ACS News
U.S./Egyplian workshop proposes 25 projects Sponsored by ACS, Egypt's NRC,
chemistry workshop
formulated both R&D and education projects for joint work in the two countries The first phase of a chemistry workshop sponsored by the American Chemical Society and Egypt's National Research Centre ended successfully early last month in Cairo when 20 U.S. chemists completed two weeks of discussions with upwards of 200 Egyptian chemists who attended all or parts of the workshop. As the workshop ended, participants from both countries formulated some 25 different research, development, and education projects that they recommended have high priority for cooperative work in Egypt and the U.S. The ACS Office of International Activities and the U.S. participants in the workshop are now preparing proposals for submission to U.S. government agencies to secure funding for their support in the coming months. Dr. Robert W. Parry, distinguished professor of chemistry at the University of Utah, originally conceived the workshop idea when he was chairman of the ACS Committee on International Activities in 1975. The workshop subsequently was developed under the sponsorship of that committee. The ACS Office of International Activities administered the project under the leadership of Gordon Bixler. Financial support was provided by the Agency for International Development in Cairo with a
Egyptian and U.S. scientists at workshop on chemical modification of cotton
grant that covered the travel and per diem expenses of the U.S. participants. "We have initiated a program that we hope will lead to continuing collaboration between chemists in the U.S. and chemists in education, industry, and government in Egypt," Parry notes. "The Egyptians were enthusiastic and gracious hosts, and we found an immediate scientific and cultural meeting of minds among the participants." Following the initial expression of interest from Egypt's National Research Centre in the spring of 1976 to join with ACS in sponsoring a workshop, the Egyptians settled on five broad chemical subject areas from among about a dozen possibilities as immediately significant to them in properly using their resources and in hastening their country's economic development: • Pesticide analysis and synthesis. • Mineral beneficiation and reprocessing certain metallurgical wastes. • Corrosion and metallurgical analysis.
Workshop participants tour textile dyeing plant of Beida Dyers, Alexandria 38 C&ENJan. 9, 1978
• Chemical modification of cotton. • Utilization of fibrous raw materials native to Egypt. The ACS role then became one of assembling the team of chemical experts from among its membership and to conduct the workshop in cooperation with National Research Centre scientists. The subcommittee of the International Activities Committee that oversaw the project sought the names of possible U.S. participants from some two dozen other ACS members whose collective knowledge and experience spanned the five broad subject areas. Of the 20 Americans finally invited to participate in the workshop, nine came from top universities, seven had extensive industrial experience, and four had long associations with government laboratories. "All of the U.S. scientists were top drawer," Parry says. "They have spent their professional lives finding solutions to practical problems. Persons with this type of experience are exactly the kind needed for the workshop as we and the Egyptians conceived it, since the Egyptians are trying to change the direction of their research efforts in an organization such as NRC to work on solving problems of immediate importance to their economic development." The IAC selection subcommittee, chaired by Parry, was comprised of Dr. David Breslow of Hercules, Dr. Milton Harris, and Dr. John Sheehan of Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The first two days of the workshop were devoted to a series of formal lectures, with the Americans reviewing the latest major developments in each of the subject areas and the Egyptians describing their current research projects and indicating the needs they see for research in the future. Two days offieldtrips to industrial plants expected to benefit from R&D conducted at NRC then rounded out the workshop's first week.
Participants spent the second week of the workshop formulating projects they believed would be the most important for cooperative research in the two countries. The results range from recommendations for providing short courses to update the Egyptians quickly in current technology in the fields of mineral beneficiation, occupational safety, environmental protection, and pulp and paper technology to recommendations for performing process R&D and designing plants. Some of the recommendations, if followed, would result in benefits to both countries. For example, production of steel is a necessary base for the industrial development of any country. Egypt now has some iron and steel production capacity, but its ores are so low grade that the industry is severely handicapped. With improved beneficiation processes, Egypt could produce a feed suitable for use in blast furnaces and direct reduction plants in Egypt. Since the U.S. also faces the need to use iron ores of increasingly marginal iron content, an R&D program on such ores represents a common interest for both countries. Other recommendations pertain more directly to Egypt's immediate needs than to those of the U.S. Schistosomiasis, for example, ranks as one of man's most serious parasitic infections, and it is particularly devastating in Egypt. Moreover, its impact is accentuated in Egypt, where expanding irrigation to raise food production spreads the carrier snails to new regions and increases the diseases's incidence. Chemicals have been used for some time to control snail populations where schistosomiasis is prevalent, but results have been uneven at best. About 10 years ago, however, it was found that molluscicides incorporated in certain polymeric materials, slowly released in aquatic systems, would kill the snail hosts. Laboratory evaluations and limited field tests since then have demonstrated the longterm efficacy and the economic advantage of such a method of snail control. Now, large-scale assessments in operating agricultural regions of a country such as
Egypt are needed to evaluate the method's full potential and to develop successful snail eradication programs. Other proposals stemming from the workshop include recommendations for research to recover valuable chemicals from pulp and paper production; improved processes for modifying cotton textiles to provide greater durability, easy care, and flame resistance; and development of native raw materials as a source of fibers now obtained from imported wood chips and pulp. Research recommended on the causes of corrosion and methods to slow or prevent corrosion would benefit both Egypt and the U.S.
