atomic energy laws. A snag could appear in t h e Senate, w h e r e some opposition has been voiced. T h e Bureau of the Budget, too, opposes the bill. • Renegotiation. T h e Renegotiation Act of 1 9 5 1 , aimed a t guaranteeing minimum costs in defense buying, expires Dec. 3 1 , 1958. Industry opposes extension, saying it is n o longer necessary. T h e White House wants it renewed. So far, only t h e House Ways and Means Committee has held hearings.
Additives Bill Ready Solid support behind latest f o o d a d d i t i v e s bill could run it through Congress this session X iiK H O U S E has a promising food additives bill ready for floor action. If passed, H.R. 13254 will be a feather in t h e c a p of the 85th Congress. After 10 years of congressional mulling over additives, t h e House Commerce Committee finally approved H.R. 13254 unanimously. A t the same time, the Manufacturing Chemists' Association shifted policies, urged Congress to pass it (C&EN, Aug. 4, page 17 ). This surprise move consolidated support for the bill. I t brought together the Food and D r u g Administration, Congress, and the chemical industry—all working for passage of H.R. 13254. Its backers now hope for a time break to get the bill through House a n d Senate before Congress adjourns. Rep. John Bell Williams (D.-Miss.) and his Health a n d Science Subcommittee drafted the latest additives law, proposed in H.R. 13254. Sen. Lister Hill (D.-Ala.) introduced an identical bill in t h e Senate. T h e bills set food additives rules under a licensing concept: • Makers of additives must petition F D A for advance rulings on how additives may b e used. • Petitioners must prove an additive safe for h u m a n consumption in its proposed use. • Safety requires proof, through pretesting, that n o harm will result from a proposed use. It does not require "proof beyond d o u b t " that no harm will result from use of the additive under any condition. Written out of the new bill: Need to show functional value of additives
and routine review of adverse decisions by a scientific panel prior to an industry appeal. Industry objected to these provisions in an earlier bill (C&EN, A.pril 28, page 3 8 ) . • MCA Changes Stance. Before MCA switched its position to support H.R. 13254, it had recommended that FDA act through t h e courts agixinst any additives producer whose product was not fully pretested for safety. Now, Gen. John E . Hull, MCA president, says the revised law would protect the public under a system the chemical industry can accept. Gen. Hull told R e p . Oren Harris, head of the House Commerce Committee, that the ehernical industry fitvors immediate action on II.R. 13254. He emphasizes: • It is in t h e public interest to clear u p existing regulations as · soon as possible.
This Chemist has more time for Valuable Research thanks to the SCHLUMBERGER N M E Analyzer
• Several years are needed to pretest chemicals, and future betterment of food supplies depends on doing this work under the new rules.
The remarkable simplicity of the Schlumberger Model 104 NMR Analyzer allows routine moisture determination by nontechnical personnel, freeing the chemist • A federal IÎÎAV would serve as a from humdrum labor and giving him more pattern for state a n d municipal laws. time for creative work. Nothing approaches Thus, a variety of conflicting law** and the speed and accuracy of this new form of spectrography based on the principle of regulations could he avoided. nuclear magnetic resonance. Once the instrument is set up, just put in a sample, throw a switch, and read a scale—in less than a minute your moisture determination is finished.
Potomac
Postscripts
• MCA hits o u t at a bill to require allowance of functional discounts hy manufacturers. Chemicals producer-sellers usually make several products, use discounts for one product, and single price systems for others. H . R . 10304 would eliminate this choice, says MCA, force price discrimination upon the manufacturer. It's paradoxical and unsound, says M C A , to îcq/une price discrimination under the Robinson-Patinan Act, a law designed to prevent this. • Changes i n minerals
leasing
rules are proposed by the Department of the Interior: Acreage in applications or offers for oil and gas leases counts toward the 46,080 acres limit allowed a person or company in one state (about 100,000 in Alaska); full disclosure of parties having an interest in an oil or- gas lease is required in a signed statement.
The wide range of operational parameters of the Model 104 makes it, in the hands of a research chemist, a sophisticated analytical instrument for probing the make-up of matter. Schlumberger NMR analysis is nondestructive, and the large, 40-cc sample size allows high sampling accuracy. Results are reproducible to within parts per thousand, and accuracy of 0.1 To, absolute, can be maintained. Industries where large numbers of moisture determinations are necessary can save considerably through the release of technical personnel for more valuable research with the very same instrument. For complete information, including the latest material-study reports, and the address of your local Schlumberger Distributor-Service Organization, write to Department AC-7. RIDGEFIELD INSTRUMENTATION DIVISION
unLUmbtKbltn W E l l
S U R V E Y I N G
C O R P O R A T I O N
Ridgefield,
AUG.
Connecticut
I I , 1958 C & E N
37
