Agricultural Chemists Meet in Washington "JLHE Shoreham Hote4, Washington, D. C , was the headquarters for agricultural chemists, Oct. 5 to 12, when four organizations convened there. First came the Association of American Feed Control Officials, Oct. 5 and 6, for its thirty-ninth annual meeting. T h e 236 present comprised the largest attendance ever recorded. The association voted changes in definitions for linseed oil products, soybean products, and vitamins. These changes and additions will appear in an official publication of the association now in preparation. Considerable interest was shown in the use of drugs in medicated feeds. Science, in certain instances, it was pointed out, ha? not been able to develop methods for rhe use of enforcement officials which will entirely substantiate label representations and this subject was gone into quite extensively'. Officers elected for the ensuing year are: president, Bruce Poundstone, Lexington, Ky.; vice president, M. P. Etheredge; secretary-treasurer, L. E. Bopst, College Park, Md.; executive committee, the president, vice president, secretary-treasurer, immediate past president A. M. O. Soule. J. J. Taylor, and R. W. Ludwick. Association of American Fertilizer Control Officials The Fertilizer Control Officials held their meeting on Oct. 7, with dinner for members given by the American Plant Food Council that evening. The meeting was well attended. The usual reports of investigators and committees were presented, as well as special papers. The association hopes at its next meeting to be able to give definitions and standards for adoption in 1950. Newly elected officers are K. D . Smith, president; Rodney Berry, vice president; B. D. Cloaninger, secretary-treasurer. The above-named officers, will consist of J. L. St. John, chairman, J. W. Kuzmeski. Bruce Poundstone, and Parks Yeats. Association of Economic Poisons Control Officials This association held its third annual convention, Oct. 8, with a total registration of 108; 53 representing 35 states and Canada; 20, federal agencies; and 35. industry. Henry J. Hoffmann, St. Paul, Minn., in his presidential address reviewed the history of D D T and urged manufacturers to make haste slowly in promoting new products. He offered numerous examples as justification for registration of economic poisons at the state level. Dr. Hoffmann assured the indus-
3122
try that every effort was being made toward unifying and simplifying registration procedure. H e asked association support for the proposed model bill covering custom spraying and application of insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides, and that a committee be appointed to express this association's views on the nomenclature of economic poisons. H. H. Hamilton, secretary. National Association of Insecticide and Disinfectant Manufacturers, spoke on Some Manufacturing, Selling and Control Problems in the Economical Distribution of Household Insecticides. He traced the impossible sanitary and food handling conditions which would have prevailed without insect control. L. S. Hitchner, executive secretary of rhe association, spoke on T h e National Agricultural Chemicals Association "Looks at Residue Tolerance Hearings. He urged all control officials and experiment station workers to correlate and present to proper authorities all existing data relating to spray residues so that more speedy decisions may be forthcoming from the hearings scheduled on this subject. Paul B. Dunbar, commissioner of food and drugs, Federal Security Agency, speaking on Spray Residues and Tolerances under the Federal Food Law reviewed the flexibility of the tolerances allowed by the Federal Security Administrator. He noted that the F o o d and Drugs Act of 1906 carried no authorization for the establishment of legal tolerances for added poisons in foods. The informal tolerances used at this time serve as a basis for subsequent legislation. Procedure at the forthcoming hearing was outlined. H e said ". . . The hearing is being visualized as a pooling of all useful information and an humble seeking for light on a problem whose sound solution concerns all of us, and indeed all of those who will come after us." The association adopted the following resolution: Whereas the Food and Drug Administration has called a hearing to begin .lunuary 17, 1950, regarding spray residue rolerance on or in fresh fruits and vegetables; and whereas the Association of Economic Poison Control Officials is vitally interested in closely related questions, namely, the determination of the safety and effectiveness of economic poisons so that claims made for such products and recommendations for their use can be properly limited, and s o that adequate warning of hazards can be required; and whereas the same information as that upon which determination of spray residue tolerance is based is desirable as a hasi* for determining the
CHFMICAL
safety and effectiveness of economic poisons for certain uses, we therefore, in t h e Executive Session of the A.E.P.C.O. d i rect attention to the need for economic poison manufacturers, food producers, processors, and organizations conducting research on the toxicity and effectiveness of economic poisons to assemble, organize and correlate all scientific data and available information on the need for various economic poisons on fruits and vegetables, the relative toxicity and hazards of economic poisons, methods of spray application and use, and methods of spray residue removal. We wish to direct attention to the urgent need for immediate action in the assembling of such information. It is directed that copies of this resolution be sent io various interested groups. The afternoon session was devoted to discussions of various committee reports and other business. Officers elected t o , serve in 1950 are: President, J. F. Fudge; vice president, A. B. Lemmon; secretary-treasurer, A. B. Heagy. The executive committee consists of the president, vice president, secretary-treasurer, past president, ex officio, E . W. Constable, A. B. Buchholz, W. O. Reed, and J. D . Patterson. Association of Official Agricultural Chemists The AOAC Convention, Oct. 10 to 12. concluded this series of meetings with an attendance approaching 500 and commemorated the sixty-fifth anniversary of the founding of the association. The sole surviving founder and also a past president of the association, Henry A. Houston, was present, attended most of the sessions, and evinced a