LETTERS
The right to publish
the only prudent assumption must be that HOW TO REACH US there are still many fanatics out there who H I S IS I N RESPONSE TO YOUR I N are intent on doing us harm. Clearly, there CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING NEWS LETTERS TO THE EDITOR teresting and important editorial should be no argument with the view that • Our e-mail address is
[email protected]. "What Price Security?" (C&EN, Feb. some information is too dangerous for • Our fax number is (202) 872-8727. 25, page 3). Progress in science is very much wide public dissemination. There will • Or you can send your letter to: dependent upon the free probably be some debate on this C&EN Editor-in-Chief flow of information, not point, but it will be fruitless. The 1155-16th St., N.W. only to spread new knowlquestion can only be, Where do we Washington, DC 20036 edge, but also to provide draw the line? • Letters should generally be 400 words information upon which to Scientists need to be actively inor fewer and should include the writer's base attempts at replicatvolved. Scientists also need to be refull name, address, and home teleing research. Even under sponsible. Given the current cliphone; letters may be edited for purposthe best conditions, the latmate, and the sophistication of es of clarity and space. ter is essential to ensure technically educated terrorists, I beSUBSCRIPTIONS that newly published work lieve that scientists also have an ob• Send all new and renewal subscriptions is in fact free of unintendligation to carefully scrutinize their and requests for subscription rates to ACS, ed error. work and to be sensitive about pubDept. L-0011, Columbus, OH 43268-0011. • Changes of address, claims for misslishing material that could be valuNevertheless, the world, ing issues, subscription orders, status of able to people developing horrific or at least our perception records, and accounts should be directweapons for terrorists. Scientists of the world, changed on ed to Manager, Member & Subscriber should not stop their work, but Sept. 11,2001.1 think the Services, ACS, P.O. Box 3337, Columbus, rather, there may be times when attacks on the WorldTrade OH 43210; telephone (800) 333-9511 or (614) 447-3776; or send an e-mail to parts of their papers that in less Center and the Pentagon
[email protected]. should convince us of two things: Fanatic threatening times would have been pubterrorists are both capable and desirous of lished without a second thought should REPRINTS AND PERMISSIONS the most heinous acts, and some of these now perhaps be distributed in more cir• Information on obtaining permission for copying articles is available at the people, at least, are quite sophisticated in cumspect ways. The search for suitable C&EN website, http://pubs.acs.org/cen. mechanisms for doing this that would altheir thinking and technical abilities. • For quotes and information on ordering As described to me several years ago by low for scientific advance and the continbulk reprints, call CJS Reprint Services a terrorism expert at RAND, modern re- ued control of research by scientists but at (888) 257-2134 or (410) 819-3995. ligion-based terrorism differs from earlier would not potentially jeopardize the lives ADVERTISING politically based terrorism in a very fun- of thousands needs also to be part of the • For advertising rates and our editorial damental way Older groups like the Irish public discussion. calendar, contact Centcom Ltd., 676 Republican Army in Northern Ireland DENNIS CHAMOT East Swedesford Rd., Suite 202, Wayne, PA, 19807-1612; telephone (610) 964used terror and murder to gain attention Burke, Va. 8061;or fax (610)964-8071. for their cause, but with the tacit understanding that if they went too far, the neg- "They that can give up essential liberty to ob- ACS INFORMATION ative reaction would be so severe as to over- tain a little temporary safety deserve neither • For more information about American Chemical Society activities and departwhelm any possible political gain. Each of liberty nor safety " ments, call (800) 227-5558. When their acts resulted either in no deaths (for —Benjamin Franklin, 1759. prompted, ask for operator assistance, example, when warnings of explosions HE MOTHER'S MILK OF SCIENCE IS or visit the ACS website, were given in advance), or at most just a the free interchange of ideas and dishttp://www.chemistry.org. few deaths. Religious fanatics, on the othcoveries among scientists. We puber hand, seek maximum damage. In their lish our experimental results as quickly as eyes, they are fighting for God and their they are confirmed. By now, it should not this technology for our security And so, surprise us to be reminded that much of apparently do terrorists. Publication of our enemies deserve to die. Since Sept. 11, the worldwide alert has technology may be used for good or for evil. knowledge may also be dangerous to us, Alfred Nobel invented dynamite and but would not failure to publish be the helped to thwart several terrorist actions (for example, the discovery of a tunnel near helped humankind to conquer the natural greater danger? Should geneticists working on cures for the American Embassy in Rome with evi- world in the 19th century He also realized dence of a planned chemical attack and the destructive power of his invention. disease be restricted because their data the actions ofpassengers on an airliner over Bill Gates and Microsoft opened our world could lead to weapons ofmass destruction? the Atlantic that thwarted a terrorist's at- to the easy use of computers and the In- To what extent should we limit the free tempt to ignite explosives in his shoe), but ternet. Our military now relies heavily on publication and interchange of technical
