big Tech Went Wrong and How We Can Reboot

Goodbye Expert-Based Policy Advice? Challenges in Advising Governmental Institutions in Times of Transformation

The global transformation towards sustainability has not only increased the demand for anticipatory and reflexive knowledge to support decision making, but also raises three challenges common to all forms of scientific policy advice: to appropriately consider societal norms and values (challenge of normativity), to integrate different forms of knowledge (challenge of integration) and to organize the participation of stakeholders (challenge of participation). While new forms of scientific policy advice in the field of sustainability research (SR) have emerged in response, the role of established actors such as the Office of Technology Assessment at the German Bundestag (TAB) is increasingly scrutinized. One of the fundamental characteristics of TAB’s model of scientific policy advice is a rigid boundary arrangement between politics and science that places a high value on the objectivity and authority of scientific knowledge. Based on a content analysis of digitalization-related TAB reports spanning three decades, we describe how a rather technocratic institution such as TAB has dealt with the challenges of normativity, integration, and participation, and we compare its approach with that of SR institutions. TAB has partly adapted its working mode to the new challenges, e.g., by trying out new methods to foster a stronger dialogue with stakeholders. However, TAB’s response to the challenges distinctly differs from the forms of transformative research conducted in the SR community. We argue that this is not only a necessary precondition to maintain its reputation as a trustworthy actor towards the Parliament but gives TAB and similar expert-based institutions a special role in the governance of societal transformation.

An Institutional Solution to Build Trust in Pandemic Vaccines

As the market gatekeeper for new drugs and vaccines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a fundamental role in the response to public health crises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FDA’s response has been heavily criticized by public health experts, including current and former advisors to the Agency (Baden et al., 2020). The bulk of criticism has centered around FDA’s use of emergency use authorizations (EUAs) covering unapproved COVID-19 products. In at least two instances—the EUA covering chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, and the one covering COVID-19 convalescent plasma—experts have pointed out that the data used by the FDA in support of an EUA was not “scientifically sound” (Baden et al., 2020) and that the Agency’s decision-making processes appeared to be driven by political pressure and extra-scientific considerations. While the long-term reputational damage to the FDA stemming from these EUA controversies has been discussed abundantly in the literature (Baden et al., 2020), there is a pressing need for short-term measures designed to lessen the growing levels of FDA mistrust. Timely interventions are critical because the EUA pathway is also being used to bring COVID-19 vaccines to market. We, therefore, propose the adoption of a mechanism designed to improve trust in the FDA emergency authorization process, including in the specific context of COVID-19 vaccines, in the form of an independent review body modeled after the now-defunct Congressional Office of Technology Assessment.

Effective science and technology assessment advice for congress: comparing options

Abstract Effective science and technology (S&T) assessment capabilities providing advice for Congress must be both credible and suitable to congressional needs. To be credible, from the perspective of those who will use the advice, its provision must be (1) authoritative, (2) objective, and (3) independent. To be suitable, the advice must be (4) relevant, (5) useful, and (6) timely. For S&T advice today, Congress draws on many sources but four traditional options stand out as having been used most frequently: (1) The National Research Council, the operating arm of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, (2) The Congressional Research Service, (3) the former Office of Technology Assessment, and (4) the Government Accountability Office. This article chronicles the evolution of these four organizations and evaluates their relative strengths and weaknesses in terms of the six defined key characteristics for providing effective S&T advice for Congress, drawing conclusions for organizational improvements.

An Institutional Solution to Build Trust in Pandemic Vaccines

As the market gatekeeper for new drugs and vaccines, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) plays a fundamental role in the response to public health crises. During the COVID-19 pandemic, FDA’s response has been heavily criticized by public health experts, including current and former advisors to the Agency (Baden et al., 2020). The bulk of criticism has centered around FDA’s use of emergency use authorizations (EUAs) covering unapproved COVID-19 products. In at least two instances—the EUA covering chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, and the one covering COVID-19 convalescent plasma—experts have pointed out that the data used by the FDA in support of an EUA was not “scientifically sound” (Baden et al., 2020) and that the Agency’s decision-making processes appeared to be driven by political pressure and extra-scientific considerations. While the long-term reputational damage to the FDA stemming from these EUA controversies has been discussed abundantly in the literature (Baden et al., 2020), there is a pressing need for short-term measures designed to lessen the growing levels of FDA mistrust. Timely interventions are critical because the EUA pathway is also being used to bring COVID-19 vaccines to market. We therefore propose the adoption of a mechanism designed to improve trust in the FDA emergency authorization process, including in the specific context of COVID-19 vaccines, in the form of an independent review body modeled after the now-defunct Congressional Office of Technology Assessment. We begin by briefly exploring the current climate of FDA vaccine authorization mistrust and then describe the proposed mechanism and its implementation.

