"There were many reasons for asking to manufacturing industry," he says. But it double NSF's budget." He denies he is an energy-intensive industry and very ever presented the study's results as sensitive to energy prices and taxes. It is more than a forecast of the future pro also particularly affected by environ mental and other regulatory policies. He duction of scientists and engineers. At the close of the hearing, Wolpe warns that chemicals will be harmed if asked Walter E. Massey, NSF's current the government views industry as a director, what steps he was taking to re deep-pockets source of new tax revenue. International aspects of chemical trade store Congress' confidence in NSF. "It's been difficult to comprehend how the were discussed at the hearing by Worley foundation could allow a study that was H. Clark, chairman and chief executive so seriously flawed to be released with officer of Nalco Chemical and represen tative of the Office of the Chemical In the NSF imprimatur," he said. Massey, while avoiding commenting dustry Trade Adviser, a chemical associ directly on the tenure of his predeces ation coalition on trade. Clark pointed sor Bloch, told Wolpe he took the affair out that the chemical industry exported very seriously. He described his recent $43 billion worth of products last year, reorganization of the agency and pro more than any other industry, including cedures that had been instituted to en agriculture. But "the global trading sys sure internal NSF studies receive strict tem stands at a crossroads," he says. If peer review before being released to the negotiations on the current Uruguay round of multilateral trade negotiations, the public. Pamela Zurer sponsored by the General Agreement on Tariffs & Trade (GATT), are successful, a new path toward greater trade harmony will If unsuccessful, he says, "the Chemical makers concerned over trade policies otherresult. path leads toward protectionism Unless the U.S. changes its policies to en adapted. "Whaf s new is the global envi and discord for world trade." Although chemical industries general courage manufacturing and innovation, ronment in which we must compete," the U.S. advantage in international trade Lenz says. Government actions are hav ly support the current U.S. trade laws, of chemicals and pharmaceuticals will ing more effect than ever, he adds. Clark says there are some disincentives surely erode, according to industry rep "Government policy decisions can and to trade. Among these has been retalia resentatives at a recent Congressional do price U.S. products out of world mar tion by other nations for imposing duties on foreign imports. Trade in chemical hearing. kets." The hearing was held by Rep. Sam Lenz notes that current U.S. economic products, equipment, and technical data Gibbons (D.-Fla.), one of the House's policies tend to focus on current em also has been hampered by U.S. foreign staunchest supporters of free trade, ployment and current economic growth policy. And environmental regulation whose Subcommittee on Trade of the rates, and not on international competi has had a significant impact on the in Ways & Means Committee is investigat tiveness and long-term strength of man dustry's ability to compete international ing trade issues of major U.S. industries. ufacturing. "Chemicals is a keystone ly. "It is critical that we recognize the fundamental role that foreign policies Although no major trade legislation is and environmental policies have on the yet before Congress, a bill is expected to nation's ability to compete in world be proposed. markets," Clark says. Unlike much of U.S. manufacturing, The international pharmaceutical in chemicals and pharmaceuticals are dustry may be even more competitive among the top internationally competi than the chemical industry. Gerald J. tive industries. The chemical industry, as Mossinghoff, president of the Pharma reported by the Chemical Manufacturers ceutical Manufacturers Association, told Association (CMA), had a trade surplus the hearing that the drug industry's big last year of $18.8 billion, and pharma gest problem is the lack of adequate ceuticals had a positive trade balance of patent protection in many countries. The nearly $1 billion. The continued health of worst offenders are India and Thailand, these industries may depend on actions followed by Brazil, Hungary, Turkey, the federal government takes on policies and Venezuela. Proposals under GATT such as intellectual property protection, to extend the patent term to 20 years for product liability, taxes, and regulation. pharmaceuticals would help, Mossing Speaking for U.S. chemical makers, hoff says, but other sections, such as one Allen J. Lenz, director of trade and eco that does not protect drugs under devel nomics for CMA, said that trade in man opment, will cost the industry billions of ufactured goods plays a critical role in dollars in the next decade. international competitiveness, and that other nations have recognized this and Mossinghoff: lack of patent protection Domestically, drug companies' bigdivision as well as outside contractors were upset with the study. Under tough questioning, House admitted he had done nothing to try to stop the study be ing cited as an authoritative prediction of future shortages. 'Έΐοαι often tied together the num bers in your studies and his requests for more dollars for NSF, saying there would be shortages of scientists and en gineers," Wolpe said, reading selections from speeches and testimony Bloch gave between 1987 and 1990. "Hundreds if not thousands of people believed you had something to say about supply and demand of scientists and engineers," Wolpe told him. "Sci ence, engineering, and immigration poli cy have been affected by your work. You were warned but you let your work be misused for five years." "Wolpe just wants to get his name in the papers," Bloch later told C&EN.