keen interest in its transactions, even though he passed his ninety-first birthday in April. Most of the association's efforts weredirected toward the revision of the various chapters for the coming seventh edition of the Book of Methods, scheduled to appear during 1950. The revision will be of a somewhat radical nature inasmuch as the association has discontinued what was previously designated "tentative" methods. All methods will be "official first action." and "official." The book, however, will contain other directions, sometimes regarding a visual examination, physical measurement, or grinding of samples. These will be designated "procedures." The large number of contributed papers presented, not only in connection with the general but also at the sectional meetings, reflected the resurgence of interest in the association's work which has been steadily increasing since the end of the war. The referee work has also shown a marked increase, notably in con^ nection with methods for the preservation of food, detection of extraneous materials in food and drugs and decom position in foods, and on economic poii sons which has almost doubled. L . S Walker, in his presidential address, tracée the history of fertilizer and feed contro (Continued on page 8165)
AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
Agricultural Chemists
MISCELLANEOUS
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FOR AUSTRALIA: Chemical engineer whose partner will be in U. S. A. November, is inter ested in acquiring on royalty basis new or in teresting manufacturing process; our specialty, yarn-dying. First class New York bank refences available. Specific offers requested and references. Box 900 L 10. C. & Κ. Ν.. Easton, Pa. PUBLICATIONS—SALE, WANTED FOR SALE: Transactions of Electrochemical Society, Vols. Î-91 complete, and Journal of American Chemical Society. Vols. 34-58. inclusive, also other rare and modern scientific books. Mrs. George M. Berry, 661 Allen St., Syracuse, 10, N . Y. BUSINESS INVESTMENT OFFERED (Excludes Plant and Equipment Wanted— See "Equipment Mart" Directory) BUSINESS MAN, chemical engineer, young, experienced, hard working, will invest services, and capital in good business venture. Box 900-F-10, C. & Ε. Ν., Easton, Pa.
AIC Award (Continued fro?n page 3119) does finally happen, the public papers announce in three or four lines that a given company has developed a new product and the chemist's name is men tioned rarely, if ever—nor is it missed. "Would you believe." he challenged, "that in the whole city of Chicago not a single street, park, library, or school is named after a chemist? In the stock yards district, where they are so proud of telling you that the only unutilized part of a pig is its squeal, the chemists who brought about this miracle are not remembered, and the streets out there do not bear the names of pioneer pack ing plant chemists like Richardson, Lowenstein, and Schmidt, but those of dead real estate speculators. "I have no fault to find with those who stress the responsibility of the chemist to his community/' he con cluded. "By all means let him serve his fellow citizens to the best of his ability. I only would like to see a similar gospel spread among other trades and profes sions as well. "Responsibility is a two-way street, and I venture to say that on the bal ance we chemists are putting more into the community pot than we are taking out. Not that we as individuals an 1 more altruistic than others; but in the nature of our work we must continu ously invent, improve, or cut costs, for unless we do we starve. Once the» public understands this, the question of who owes more responsibility to whom will resolve itself automatically; and if we present our case fairly and convincingly, the people among whom we live will realize that their responsibility toward chemists outweighs the responsibility of the chemists to them." THE
V O L U M E
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in Vermont—his native state—which was the second state to inaugurate this work. Maine being the first. I J. W. Tut tie. Division of Biology and Medicine, Atomic Knergy Commission, delivered the general address before the combined sessions on the Possible Con tribution to Food and Drug Problems by the Atomic Energy Program, which was well illustrated by lantern slides. He called attention to the opportunity presented to enforcement officials in the development of methods of techniques to employ marker elements. Stress was placed on the employment of carbon 14, and it was shown how such carbon could be introduced into plants or foods through natural growth and then used as a means of detecting changes that, take place in these plants and foods. For example, by growing corn in an atmosphere of carbon dioxide containing carbon 14 the plant utilizes that carbon in the synthesis of its constituents and they, in turn, can be traced in many different fields where the corn is utilized through the presence of this indicator. The report on the phosphatase test in dairy products by William Horwitz, Li la F. Knudsen. and W. Weiss, showed that a statistically designed collaborative study had been conducted involving the Sanders-Sager. the Gilcreas-Davis (Long Test), and the Seharer (Rapid Test) phosphatase methods. The statistical analysis of 1,176 individual determina tions from 20 laboratories on eight samples (four of which were internal duplicates) at the 0, 0.1. 0.4. and 1.0% raw whole milk levels indicated that the Sanders-Sager procedure with the final color measured photometrically in aqueous solution was the best procedure as evaluated by a combination of four criteria for each of the seven methods. E. O. Herreid, associate referee on fat in dairy products, also proposed several important changes in the classical Babcock procedure for fat in milk to make the results agree with those obtained by the official ether extraction method. Be fore approving these changes, the amended method will be circulated among all affected parties. At the closing session, the association voted to increase subscription rates to its journal so that beginning in 1950 the cost will be S7.50 for the United States and S8.00 for foreign subscribers. It also voted to send greetings to the following surviving past presidents of tin» associa tion who were not in attendance at the meeting: C. H. Jones, G. S. Fraps, H. C. Lythgoe, H. D. Haskins, R. Harcourt, F. C. Blanck, H. H. Hanson, and H. R. Kraybill. THE
END
NO.