Care of children and young people who are dependent on technology.

British Journal of NursingVol. 29, No. 7 At A GlanceCare of children and young people who are dependent on technologyClaire Camara, Jane CallumClaire Camara(E-mail Address: [email protected])Graduate Tutor, Northumbria UniversitySearch for more papers by this author, Jane CallumSenior Lecturer, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon TyneSearch for more papers by this authorClaire Camara; Jane CallumPublished Online:11 Apr 2020https://doi.org/10.12968/bjon.2020.29.7.403AboutSectionsView articleView Full TextPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InEmail View article References Brenner M, Larkin PJ, Hilliard C, Cawley D, Howlin F, Connolly M. Parents' perspectives of the transition to home when a child has complex technological health care needs. Int J Integr Care. 2015;15(3):e035. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.1852 Crossref, Medline, Google ScholarCarnevale FA, Alexander E, Davis M, Rennick J, Troini R. 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LeRoy Walters’s Legacy of Bioethics in Genetics and Biotechnology Policy

LeRoy Walters was at the center of public debate about emerging biological technologies, even as "biotechnology" began to take root. He chaired advisory panels on human gene therapy, the human genome project, and patenting DNA for the congressional Office of Technology Assessment. He chaired the subcommittee on Human Gene Therapy for NIH's Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee. He was also a regular advisor to Congress, the executive branch, and academics concerned about policy governing emerging biotechnologies. In large part due to Prof. Walters, the Kennedy Institute of Ethics was one of the primary sources of talent in bioethics, including staff who populated policy and science agencies dealing with reproductive and genetic technologies, such as NIH and OTA. His legacy lies not only in his writings, but in those people, documents, and discussions that guided biotechnology policy in the United States for three decades.

In Honor of LeRoy Walters: Introduction from the Editors.

In Honor of LeRoy Walters: Introduction from the Editors Eric M. Meslin (bio), Eric T. Juengst (bio), and Carol Mason Spicer (bio) Since the birth of bioethics, a persistent refrain has been that advances in science, technology, and health are occurring so quickly that they threaten to outpace society’s ability to understand and react to them. Genomics, big data, and synthetic biology preoccupy current scholarly and policy debates, just as organ transplantation, in vitro fertilization, human subjects research, and gene therapy did over the past forty years. But the history of bioethics is more than the topics it has addressed. It is also the story of the people whose voices shaped its debates and built society’s capacity to manage the escalating pace of technological change. LeRoy Walters is one of those contributors who made a difference. He is part of an original community of scholars and intellectuals who were involved in these issues from the earliest days of bioethics. Now an Emeritus Faculty at the Kennedy Institute of Ethics at Georgetown University, Walters joined the Kennedy Institute in 1971 as its first faculty member appointed to a multi-year term by the new Director, Andre Hellegers, and has remained affiliated with the Institute ever since. His academic training at Messiah College, Associated Mennonite Seminaries, University of Heidelberg, Free University of Berlin, and Yale University focused on religious studies culminating in a Ph.D. on just war theory that provided the moral foundation for his ongoing work. Rising through the academic ranks until becoming the Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., Professor of Christian Ethics in 1993, Walters was also Director of the Kennedy Institute for a three-year period. In addition to teaching and mentoring during his tenure at the Institute, he was also a bioethics “builder.” He envisioned and implemented Bioethicsline, one of the first online, annotated databases for bioethics research in the world. Linked to the National Library of Medicine, Bioethicsline served as a portal to what would become the National Reference Center for Bioethics Literature, the largest resource of its kind in the world. During his tenure, the Kennedy Institute began housing the collections of past [End Page xi] bioethics commissions and advisory bodies and an innovative DNA Patent Database, an unusual project for a bioethicist. Walters was a recently appointed Associate Professor when the editors and contributors to this special issue of KIEJ first encountered him as graduate students and colleagues in the early 1980s. Generations of students and colleagues have subsequently benefitted from his wisdom and gracious mentoring, but so too have countless federal agencies, departments, advisory committees, and working groups that he assisted as a consultant, member, or chair. Walters was involved in many of the most significant bioethics policy discussions occurring in the U.S. from the 1970s through the 2000s. He was a consultant to the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the DHEW Ethics Advisory Board, and the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, for whom he prepared a key background paper on fetal research and participated in the development of its Belmont Report. He served for three terms on the NIH Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, chairing the committee’s Working Group on Human Gene Therapy, which established review criteria for clinical gene transfer research and is still functioning four decades later. He chaired the NIH Human Fetal Tissue Transplantation Research Panel; sat on the Ethical, Legal and Social Implications Research Planning and Evaluation Group Program of the National Human Genome Research Institute; was a member of the Bioethics Committee of the National March of Dimes, the DHEW Secretary’s Task Force on Compensation of Injured Research Subjects, and as a committee member of Institute of Medicine studies on AIDS and vaccine development. He was an influential advisor and consultant to the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment, Office for Protection from Research Risks, and two presidential bioethics commissions. In addition to his policy influence, he is a prolific writer and aggregator of resources for use by others. Walters is responsible for creating and co-editing with Tamar Joy Kahn and Doris Mueller Goldstein thirty-five volumes of the Bibliography of Bioethics...

