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the company for nearly 50 years—as well as other brands based on perfluorooctanyl sulfonate (PFOS) chemistry, because of the company's own concerns about the persistence of these chemicals in the environment and in people. 3M is discontinuing its Scotchgard protection and repellant products for carpeting, rugs, fabric, upholstery, and leather; products for packaging; surfactants for paints and adhesives; and Light Water fire-extinguishing foams. These businesses generate about $320 million in annual sales—2% of the company's total. The company says the decision follows negotiations with the Environmental Protection Agency, which 3M first contacted about two years ago after it discovered trace amounts of perfluorooctanyl compounds in the environment and in workers. Subsequent 3M testing that made use of more refined methods confirmed that the chemicals tend to linger. Charles Reich, 3M's executive vice president of specialty material markets, calls the chemicals "pervasive, but inert," and knows of no ill health effects caused by the products containing them. According to 3M's studies, he adds, a typical half-life of a PFOS-based chemical is approximately one year. 3M will continue research on these chemicals to assess the potential health risks. In addition, the company is looking for alternative chemistries to bring to many of the same applications. EPA says it will help 3M in those efforts. 'The challenge that we have is whether these developments will coincide with the timeline we have for phaseout," Reich says. But the company says it will focus on making up the lost sales in its other product lines. "We can invest elsewhere," Reich says, "where there are better opportunities." 3M will take a charge of $200 million sometime this year for the action, but still expects to meet Wall Street's earnings estimates for 2000. The action will uproot about 1,500 workers, yet none will have to leave 3M involuntarily, Reich says. Although 3M doesn't expect to close any of its plants, Reich says some operations will be shut down at its Decatur, Ala.; Cordova, 111.; Cottage Grove, Minn.; and Antwerp, Belgium, sites. 10
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DuPont, which is a strong 3M competitor in fluorine-based chemistry through its Teflon, surfactants, and other products, points out that its tetrafluoroethylene telomerization chemistry is unaffected by 3M's decision or EPA's interest in PFOS. In fact, 3M is the only U.S. company to manufacture products containing PFOS, EPA says. Alex Tullo
Global Science Advisory Board Created To address science issues of international concern, a group of science academies from around the world has announced formation of a new organization, the InterAcademy Council (IAC). The council will be headquartered at
Alberts: ambitious goal for science.
the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts & Sciences in Amsterdam. The idea for the new organization, championed by U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) President Bruce Alberts, has been endorsed by the leaders of 80 national science academies worldwide. Together, in 1993 they formed the InterAcademy Panel on International Issues (IAP), which met last week in Tokyo, where a name, governance structure, and location of IAC were decided. "We shall be developing a very ambitious agenda for science—aiming to engage scientists everywhere more deeply with their own governments and societies," Alberts said of the new organization at his annual address last month to NAS members. 'The new council will function as a
formal advisory body funded on a project-by-project basis by international agencies" such as the United Nations and the World Bank, IAP members said in a statement. "When IAC receives a project request, it will assemble an expert panel to study the issue at hand." Panel cochairs are Nobel Laureate F. Sherwood Rowland, foreign secretary of NAS and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine; and P. N. Tandon, former president of the Indian National Science Academy. This year's IAP meeting, with representatives from some 50 national science academies, focused on global sustainability issues: population and health, consumption patterns, energy use, and issues surrounding continued availability of fresh water. Creation of IAC was deemed "crucial" by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. "I welcome your initiative to create an InterAcademy Council for providing advisory studies and reports on issues of concern to the United Nations | system and other international orÏ ganizations," he said in a written £ statement. È But voices of dissent and skepti| cism about IAC have also been heard. Samuel S. Epstein, chairman of the Cancer Prevention Coalition and a medical professor at the University of Illinois, Chicago, says he fears that the work of the council will be compromised if its working model is that of NAS. Increasingly, he says, the National Research Council—the think-tank arm of NAS—must look to the private sector for revenue, and its study panels, he says, too often include an imbalance of industrial scientists or scientists who have conflicts of interest. William Schulz
How-To Manual Elucidates Lab Design, Construction Process Creating a new laboratory building or renovating an old one can be a bewildering task that sometimes proves less than successful. To guide scientists and administrators through this complex experience, the National Research Council's Board on Chemical Sciences & Technology has just published "Laboratory Design, Construction, and Renovation."
