News of the Week
LOVE CANAL: FEDS MAY BE CULPRIT TOO A preliminary report of the New York State Assembly task force on toxic substances released late last week reveals circumstantial evidence that the federal government itself may have improperly disposed of hazard ous chemical wastes at Love Canal. Specifically, the report says that the government was involved in mil itary-related chemical manufactur ing, including the processing of ra dioactive materials, in the Love Canal area of Niagara County in the 1940's and early 1950's; that hazardous wastes from these activities were disposed of improperly "without re gard to the need for decontamination and . . . the potential dangers to the health and safety of the people of the Love Canal region"; and that the federal government "transferred a portion of its dangerously contami nated properties . . . to private con cerns without decontaminating" the sites. The report was commissioned by state assembly speaker Stanley Fink (Brooklyn, N.Y.) in June 1979 to in vestigate hazardous waste contami nation in Niagara County. Using re cently declassified documents of the now-defunct federal Reconstruction Finance Corp. and its subsidiary en tities, and eyewitness testimony, the four-member task force and its con sultant Arthur James WoolstonSmith uncovered evidence indicating that some agencies or proprietary corporations of the federal govern ment, if not technically the U.S. Army itself, were involved in producing, and then improperly disposing of, haz ardous wastes at Love Canal. The task force report defines Love Canal more broadly than does the federal government. Its definition embraces not only the southwest corner of Niagara Falls where evacu ation of families already has taken place, but also the northern portion of the canal running into the township of Lewiston, and a section once oc cupied by Lake Ontario Ordnance Works. The documents compiled by Woolston-Smith indicate clearly that government munitions manufactur ing and waste dumping activities in Love Canal predated Hooker Chem ical's 1946 ownership of the dump site. Woolston-Smith told C&EN that there is "no question" that documents 4
C&EN June 2, 1980
in the preliminary report will stand up to further scrutiny. This scrutiny will begin on June 30 when the task force holds "formal hearings with full subpoena power to examine issues of the improper transportation, storage, and disposal of toxic and hazardous wastes." Andrew Roffe, an assembly attor ney, hopes to have the continued co operation of the federal government. Federal witnesses cannot be subpoe naed by the task force, so cooperation will be imperative. Roffe says that the preliminary findings and the June
hearings are not designed to "take Hooker off the hook," but are mech anisms for ferreting out responsibility and liability. More immediate results also are not being overlooked by legislators on the toxic substances panel. It is hoped that the report's findings will prod the government's temporary relocation of an additional 710 Love Canal fami lies. Copies of the report have been sent to the Justice Department, New York Gov. Hugh Carey, and state attorney general Robert Abrams. D
Combined U.K. chemical society starts up The Chemical Society (London) and I maintenance of high standards of the Royal Institute of Chemistry no competence and integrity among longer exist as of this week. They have chemists." It will combine the func been merged officially into the Royal tions of the two organizations from Society of Chemistry headquartered which it emerged. One of these func tions will be to represent the view in London. First president of the 40,000- point of its members to the British member society is Sir Ewart Jones. government and to society at large His term of office continues for two "with a single authoritative voice." Though RSC is the youngest orga years. Sir Ewart, 69, is an organic chemist of international repute at nization of its kind on the interna Oxford University. He is a former tional scene, its roots go back the president both of the Chemical Soci farthest. The Chemical Society was ety and of the Royal Institute of founded in 1841. The Royal Institute of Chemistry evolved from the Insti Chemistry. The Royal Society of Chemistry tute of Chemistry of Great Britain (RSC) has as its main objective "the and Ireland created in 1877. As a learned society, the Chemical advancement of the science of chem istry and its applications, and the Society concerned itself with the ad vancement of chemistry as a science. The Royal Institute of Chemistry, on the other hand, was a professional and qualifying body set up by some members of the early Chemical Soci ety who sought greater emphasis on chemistry as a profession than was allowed under their society's royal charter. Over the years there have been a number of attempts to merge the two organizations. These failed mainly because of concern on the part of the Chemical Society that the emphasis on chemistry as a subject might be lessened, and the belief by the insti tute's members that their profes sional activities would be diluted by pursuits of a more academic nature. However, merger discussions were renewed in earnest some 15 years ago. These led to a partial amalgamation in January 1972. Since then, talks have continued. Π Jones: first RSC president