PERSPECTIVE: SOME CONCLUSIONS FROM MY LIFE IN HEALTH TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT.

I have worked in health technology assessment (HTA) since 1975, beginning in the United States Congress Office of Technology Assessment (OTA), where we were charged with defining "medical technology assessment". My main concern in HTA has always been efficacy of healthcare interventions. After years in OTA, I was invited to the Netherlands in 1985, where the Dutch government invited me to head a special commission concerning future healthcare technology and HTA. From there, I became involved in over forty countries, beginning in Europe and then throughout the world. My most intense involvements, outside the United States and Europe, have been in Brazil, China, and Malaysia. During these 40-plus years, I have seen HTA grow from its earliest beginnings to a worldwide force for better health care for everyone. I have also had some growing concerns, outlined in this Perspective article. Within HTA, I am most disappointed by a narrow perspective of cost-effective analysis, which tends to ignore considerations of culture, society, ethics, and organizational and legal issues. In the general environment affecting HTA and health care, I am most concerned about the need to protect the independence of HTA activities from influences of the healthcare industries.

Regulatory impact assessment: current situation and prospects in the German Parliament

Regulatory impact assessment (RIA) is a standard method of measuring costs of legislation at all levels of governance, in the EU as well as in all Member States. In this paper Professor Dr Ulrich Karpen (University of Hamburg Law School) describes the current methods of RIA on European and Member State levels, the latter namely in Germany. This includes organisations established in particular for RIA work, such as the European High Level Group of Reducing Administrative Burdens (“Stoiber Group”) and the German National Regulatory Control Council. In addition the author describes RIA in the German Parliament, including the Office of Technology Assessment and the Parliamentary Advisory Council of Sustainable Development, both in the Federal Diet and refers to some elements and requirements of “good legislation”.

TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHER EDUCATION: PROGRESS ALONG THE CONTINUUM

Schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) may be placed along a continuum in their integration of technology. The 1995 Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) report, Teachers & Technology: Making the Connection, spoke to one end of the continuum when it raised two important points—that “technology is not central to the teacher preparation experience” and that “most technology instruction . . . is teaching about technology . . . not teaching with technology across the curriculum”.

