It further developed that the Army paid about $66 per sheep when deal ers in the area estimated them to be worth about $30 to $35 a head. Rep. Reuss then wanted to know what the Army was doing to prevent a recurrence of the VX incident. Dr. Emerson described in detail the safety procedures based on the recommen dations of an ad hoc advisory com mittee formed after the 1968 disaster. Dr. Emerson then revealed that a permanent Chemical Safety Commit tee had been set up "to provide ex pert, independent, non-Defense De partment advice on safety of the open-air testing program." All the members either work for other gov ernment agencies or are connected with a state agency or a university except the chairman. He is Dr. Jake T. Nolen of Wilmington, Del. (Dr. Nolen, a production manager in Du Pont's film department, served as Lt. Col. in the Chemical Warfare Ser vice. He is a member of the Ad visory Group of the Munitions Com mand and a member of the Scientific Advisory group of the Test and Eval uation Command of the U.S. Army.) Rep. Reuss was appalled that a Du Pont man could be placed on such a committee when Du Pont gets more than $150 million annually from DOD contracts and makes part of the VX gas. (It turned out that Du Pont makes the dye that is used as a tracer. ) "With a Du Pont man as chairman," Rep. Reuss asked, "how can you claim that the committee is independent?" At the end of the interrogation of the Army witnesses, Rep. Reuss is sued two orders. He instructed the committee counsel to get in touch with both the Justice Department and the General Accounting Office to de termine whether the law had been vi olated by the price the Army paid for the sheep. And he told the Army witnesses, "I instruct you and all other Defense officials with pertinent re sponsibilities to notify the committee in writing within 24 hours on a con tinuing basis the details of any CBW tests in the atmosphere."
OCEAN RESOURCES:
Caution from NAS-NAE The National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engi neering have just released a 100-page report outlining their views on U.S. participation in an International Dec ade of Ocean Exploration ( I D O E ) . The report calls for long-term research programs aimed at enabling man to make maximum use of the ocean and its resources. According to the report, prepared for the National Council on Marine
Petroleum is the most valuable mineral now extracted from sea floor Annual world production—millions of dollars» Resource Total Offshore 1 *
Petroleum Sulfur Sand and gravel
$26,000 340 900 (U.S.)
Heavy heavy minerals Gold 1,900 460 Tin 150 Platinum Light heavy minerals 54 llmenite 16 Rutile 10 Zircon 1.8 Monazite Gems 290 Diamonds Precious coral 2 Subsurface deposits 18,500 Coal Iron ore 4,300
$3,900 37 150 (U.S.)
* 24
* *
* 4 2
IDOE, proposed by President John son in March 1968, is envisioned as a period (1971-80) of planning among nations and developing national capa bilities, followed by national and in ternational programs of ocean re search and resource exploration. IDOE could be included within the national ocean program proposed by the Commission on Marine Science, Engineering, and Resources (C&EN, Jan. 20, page 3 0 ) , the report says. NAS and ΝΑΕ estimate that the un precedented program would cost as much as $500 million a year above current funding levels for marine sci ence. The report says that with less than $100 million per year, IDOE could not exist.
LUNAR SAMPLING:
Contamination Fears 35 17
a
A s t e r i s k i n d i c a t e s less t h a n $500,000 e x c l u d i n g beach s a n d s . Estimated 1967-68 range. S o u r c e : U.S. B u r e a u of M i n e s
b
Resources and Engineering, IDOE should focus on programs to aid in in creasing net yield from ocean re sources, predicting oceanic conditions, and improving the quality of the ma rine environment. NAS and ΝΑΕ are cautious regard ing any quick economic benefits to be obtained from ocean resources. It would be a "serious mistake'' to saddle IDOE with the aim of defining im mediately exploitable resources, the report says. "Instead, the objectives should be a broad general survey to provide background for the later de tailed investigations of resources and the implementation of carefully se lected scientific programs designed to increase basic understanding of the earth and sea." However, the report predicts that long-term results of IDOE studies would lead to greater supplies of en ergy-producing resources and effec tive programs for detailed exploration and exploitation of other mineral and organic resources from the continental shelves and deep oceans. The report notes that the U.S. is already extensively engaged in devel oping ocean resources, both in local waters and in many other parts of the world. In 1967, the report says, the sea floor adjacent to the U.S. was the source of about $1.7 billion worth of oil, gas, and sulfur. It adds that stud ies such as those proposed for IDOE are necessary for protecting and ex tending investment opportunities.
While the eyes of the world were on the near-flawless performance of Apollo 10 last week, an anxious group of scientists was looking beyond this preliminary to the main event, Apollo 11, the manned lunar landing mission. These scientists, some 200 chemists, geochemists, and geologists, are charged with analyzing samples of the lunar surface which Apollo 11 astro nauts will bring back from their epic journey. With Apollo 11 slated to get off the pad in July, they are in creasingly concerned that they may not get the chance to work with true lunar samples. The bug-a-boo? Contamination. Scientists fear that the surface of the moon near the sample collection spots will be tainted by exhaust gases from the landed lunar module ( L M ) . They fear, too, that "outgassing," or exhaust from the astronauts' space suits, will contribute to the contamina tion threat. "These guys will be vir tually jets of gas," Neil Nickle, as sistant director of NASA's lunar sam ple analysis program, tells C&EN. During its descent, LM will spew forth "fantastic amounts" (one fifth of the total gaseous content of the lunar atmosphere) of organic gases on the moon's surface for more than 1000 feet from the landing spot. And because the astronauts will gather samples within 100 feet of the LM, contamination of the samples is likely, he says. To keep contamination to a mini mum, NASA had planned to use an "aseptic" device, which would scrape about 3 / 8 inch of lunar surface, leav ing pure moon material for collection. But it didn't pass vibration tests. However, the astronauts may take a coring device that permits them to penetrate the surface to 12 inches to obtain a "clean" sample. M A Y 26, 1969 C & E N
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