Calendar of Events May 19-20. Intl. Symp. on Flammability & Fire Retardants. Sheraton Park Hotel, Washington, D.C. Write V. M. Bhatnagar, Alena Enterprises of Canada, P.O. Box 1779, Cornwall, Ont., K6H 5V7, Canada. May 23-24. 18th Annual Medicinal Chemistry Symp. on Recent Developments in Controlling Atherosclerosis & Hypertension. SUNY, Buffalo. Write Dr. Robert A. Coburn, Dept. of Medicinal Chemistry, U of New York, Buffalo, N.Y. 14214. May 24-26. Plastics Processing Technology Workshop. U of Lowell, Lowell, Mass. Write Albert Spaak, Plastics Inst, of America, Castle Point Station, Hoboken, N.J. 07030. May 27-29. Intl. Symp. on Chemistry of Strained Rings. SUNY, Binghamton, N.Y. Write C. Hassner, Symp. Coordinator, Chemistry Dept, SUNY, Binghamton, N.Y. 13901. May 31-June 2. Intl. Conf. on Lasers in Chemistry. London. Write The Royal Institution, 21 Albemarle St., London W1X 4BS, U.K. June 1-3. 3rd Intl. Symp. on Physics & Chemistry of Solid Surfaces. Grenoble, France. Write Société Française du Vide, 19 rue du Renard, 75004 Paris, France. June 1-3. IEEE/OSA 6th Biennial Conf. on Laser Engineering & Applications. Washington Hilton Hotel, Washington, D.C. Write Anne J. Morandiere, Courtesy Associates, 1629 Κ St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20006. June 2-3. National Metric Conf. Houston. Write U.S. Dept. of Commerce, 515 Rusk, Houston, Tex. 77002. June 6-8.1st Natl. Symp. on Wetland Pro tection Policy. Sheraton Inn, Reston, Va. Write Karla Heimann, Environmental Law Inst., 1346 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Wash ington, D.C.20036. June 6-9. Intl. Conf. on Multiphoton Pro cesses. U of Rochester, N.Y. Write J. H. Eberly, Dept. of Physics & Astronomy, U of Rochester, Rochester, N.Y. 14627. June 9-10. Comprehensive Polymer Com pounding Conf. Waldwick, N.J. Write Dr. Wolfgang A. Mack, Werner & Pfleiderer Corp., 160 Hopper Ave., Waldwick, N.J. 07463. June 13-15. 2nd Intl. Symp. on Ultrasonic Tissue Characterization. NBS, Gaithersburg, Md. Write Dr. Melvin Linzer, Materi als Bldg. A329, National Bureau of Stan dards, Washington, D.C. 20234. June 13-17. 32nd Annual Symp. on Molec ular Spectroscopy. Ohio State U, Colum bus. Write Dr. K. Narahari Rao, Dept. of Physics, Ohio State U, 174 West 18th Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43210. June 13-17. Symp. on Terrestrial Micro cosms and Environmental Chemistry. Corvallis, Ore. Write Nellie Wolcott, Oregon State System of Higher Education, 695 Summer N.E., Salem, Ore. 97310. June 14-15. Safety Expo/77. Philadelphia. Write Occupational Hazards, 614 Superior Ave. West, Cleveland, Ohio 44113. June 14-15. Tire Retreading Institute. Washington, D.C. Write Philip H. Taft, Di rector of TRI, 1343 L St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20005. June 14-16. Intl. Conf. on Lead and Zinc into the 80's. London, U.K. Write Zinc De velopment Assoc, 34 Berkeley Sq., London W1X 0AJ, U.K. June 15-17. 9th Ohio Valley Chromatog raphy Symp. Hueston Woods State Park Lodge, Ohio. Write Jean Weaver, Station B, Box 8, Dayton, Ohio 45407. June 17. Parenteral Drug Assoc. Mtg. Ben Franklin Hotel, Philadelphia. Write Solo mon C. Pflag, PDA, Western Saving Fund