and thoughtfully as the laboratory facili ty itself," given the large number of par ticipants and the complexity of their tasks. It also notes that it is important for the project to have a "champion" who is held in high regard, is strongly committed to the project's success, and "drives the project continuously from beginning to end." The construction of a new lab can be into health and safe ty, design, and socio problematic if it lacks the support of the logical elements— community in which it is based. The choosing whether manual provides suggestions on how to offices should be maintain good relations with occupants clustered together or of adjacent labs and buildings—who located adjacent to may be envious of the new facility or their respective labs, whose work may be disrupted by its for example. And it construction—as well as local residents, includes a brief glossary. government officials, and the media, The manual recommends that the who may have concerns about hazards, "design, construction, and renovation traffic, and aesthetics. Sophie Wilkinson processes should be planned as carefully This chemistry building under construction at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, was designed using many of the methods recommended in the National Research Council report
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The report sketches "a process that we think works better than others," says John I. Brauman, professor of chemistry at Stanford University and chair of the committee that prepared the manual. "It will help people understand what the pitfalls are in doing this kind of a project." The manual's executive summary highlights recommendations that "are almost all self-evident but are frequently not adhered to in projects that aren't successful," Brauman explains. The re port could conceivably help those in volved in the process withstand pres sures that may arise "to do things that are not optimal." Selection of the design team, for in stance, should be based on finding "peo ple who have the right kind of experi ence," he says, rather than simply rely ing on groups the officials of the institution know and therefore are com fortable with. In fact, the report recom mends finding a design firm that has ex perience in lab construction or renova tion in the relevant scientific discipline, because skills don't necessarily trans late from one type of lab to another. Likewise, although a particular con struction team "may have done lots of other things for the institution, they may not be qualified to do this kind of work," Brauman warns. Without excessive detail, the report lays out an overview of the different phases of and participants in a construc tion project, and how to choose them. It describes how to establish an organiza tion structure that ensures a clear chain of command and an appropriate degree of input from stakeholders. It discusses budget issues, comparing, for instance, the costs and benefits of renovation ver sus new construction. The report delves
Chemical Ε-Commerce S eps Into New Territory When it comes to chemicals, the names don't get much bigger: Atofina, BASF, Bayer, BP Amoco, Dow, DuPont, Mitsui Chemicals, Mitsubishi Chemical, Rhodia, Rohm and Haas, and Sumitomo Chemical. Now those 11 companies, along with chemical distributor Van Waters & Rog ers, are founding members of an as-yetunnamed e-commerce venture. What differentiates this venture, which took just two months to put together, from numerous others, says Catherine Pawlik, director of digital business ventures for BP Amoco, is that it addresses the "broad contract relationship side of the business that is very important to our present and our future." About 90% of chemical transactions, worth some $400 billion, are governed by contracts. However, most of the electron ic marketplaces now in existence, such as ChemConnect, are designed for spot pur chases or sales of a particular chemical. Or like Dow's MyAccount@Dow, they are run by a chemical supplier for its own customers. This new venture is designed to be a truly neutral, industry-defining, broadline marketplace for the whole range of chemicals from fine to commodity, explains Andrew Liveris, business group president for Dow's specialties department. Think of it as a giant catalog. For ex ample, a company that buys chemical X from three suppliers will be able to go to
one site and see its contractual price from all three suppliers. It will also be able to find out which other companies can supply chemical X and their list prices. If it chose, the company could then enter into electronic negotiations with one of those other suppliers. Or with a click of the mouse it could con nect with an original supplier. It will also have access to a variety of finan cial and credit services. For their part, suppliers hope to drive down the costs associated with their most common business transactions— from negotiating contract sales to order processing to inventory control to pack aging to product delivery to invoicing. "We are going out there and making sure this company is the lowest cost service provider on the planet," Liveris promises. His colleague Andy Dupont, director of electronic market channels for Dow Chemical, fully expects that with time those savings will be passed on to the customer in the form of lower prices. The founders estimate that it will take $150 million, which they will provide, to get the new company, to be established in July, up and running by the end of the year. The new company, they say, is to be independent of the founders, with its own management team and board of direc tors. And it is to be a profit-making entity, so there will be transaction fees of some kind, though they are yet to be deter mined. Janice Long MAY22,2000C&EN
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