their way to caution the investment community that third-quarter earnings will be below either last year's level or what analysts expected them to be. DuPont was first, warning analysts in July that its third-quarter earnings would be below those of the same period in 1997. Now other companies are weighing in. Specialty chemicals producer Cytec Industries, for instance, says earnings for the third and fourth quarters and for the full year will be below securities analysts' estimates. President and CEO David Lilley says, "We have been surprised by the unexpectedly large and recent reduction in North American demand for our aerospace products." He notes also that worsening economic conditions in Asia and Latin America have meant reduced demand for specialty chemical products. Plus, the company's building block chemicals segment is experiencing lower demand and lower prices, and operating difficulties at one plant have created extra costs and curtailed output of certain products. "In an unfortunate confluence of events," Lilley says, "all three product lines have been affected unfavorably, a situation Cytec is ordinarily buffered from by the diversity of its end markets." Union Carbide has said that earnings in the third quarter could be off as much as 35% from the 85 cents per share earned last year. Analysts had predicted a 25% decline. The firm says prices and margins for its basic chemicals have continued to deteriorate—reaching "trough levels" for some major product lines—as a result of market weakness, especially in Asia. Praxair is not doing badly, but says that its full-year earnings will be about 10 cents a share below the consensus estimate of $2.70 per share. In full-year 1997, the company earned $2.53 per share. In the third quarter, the company has been hit by the General Motors strike, higher power costs, product dislocations owing to unusually hot weather, and increased levels of imports into markets—such as steel—that Praxair serves. One company, H. B. Fuller, has already reported quarterly earnings that, excluding unusual charges, were down 22% to $8.4 billion. It blames its woes on the GM strike, softness in the North American packaging business, Asia's problems, and a decrease in investment income because of the stock market decline. William Storck
Congress. "We are going to be known for our work," Kerr vows. Accreditation "demonstrates to everyone that [the FBI lab] adheres to a nationProdded by a blistering 1997 internal Jus- al—in fact, an international—standard of tice Department report, the Federal Bu- performance," Kerr continues. "We are reau of Investigation's crime lab sought committed to maintain those standards independent validation of its revised of quality .. . both through external peer practices and policies. Last week, the FBI review and exchange as well as our interannounced that the lab had received ac- nal processes." Under ASCLD/LAB recreditation by the American Society of quirements, the lab will be reinspected Crime Laboratory Directors/Laboratory every five years. Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB). The accreditation process has resultThe accreditation process is volun- ed in noticeable changes in how the FBI tary, rigorous, costly, and time-consum- lab receives and accounts for evidence, ing. It involves an on-site probe of a lab's how evidence is tracked as it moves ability to meet nearly 140 specific crite- through the lab, and how it is sealed and ria, explains JoAnn Given, ASCLD/LAB's protected when not being worked on. chairman. ASCLD/LAB's stamp of approv- These procedures are now uniform across all units of the lab. The process also resulted in the institution of "procedures for reviewing the quality of our work when reporting and testifying on our examinations," he adds. In a follow-up report on the FBI lab a year after his 1997 report, Michael R. Bromwich, Justice's inspector general, commends "the FBI for its intention to develop ASCLDlike protocols and policies." Accreditation was one of 40 recommendations Bromwich made to correct the problems he noted in his earlier report. The lab did not seek accreditation until after BromKerr (left) accepts certificate of accreditation wich reported serious errors from Given. in the lab's analyses, procedures, and court testimonies. al means a lab's protocols meet high When asked to explain why the lab had standards for accuracy and reliability in a not sought accreditation earlier, Kerr number of disciplines, including toxicol- says the answer is buried "in the mists of history." He finds this "unfortunate ogy and DNA analysis. The inspection of the FBI lab "was the choice" not to seek accreditation somelargest and longest ever done by ASCLD/ what surprising because the "FBI had a LAB," Given says. Some 30 inspectors- lot to do with helping ASCLD and nourled by Michael Galco, director of the Illi- ishing it over the years." nois State Police Crime Lab—took two Kerr points with some pride to the weeks to review the FBI lab. With ac- work of the lab—including about six creditation, the FBI crime lab joins more chemists on-site—in the ongoing investithan 180 state and local crime labs in the gations of the recent embassy bombings U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, in Kenya and Tanzania. Those crime Hong Kong, and Singapore that have also scenes, he says, were each "equivalent to been certified. the Oklahoma City bombing, and yet we According to Donald M. Kerr, FBI lab were able to work them in parallel, halfdirector, accreditation will help erase the way around the world." And, he adds, criticisms lodged by the Justice Depart- the lab was able to "produce the results ment report, by FBI whistleblower Fred- that were expected in support of the eric W. Whitehurst—whose complaints investigations." prompted that critical report—and by Lois Ember
FBI lab accredited by forensic scientists
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