Bldg., Broad & Chestnut St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19107. June 19-22. Conf. on the Breeder Reactor & Advanced Energy Concepts. Brown Palace, Denver. Write Atomic Industrial Forum, 7101 Wisconsin Ave., N.W., Wash ington, D.C.20014. June 19-23. Intl. Mtg. on Radiation Effects in Breeder Reactor Structural Materi als. Camelback Inn, Scottsdale, Ariz. Write Corinne Kiely, Metallurgical Soc. of AIME, 345 East 47th St., New York, N.Y. 10017. June 19-25. 6th Canadian Symp. on Theo retical Chemistry. U of New Brunswick, Canada. Write Dr. R. M. Erdahl, Dept. of Mathematics, Queen's University, Kingston, Ont., Canada K7L 3N6. June 20-22. TAPPI Forest Biology/Wood Chemistry Conf. Madison, Wis. Write R. A. Klucken, TAPPI, 1 Dunwoody Park, At lanta, Ga. 30341. June 20-22. 13th American Water Re sources Conf. Tucson, Ariz. Write Dr. Carl D. Settergren, School of Forestry, Fisheries, & Wildlife, U of Missouri, Columbia, Mo. 65201. June 20-22. 4th Intl. Symp. on Mass Spec trometry in Biochemistry & Medicine. Riva del Garda, Italy. Write Dr. A. Frigerio, Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri, Via Eritrea 62, 20157 Milan, Italy. June 20-24. Intl. Chemical & Process En gineering Show (EUROCHEM). National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham, U.K. Write Clapp & Poliak (Europe) Ltd., 232 Acton Lane, London W4 5DL, U.K. June 21-23. CosmoExpo 5. New York Coli seum, New York City. Write Robert Gray son, 269 Fountain Rd., Englewood, N.J. 07631. June 26-July 1.15th Annual Convention of Intl. Soc. for Clinical Laboratory Tech nology. Grossinger, N.Y. Write ISCLT, 805 Ambassador Bldg., 411 North Seventh St., St. Louis, Mo. 63101. June 27-29. Intl. Conf. on Cyclitols & Phosphoinositides. Michigan State U, East Lansing. Write Marc VanWormer, Kellogg Center for Continuing Education, Michigan State U, East Lansing, Mich. 48824. June 28-30. Workshop in Methods of Poly mer Characterization. Northwestern U, Evanston, 111. Write Albert Spaak, Plastics Institute of America, Castle Point Station, Hoboken, N.J. 07030. June 29-July 2.2nd Intl. Conf. on Transfer of Water Resources Knowledge. Colorado State U, Fort Collins. Write Engineering Research Center, Colorado State U, Fort Collins, Colo. 80523.
Tour flight to Tokyo The 26th IUPAC Congress will be held in Tokyo Sept. 4-10, consisting of parallel sessions in polymer, organic, physical, analytical, industrial, and biochemistry. In conjunction with this meeting and the metallorgaiiic meeting the next week in Kyoto, the ACS Division of Polymer Chemistry is sponsoring a tour flight from Seattle to Tokyo and return for $440. Connecting flights from many eastern and midwestern cities averaging $200 roundtrip additional can be obtained along with this tour fare. Anyone in ACS may par ticipate by joining the Polymer Division for 1977. Those interested should write to: Dr. Henry Z. Friedlander, ACS Polymer Travel, 111 High Ridge Rd., Stamford, Conn. 06905.
Call for papers The 13th ACS Midwest Regional Meeting will be held at the University of Missouri, Rolla, Nov. 3-4. Dr. Samir B. Hanna and Dr. D. Vincent Roach are general cochairmen of the meeting, which will be hosted by the ACS South Central Section and by the University of Missouri. Gen eral papers are invited in analytical, in organic, organic, physical, polymer, and medicinal chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical education. The deadline for abstracts is Aug. 1,1977. Three symposia will be held on the following topics: As sociation Complexes in Solution, Liquid Crystals and Stability of Disperse Sys tems, and Chemistry and Mental Func tions. Other features include a banquet for the presentation of the Midwest Award, a chemical exposition, and a mixer. Abstract forms may be obtained from Dr. T. D. Roberts, Department of Chemistry, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Ark. 72701.
