The report responds to the request of numerous Members of Congress to review the physical, emotional, and behavioral health status of contemporary American adolescents, including adolescents in groups who might be more likely to be in special need of health-related interventions: adolescents living in poverty, adolescents from racial and ethnic minority groups, Native American adolescents, and adolescents in rural areas.

This background paper outlines some of the issues of importance for making choices about the future nature and role of U.S. armed forces, and suggests how these choices will affect defense base requirements. The final report of the assessment, to be delivered in the spring of 1992, will address specific policy options arising from the strategic choices and tactical decisions discussed here.

A report prepared by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) analyzing a plan put forth by the Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA). This report assesses the plan and "is intended to provide the Congress with much of the background information necessary for an effective analysis of ERDA's energy R&D programs" (p. vii).

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that addresses "1) the status of criminal history record systems in the United States; 2) the alternatives for a national computerized criminal history (CCH) system; 3) the possible impacts of such a system; and 4) the relevant policy issues that warrant congressional attention to ensure that the beneficial impacts of a national CCH system are maximized and the possible adverse impacts controlled or minimized" (p. iii).

An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of maritime trade and technology that "traces prevailing conditions and dominant trends that are important to the way the Federal Government assumes its responsibility for developing and implementing policy" (p. iii).

This report both describes current clinical and economic aspects of cataract surgery and analyzes how alternative methods of paying physicians might affect cataract surgery in the future.

An assessment by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) of the United States steel industry, particularly various processes of casting currently used by the industry.

This report examines the impact of biotechnology in several industries, including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agriculture, and hazardous waste clean-up; the efforts of 16 Nations to develop commercial uses of biotechnology; and the actions, both direct and indirect, taken by various governments that influence innovation in biotechnology.

This report examines the impact of biotechnology in several industries including pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agriculture and hazardous waste clean-up.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that, among other things, assesses "the capacity of current testing methodology to predict the carcinogenic potential of chemicals consumed by humans, with special reference to the validity of extrapolating from results of animal tests to possible human effects" (p. v). This study was done in response to the banning of the sweetener saccharin and the controversy about the testing that led to the ban.

In this report, OTA concludes that there is ample reason to be optimistic about the potential of the Superfund program and presents a number of possible strategic initiatives and incremental program changes in some detail. As difficult as the national cleanup job is, there are many ways to build a better balance between health and environmental needs and the limitations that technology, experience, and economics will always impose.

This report examines how the economic environment of the United States can be made more conducive to improving manufacturing performance. It considers how Federal institutions, in cooperation with industry, can develop competitiveness strategies for high-tech, fast growing industries; and how trade, financial, and technology policies could be combined into a strategic competitiveness policy.

This report discusses the power of new tools for teaching and learning

This special report reviews the safety of the nuclear testing program and assesses the technical procedures used to test nuclear weapons and ensure that radioactive material produced by test explosions remains contained underground. An overall evaluation considers the acceptability of the remaining risk and discusses reasons for the lack of public confidence.

This report first examines home recording technologies. Then—focusing primarily on audiotaping—we examine the ambiguous legal status of home copying. Our report considers the economic effects that home audiotaping may have on the recording industry, contrasted to the effects that restricting home taping might have on consumers. Finally, we identify a range of actions that either Congress or the industry might pursue.

This report examines Federal policies directed at protecting information, particularly in electronic communications systems.

This paper reviews various possibilities of using non-reusable injection technologies for reducing HIV transmission among injecting drug users in the United States. It does not put forth the redesign of injection equipment as a policy option for congressional consideration; it merely examines some of the implications of a proposal put forth by some health experts.

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that focuses on the "problems of and programs for displaced homemakers" (p. iii).

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) that focuses on "technological developments in the basic communication and information infrastructure of the United States that present new or changed opportunities for and vulnerabilities to electronic surveillance, not on the details of specific surveillance devices" (Foreward).

A report by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on the "identification of new or emerging food marketing technologies that will have significant long-range impacts on society and the U.S. food system" (p. 3?).

A report on a study conducted by the Office of Technology Assessment (OTA) on current economic and energy conditions. The report "summarizes a number of findings regarding recent trends in the transit industry, the effects of current economic and energy conditions on the use of transit, and the relative merits of adopting alternative transportation strategies to increase transit use and achieve energy conservation objectives" (p. 1).

This report is designated to offer an ethical analysis of decisions to withhold and to withdrew life-sustaining technologies form patients in accord with their wishes and interests.

This report discusses the effects of changes in Medicare reimbursement methods, examines the ethical considerations, and classifies the alternative payment methods.

This evaluation of management options for greater-than-Class C (GTCC) low-level radioactive waste was undertaken at the request of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The Committee asked that OTA evaluate existing Federal and non-Federal options for GTCC waste storage and disposal. From its analysis, OTA was to develop an integrated management approach to protect public health and safety in the short- and long term.