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GOVERNMENT gest concerns include taxes and prices. "Stable tax policy is essential to enable U.S. companies to undertake the longrange planning and investment that are the foundation of technological innovation," Mossinghoff says. Thus, the R&D tax credit needs to be made permanent, rules need to be set on allocating domestic research expenses to foreign-source income, and tax incentives for economic development in U.S. possessions need to be preserved. Mossinghoff also decried attempts to put price controls on drugs, as proposed in bills H.R. 4490 and S. 2000. "Price controls never worked, and would stifle investment in the most cost-effective health care technology." David Hanson
Iraqi chemical arms destruction set to start A United Nations team of chemical weapons experts has just returned from Iraq where it assessed progress on building two destruction facilities, one to neutralize nerve gas, the other to incinerate mustard and tear gas. The neutralization plant is likely to be commissioned—that is, fully tested at operational levels— very shortly. And destruction of all types of Iraqi chemical weapons is expected to begin this summer. The two facilities, designed by UN experts, are being built by Iraq under UN supervision at the huge Muthanna State Establishment at Samarra, which is about 100 km north of Baghdad. Samarra is believed to be the site where Iraq produced its chemical weapons. Iraq has declared 46,000 chemical munitions, mostly artillery shells and grenades filled with the chemical agents mustard and tear gas. But it has also listed bombs and rockets filled with the nerve gas GB, or sarin. In addition to GB, Iraq has two other nerve agents, tabun and a combination GB-GF. In March, Iraq declared that it had unilaterally destroyed 45 chemically tipped missile warheads. UN spokesman Tim Trevan says, "We haven't verified this yet, and there may be still others remaining to be destroyed/' In addition, some 463 very unstable GB-filled rockets have already been destroyed under UN supervision. These were destroyed explosively at Khamisiyah, a sparsely populated area 400 km 16
APRIL 20,1992 C&EN
south of Baghdad. Air was monitored for contamination 200 meters and 1800 meters downwind of Khamisiyah. No contamination was recorded. These two small-scale destruction efforts still leave thousands of munitions to be destroyed through neutralization and incineration. One former pilot-type plant at Samarra is being converted to a hydrolysis plant for neutralizing nerve agents— "sort of like 'swords into plowshares,' " Trevan says. Here, munitions will be drained and the nerve gas agent hydrolyzed. The resulting end products, salts, will be encased in concrete and buried on site. Metal parts also will be buried. The reason for entombing the salts is to prevent contaminating the water table. Mustard and tear gas will be burned in an incinerator now under construction but fairly near completion. A prime reason for the UN team's visit this month was to check on how far construction of the incinerator has progressed, and to establish whether it is being built to correct standards. Under the U.S. destruction program, all chemical agents, including nerve gases, are to be incinerated. However, Iraqi nerve gases are not going to be burned because, unlike U.S. nerve gas agents, they are of mixed quality and are degrading very rapidly. A U.S. arms control expert says Iraqi nerve gas agents have deteriorated substantially since the end of the Persian Gulf War. But as Trevan cautions, even if the nerve gas agents have degraded to 4% of their original concentration, they are still highly toxic. Trying to incinerate nerve gas agents of uneven quality makes for great uncertainty as to what is taking place within the incinerator. The likelihood "of blowout through back pressure" is greater, he explains. Thaf s why Iraqi nerve gases are to be neutralized, even though this destruction method produces much, potentially hazardous, waste. The UN, anxious for destruction of the chemical weapons to begin as soon as possible, is pushing for startup this summer. Destroying Iraq's chemical stockpile is expected to take 12 to 18 months. It is very likely that a UN team of experts will be on site continuously during this period, although negotiations on this issue have not yet begun. Continuous, on-site monitoring of the destruction process would be desirable, Trevan explains, because 'Iraq has coop-
erated with the UN only when it has been in its interest to cooperate. It has consistently cheated and Hed to us on anything it didn't want to tell us, so it is our duty to be skeptical." And the UN Special Commission overseeing elimination of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction remains very suspicious that Iraq has not disclosed all its chemical weapons or all its chemical agents. For instance, Trevan points out that Iraq has not declared tabun, yet the UN strongly suspects that it made and stockpiled this nerve gas. As Trevan elaborates, Iraq has not declared the amount of precursor chemicals it purchased from Western countries and imported before and during its eight-year war with Iran. It hasn't offered details on either the quantity or types of chemical weapons employed during that war. Use during the IraqIran War is important to know, given that Iraq used no chemical weapons against the U.S. and its allies during the more recent Persian Gulf War. "Without information [on the amount of precursor chemicals purchased or quantities of weapons used], we can't come to a mass balance, and if we can't do that we have no reason to have confidence in Iraq's declarations," he says. Since June 1991, the UN Special Commission has sent 11 teams of chemical weapons experts to Iraq. Of these 11, eight have been chemical inspection teams, one has been a chemical-biological weapons inspection team, and two, including this latest one, have been chemical arms destruction teams. These trips plus the actual destruction of the weapons will have some relevance to the negotiations in Geneva, where 39 nations are hammering out a comprehensive global ban on chemical weapons. Although not a complete model for the verification of the nonproduction of chemical weapons or their destruction under a global treaty, the Iraq experience will yield lessons at the operational level. The practical lessons include how inspectors go about their business, and the development of techniques that can be used to uncover evidence. Also among the lessons learned is the importance of documentation. And Trevan adds, the UN trips highlight a key requirement for inspection and destruction teams: They need to be composed of experts with a mix of specialties. Lois Ember