Awards Dr. Aneesur Rahman, senior physicist at Argonne National Laboratory, has re ceived the 1977 Irving Langmuir Award in Chemical Physics. The award honors Rahman for "contributions to our understanding of the liquid state through computer studies of the structure and dy namics of realistic models of liquids." Rahman is a native of Hyderabad, India. He received a B.Sc. in mathematics from Osmania University in 1946. He studied for his tripos at Cambridge Uni versity (mathematics in 1948 and physics in 1949) and received his D.Sc. in theo retical physics from Louvain University in 1953. He joined Argonne National Laboratory in 1960. Rahman's research at Argonne has centered on the theory of liquids using a method called "molecular dynamics." This method assumes that the motion of the atoms and molecules that make up a liquid can be calculated using the laws of classical mechanics and that the interac tion potential between the particles can be approximated in a simple way. By using a computer, Rahman simulated the behavior of a "liquid" formed from about 1000 of these particles. Using this method, Rahman has studied simple monatomic or "single atom" liquids, such as argon, rubidium, and sodium. More recently, Rahman has used computer simulation to study more complex liquids such as water, molten salts, and electrolyte solutions. The selection and presentation of the Langmuir Award was made this year by the American Physical Society. In evennumbered years it is presented by ACS. May 16, 1977C&EN
49
SIR: Amidst the current rage of controversy over the proposed Food & Drug Administration ban SIR: I address you re the insane flap over sac on saccharin use as an artificial sweetener charin. One sentence in Lepkowski's article (C&EN, March 28, page 22) exist the opinions of really ran the flag up the pole—"The saccharin many professionals that the FDA action is ri issue hopefully will be decided on the basis of diculous, being based on a Canadian study in which rats were fed massive doses of the what is and isn't known scientifically." In this,Lepkowski really said a mouthful. In the sweetener, doses in extreme excess of those Los Angeles Times report on the Canadian tests, normally ingested by the human consumer. it was casually stated that there was an inci Although no one mechanism has proved re dence of tumor in the "control" group. sponsible for the inducement of cancer, most One can only assume that all the animals mechanisms that have been proposed involve were fed the same "chow," the variant being an changes in the molecular machinery of cellular overloading of the saccharin in the test groups. functions, changes associated with the resultant A very legitimate question follows regarding the behavioral modifications. In spite of the difficulty "chow" itself: Was each SEPARATE component of unraveling the fundamental chemical events of the chow tested at the same super-intensified that change a normal cell into a cancer cell, the feeding level as the saccharin to demonstrate mechanisms for expressions of cancers have nevertheless been overwhelmingly defined on the complete harmlessness thereof? I would bet my hat (and almost everything the molecular level and it is very well possible
that a single molecule alone may produce cel lular aberrations and dysfunction. Interactions depend strongly on the chemical structures of the agents involved. The massive amounts of chemical carcinogens often fed test animals, whose genetic and molecular cellular machinery is often similar to that of man, would therefore only serve to increase the frequency of genetic or molecular damage; in no way are the amounts alone responsible for the induced damage (the chemical nature of the compound, itself, being responsible for its potentially hazardous effects). Moreover, it is very apparent that more than a few carcinogens are sufficiently potent to effect cellular damage with the administration of a single dose. It has been estimated that anywhere from 50 to 90% of human cancers are caused by car cinogens in the environment. Nevertheless, if the possibility arises that a chemical may exist as a potential carcinogen, many regulatory agen cies become apprehensive if the chemical serves as an integral part of a social function and as a source of income for industry and market ing. The cigarette industry stands not alone as an example that the individual, expressing his opinion on potential health hazards, stands little chance of opposing today's governmental and industrial administrations. Now with the sac charin issue at hand, let us not allow ourselves to be yet another example of public inadequacy under bureaucratic pressure. Peter J. Bernot Cook College, Rutgers University, New Bruns wick, N.J.
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Letters Continued from page 2 chemists, biologists, etc. can come to a majority consensus better than a group of emotional lawyers in Washington, D.C., who can only see dollar-powerful lobbies and votes. If we all stand behind a majority decision of our scientific groups, I think we can educate both the public and Congress on proper scientific decisions, re-establish our due respect, and regain our lost scientific leadership. It is up to us—no one else! Bernard Agruss San Diego
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else) that no such tests were performed. In the absence of documented evidence of such tests, performed in a precisely similar testing scheme, the conclusion that saccharin ALONE is the culprit is without foundation. Contemporary pseudoscience practices a unique system of front-loading experiments to insure yes answers to preconceived notions. As a result, science and scientists are losing credibility, and techniphobia stalks the land. Let's hear it for the Cotton Mather School of the Open Mind! F. C. Quintana La Mia, Calif.
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