4 3 » »
INDEX TO ADVERTISERS
{Continued from paye 31-22)
OCTOBER
2 4,
END
1949
Allied C h e m i c a l «& D y e C o r p Alox C o r p Ali ose C h e m i c a l C o American Anode, Inc American Cyanamid Co American I n s t r u m e n t Co. Inc American Optical Co
3151 3152 3145 3104 3103 3166 3141
Ba\ Chemical Co B e n s o n & A s s o c i a t e s . Inc Bluw-Knox Co Buffalo A p p a r a t u s C o r p
3140 3166 3106 3136
Carbide Λ Carbon Chemicals Corp. C e n t r a l Scientific C o
3131 3105
D a v e n p o r t M a c h i n e «fc F o u n d r v C o . 3109 Distillation Product*. Inc 3125:3143 Dow Chemical Co 3110 Eastman Kodak Co Eimco C 'orp.. . : Eimer & Amend El D o r a d o Oil W o r k s
2nd
F i s h e r Scientific C o F l o r i d i n C o . Tin· Fiitz-cli.· B r o t h e r - ,
2nd Cover:3149 3142 3137
General
Electric
In.·
3125:3143:3155 3134 Cover:3149 3120
Co
3127
G o o d r i c h C h e m i c a l C o . . B. F
3104
Hellige.
3152
Inc
I n d u s t r i a l C h e m i c a l Sales D i v I n d u s t r i a l À· E n g i n e e r i n g C h e m i s t r y Irvingtoii
Varnish
Λ Insulator
Jeftivy M f g . C o Kolker
Chemical
Co. 4th
Works. Inc
Koppers Co. Inc I.ukens
Steel
Co
M a g n u s . M a h e e A· R e v i m r d . I n c . . . Mallinckrodt Chemical Work? National Siarch Products. Inc Niacet Chemicals Div Parr Instrument Co Pennsylvania Industrial Chemical Cori> Quaker Oats
314*» 3147 3130 Co\e, 3140 3135 3153 3142 3139 3107 3099 312X 3123
Co
3157
Reinhold Publishing Corp 3147 Resinous P r o d u c t s Div 3rd C o v e r R o h m & H was C o 3rd C o v e r Shell C h e m i c a l C o r p 3100 Solvay Sales Div 3151 S o u t h e r n Scientific C o . I n c 3136 Spencer Lens C o 3141 Tennessee E a s t m a n Corp 3155 I ' n i o n C a r b i d e & C a r b o n C o r p . .3099 :3131 Γ . S. V a n a d i u m C o r p 3099 W e s t V i r g i n i a P u l p Λ P a p e r C o . . . . 3146 Will Corp 3136 DIRECTORIES Chemical** E x c h a n g e Bios L a b o r a t o r i e s . I n c . General Biochemieals, Inc. Lindsay Light & Chemical Co. Sapon Laboratories, Inc.
3158
E q u i p m e n t Mart 3159-3160 Cargille, R. P. Electric Equipment Co. Gardner Laboratory Ireland & Vice Johns-Manville Corp. Laboratory Construction Co. Mecca Industries Panray Corp. Sorvall, Inc., Ivan Stahnier Shoe Co., F. J. Superior Air Products Co. Timely Products Co. Uehlhig Instrument Co. T e c h n i c a l Service» 3161 Anal ah Aries & Associates, R. S. Atlantic Research Corp. Bjorksten Research Laboratories Clark Microanalytical Laboratory Coleman & Co., W. B. Evans Research & Development Con». Food Research Laboratories, Inc. Maehlett & Son, E. Snell, Inc., Foster D.