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knowledge? W h o will decide what may or may not be published? How much of our essential liberty are we willing to trade for our temporary security? The question is similar to many we have asked ourselves since last September. How much airport security do we need? Should we seal our borders? Do we need a national identification card? How does a free soci ety remain free without making itself an easy target? The right answer will not be easy on us, of course. We must fight for all of our liberty Every shred. Our leaders are showing us the way We must not concede to terror. If we try to restrict knowledge, it will be discovered anyway by someone, some where. We must continue the free publi cation of information and accept the risk that it may be used against us. We must be ready to deal with those who use our tech nology for evil purposes. If we censor sci ence, we become the enemy, and they win. ROBERT L. ARNOLD
Heath, Ohio
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HE EDITORIAL "WHAT PRICE SECU-
rity?" contains the ultimate oxymoron: "guard against unintended consequences."The danger is not from the knowl edge, but from the objectives of those who use the knowledge, as Adam and Eve found out when they were expelled from a carefree life in the Garden of Eden because they could distinguish between good and evil. The guard needed is against those peo ple with evil intentions who will harm us with whatever means they can assemble. What knowledge wouldyouhave withheld from the suicide group that crashed the jet liners into the WorldTrade Center and the Pentagon?The effort to protect this nation should concentrate on identifying and neu tralizing those who wish to do us harm. There is no substitute for "intelligence," of the cloak-and-dagger type, and the in telligent use of that information for pub lic good. The dissemination of knowledge cannot be suppressed. T h e invisible grapevine is always there, even if the print ed word is censored. We need to target our efforts to where they will do the most good. Knowledge breeds more knowledge, for good or evil. Do we discard the potential good because of potential harm, or do we concentrate on eliminating those who would do us harm with any weapon at hand, be it a kitchen knife, an airliner, or an atomic bomb? Preemptive action is a reasonable option; every action, including inaction, has its unintended consequences. LEONARD STOLOFF
Delray Beach, Fla. HTTP://PUBS.ACS.ORG/CEN
Phthalate safety
incontrovertible evidence that science can provide.
P
ROBERT P. KUSY
HTHALATES HAVE BEEN USED NOT
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill only in medical devices as noted in a News of the Week article (C&EN, Feb. 4, page 11), but they also have been 2 used in dentistry, children's toys, and home products such as shower curtains, food ETTE HILEMAN's ARTICLE ON PREScling wraps, and more. Phthalates or their ident Bush's newplan regardingglobhost, polyvinyl chloride, have been peri al warming was titled "Bush's Plan to odically suspect for the past several years Cut C 0 2 Emissions" (C&EN, Feb. 18, page (C&EN,June 25,2001, page 12). But from 10). This is a misleading title. As brought my perspective little is being done to re out in the article, at best his new plan on solve this issue and, if necessary, to protect ly slows up the rate ofemission growth very the general population. slightly The annual increase in the amount of greenhouse gases we emit would con Regarding the phthalates, alternative tinue. In contrast to the 5% reduction from materials are available that may be more benign [Polymer, 34,5106 (1993); and 39, the base year of 1990, as agreed at Kyoto, the U.S. has already had a 13.5% increase, 6755 (1998)}. Sid Kalachandra and D. Τ and Bush's plan has a predictable further in Turner have documented various phthal crease to about 25% by 2012. ate plasticizers in their paper titled "Wa ter Sorption of Plasticized Denture Acrylic To a casual reader, the Administration's Lining Materials" [Dent. Mater., 5, 161 emphasis on an 18% intensity reduction is (1989)]. And yet, for better or worse, the too apt to be seen as progress instead of phthalate-plasticized products keep com just "business as usual" with its probable ing off the production lines. catastrophic effects in future generations. This is a problem that doesn't need pan J O H N BURTON Washington, Ν J. els; it needs a few key experiments and the
C0 emissions
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