Robert P Heaney, MD: 1927–2016

Robert P Heaney Dr. Robert P. Heaney's six decades of research investigating bone physiology and biology had a profound impact in the field of osteoporosis. His early work at Creighton included the Creighton University “Nun” Study. Many people in the field recognize this study when it is mentioned. This project was originally designed as a 20-year project. Roman Catholic nuns with mother houses in the Omaha, NE, USA, area were invited to attend an 8-day inpatient metabolic balance study at 5-year intervals. Each admission was preceded by a 7-day diary recording all dietary intakes. The daily food provided to each inpatient study participant was matched for calcium, phosphorus, protein, fat, and carbohydrate to the intake recorded in the diaries. Dr. Heaney characterized plasma calcium kinetics using radio-calcium isotopes, which described the interface between the calcium in the skeleton and that in the circulation. He also measured calcium absorption efficiency and recorded obligate losses of calcium in the urine and stool. All of this focused on calcium and skeletal physiology, and pathogenesis of osteoporosis. This project ultimately culminated after 41 years with each subject studied at 5-year intervals. The study sample of 161 nuns who entered the study in 1967 decreased to 131 at the end of the study, ie, only 30 dropouts over this 41-year study, some of whom were deceased. This study documented the importance of calcium nutrition and the calcium loss at the time of menopause, and set the standard for the US recommendations for calcium intake. Dr. Heaney's research contributions pertained not only to bone and osteoporosis but also to other illnesses, such as end-stage renal disease and insulin resistance, in the study of vitamin D. He applied his skills in biologic kinetics to characterize the appearance and disappearance of calciferol and its various metabolites in the serum of humans. His research in vitamin D nutrition and its physiology has had an enormous impact on the understanding of vitamin D physiology. Dr. Heaney always stressed that a research project is not complete until the findings are disseminated. He took that responsibility seriously and was a prolific writer and a frequent speaker at scientific, corporate, and community meetings. He authored 866 scientific articles including abstracts, reviews and other scientific papers. He participated actively in policy making in groups such as the Office of Technology Assessment, US Congress, Scientific Advisory Panel on Osteoporosis and the Panel on Calcium and Related Nutrients, Food & Nutrition Board, National Academy of Science (NAS). His achievements were widely recognized and his awards include the Creighton University Lifetime Achievement Research Award, the Frederick C Bartter Award from the American Society for Bone and Mineral Research, the Kappa Delta award from the American College of Orthopedic Surgeons, the E.V. McCollum Award of the American Society for Clinical Nutrition, and the Institute CANDIA Scientific Prize from France. He was recognized by the National Osteoporosis Foundation as a “Legend of Osteoporosis.” Perhaps most importantly, he focused widespread attention on the importance of osteoporosis. In recognition of this, he was presented a lifetime achievement award in the US House of Representatives on November 10, 2015. Dr. Heaney has mentored a large number of people including the authors of this memorial. He was an icon in the fields of osteoporosis, bone physiology, bone diseases in general, and vitamin D. His mentorship has been inspirational for our students, residents, and fellows at Creighton University as well as similar trainees in other institutions. He has been an enthusiastic, passionate teacher of medicine and bone pathology and physiology. Dr. Heaney had another dimension known mostly inside Creighton. He has been very active in Creighton University's spiritual community. He was well known for his passion for the scripture and his contributions to “Daily Reflections” on the Creighton website. His spiritual writings have been a source of great inspiration for persons at Creighton University and beyond. He also wrote for a monthly Catholic magazine America and for the Creighton Magazine. Dr. Heaney and his late wife, Barbara, raised seven children, and, at his death, his descendants include 14 grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. They all were a source of great pride and much enjoyment for him. Dr. Heaney will be remembered as a healer, a thinker, and a man of grace and generosity. We are all greatly saddened by his loss. Robert R Recker, MD Osteoporosis Research Center, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA Joan M Lappe, PhD Osteoporosis Research Center, Creighton University, Omaha, NE, USA

TECHNOLOGY IN TEACHER EDUCATION: PROGRESS ALONG THE CONTINUUM

Schools, colleges, and departments of education (SCDEs) may be placed along a continuum in their integration of technology. The 1995 Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) report, Teachers & Technology: Making the Connection, spoke to one end of the continuum when it raised two important points that “technology is not central to the teacher preparation experience” and that “most technology instruction is teaching about technology not teaching with technology across the curriculum”.

Walter Rowe Courtenay, Jr. (1933–2014)

W ALTER R. COURTENAY, JR., ichthyologist and retired professor, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, died in Gainesville, Florida, on 30 January 2014 at age 80. Walt was born in Neenah, Wisconsin, on 6 November 1933, son of Walter and Emily Courtenay. Walt’s interest in fish began at a young age as evidenced by a childhood diary in which at 13 years of age he wrote about his first catch—a two-and-a-half pound ‘‘pike’’ from Lake Winnebago. When Walt turned ten, the family moved from Wisconsin to Nashville, Tennessee, the move precipitated by his father accepting a position as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church. During those early days in Nashville, Walt’s father would take summers off and travel to Michigan to teach at Camp Miniwanca along the shore of Lake Michigan where father and son honed their angling skills. It was also at that time Walt’s father had definite views on what his son should be doing in adult life—in Walt’s case it was to become a medical doctor. However, his Woods Hole internship in marine biology and oceanography toward the end of his undergraduate years was a transformative experience for him so much so that he abandoned all ideas of becoming a medical doctor and instead specialized in ichthyology and oceanography. Apart from the inherent interest and opportunities Woods Hole opened to him, being back at the shore of a large body of water, in this case the Atlantic Ocean, was far more interesting than sitting in lectures on organic chemistry. With that, Walt completed his B.A. degree at Vanderbilt University in 1956. In 1960 while in graduate school in Miami, Walt met and married Francine Saporito, and over the next several years had two children, Walter III and Catherine. He went on to receive his M.S. in 1961 from The Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami on the systematics of the genus Haemulon (grunts) and his Ph.D. degree in 1965 working under his advisor C. Richard ‘‘Dick’’ Robins, also at Miami, with his dissertation entitled ‘‘Atlantic Fishes of the Genus Rypticus (Grammistidae): Systematics and Osteology.’’ Dick and wife Catherine Robins, also a fellow biologist, thought of him as a great friend to have. They fondly recalled that those of us who knewWalt in his early grad student days valued his sense of humor and unmistakable laugh, much of which was directed at bureaucratic foolishness and pomposity. However, he also had a very serious side when it came to justice and responsibility. During his graduate student years, Walt was primarily a fish morphologist, studying the structural variations of marine fishes found in the Western Atlantic. He devoted much of his time searching for and documenting certain anatomical traits useful in distinguishing one species from another, such as species-specific pigmentation patterns of juvenile fishes and scale and lateral line structures. In addition to his own research, he generously provided expert technical assistance to colleagues. Prior to completing his Ph.D., Walt accepted a position as a faculty member at Duke University (1963–65) followed by a position at Boston University (1965–67). Shortly thereafter Walt returned to Florida where he became a tenured professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton (1967–1999) where he twice served as department chair. Although Walt was back in Florida and close to the ocean, his research interests underwent a major change away from fish morphology. He soon began to take notice that Florida’s extensive network of manmade canals was becoming increasingly occupied by non-native fishes, in particular and most notably the Walking Catfish (Clarias batrachus). As a result, much of Walt’s early work was focused on determining the distributions of Clarias and other fishes typically found in the aquarium trade such as poeciliids and cichlids which by the 1960s were already established in the inland waters of Florida. Walt clearly saw the potential for problems associated with exotic species early on and devoted nearly all of his career to research and education on this issue. At various times in his career, Walt also held research appointments with the U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard University, and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. He also served as a consultant on introduced fishes for the Fishery Resources and Environment Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Budapest and Rome in 1988, the Foundation for Research Development, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Pretoria, South Africa in 1988, the South Australia Department of Fisheries, Adelaide, Australia in 1989, and the Office of Technology Assessment, Congress of the United States in 1991–92. For the 1986–87 academic Fig. 1. Walter R. Courtenay, Jr. in 2008.

Parliamentary TA in Portugal

Currently, a structure for parliamentary Technology Assessment (pTA) in Portugal does not exist. However, efforts have been made by the Parliament to support the establishment of pTA through the involvement of external actors. Two different models, a Parliamentary Office of Technology Assessment (GPAT) and a Parliamentary Unit of Technology Assessment (UPAT), have recently been proposed. This paper discusses some of the observations presented in a previous TATuP- paper by Böhle/Moniz (2015) relative to the establishment of TA in Portugal including observations on the GPAT model. In doing so, this paper provides a brief comparative analysis between the two models, including precedents, funding and organisational structure.

MICROBIAL SURFACTANTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES

Surfactants are widely used in different fields of industry that is why the demand for their synthetic analogues is continually in-creases. At the same time the modern deve-lopment of biotechnology and growing atten-tion to environment defense are the source of interest to microbial surfactants as an alternative way of chemical analogues. Due to environmental safety, the ability to emul-sify hydrophobic compounds and increase the efficiency of microbial decomposition of xenobiotic, surfactants are promising for use in environmental technologies.Over the past decades, the environment has got a huge amount of industrial waste, agricultural chemicals and products of their partial transformations that are unique or rare in nature. This resulted in a negative impact on all levels of organization of living matter and that balance breaks the balance that was created over millions of years, so that there is a real threat to the sustainable functioning of ecosystems.Today oil is the main source of energy worldwide, while the probability of getting it into the environment, leading to negative consequences [1]. Since 1992 the world has held more than 20 oil spills [http:/www.endgame.org/oilspills.htm], which led to economic losses and violations of ecological balance. To eliminate the consequences of such accidents physical and mechanical methods are usually used, but they are not always effective enough. According to the Office of Technology Assessment (Office of Technology Assessment, USA) after large-scale disaster, it is possible to remove only 10–15% of oil by mechanical methods [1].To eliminate oil spill there are some promising biological methods, based on direct introduction of petrooxidizing microorganisms (bioaugmentation) or using various substances that stimulate the natural (autochthonous) microbiota (biostimulation) such as microbial surfactants [2, 3]. For the first time the possibility of using microorganisms for the biodegradation of oil in marine sediments was described by Jones et al. 1983 [4]. In the future, scientists expanded the knowledge of oil destructors and conditions of their application [5–8].Recently, interest in microbial surfactants is increasing [9–14], due to significant progress