As Dr. Mohamed Kamel, president of Egypt's NRC, said at the workshop's beginning, "We firmly believe that the workshop will be of mutual benefit to both countries and will facilitate the transfer of chemical knowledge and technology between them. We also hope that this collaborative effort will be a model for the cooperation between chemists of highly industrialized nations and those of a developing one. The result will be a strengthening and upgrading of chemical capabilities of persons in countries such as Egypt who work in education, research, industry, and the public service sectors." D
Maternity benefits studie I by ACS Howard J. Sanders C&EN, Washington
A joint subcommittee of the American Chemical Society's Women Chemists Committee and its Committee on Economic Status has conducted a survey of the maternity benefits that companies offer women chemists and other professionals. The subcommittee's report, approved by both parent committees, recommends that "disability due to maternity should be treated the same way as any other short-term disability." In other words, the committees believe that, if a woman chemist or other professional in a given company suffers disability for, say, three weeks before childbirth and five weeks after childbirth, she should receive during this entire period the same pay and employee benefits that she would receive if she had had any other short-term disability—whether a broken leg, an attack of pneumonia, or the aftereffects of kidney surgery. The ACS committees, however, have not recommended any uniform pay or benefit practices to be adhered to by all firms. In recent years, more and more women have objected strongly to loss of income owing to maternity disability, which they regard as fundamentally the same as any other type of disability, in that during this period a woman is unable to work outside the home. As one woman chemist commented recently, "Why should I not get paid when I am disabled because of maternity, when a woman coworker who has cosmetic surgery is paid her full salary while recovering from her operation?" Dr. Nina M. Roscher of American University, who is chairman of the ACS Women Chemists Committee, points out, "Other women resent the fact that, in some firms, women cannot use their sick leave during a period of maternity disability, on the grounds that their condition is not considered a sickness. For many women, their only recourse is to take some of the time off from work as days of vacation and the remainder as a leave of absence without pay." The length of time that a working Carnegie-Melton's Dr. Howard L. Gerhartwoman suffers maternity disability varies considerably, depending on the person spoke at management panel
and her job. A woman chemist who normally does strenuous work in a laboratory or pilot plant may have to stop working two to four weeks before giving birth. On the other hand, a woman chemist who is physically fit and has a desk job or can do sedentary work during the last month of her pregnancy may remain at work almost until the day of delivery. Once the child is born, most women are disabled for four to six weeks, assuming no medical complications occur. Thus, for these women, their maternity disability may last anywhere from four to 10 weeks. In discussing the issue of maternity disability, members of the ACS Women Chemists Committee and the Committee on Economic Status agreed that what was needed was more information about the maternity benefit policies of companies employing chemists. A survey to obtain the information was carried out by Dr. Janan M. Hayes of American River College, Sacramento, Calif., who is a member of the Women Chemists Committee, and Dr. Susan S. Collier of Eastman Kodak, who is a member of the Committee on Economic Status. Several months ago, Hayes mailed a one-page questionnaire on maternity benefits to 55 industrial employers of chemists. These firms covered a wide range of organizations in terms of their size and type of business and the number of chemists they employed. Of the 43 companies that responded, 38 provided at least some useful information. As expected, the replies indicated that companies follow a broad range of practices regarding the maximum length of time that a women professional, after being absent because of maternity, is guaranteed the right to resume her former position or obtain an equivalent position in the organization, with no loss in seniority. Significantly, all of the 35 companies that answered the question said they guarantee their women employees such a right. The most frequent responses indicated that a woman retains this right for "as long as her physician requires," three months, or six months. The minimum length of time reported by any company was six weeks after delivery; the maximum was 24 months. Jan. 9, 1978 C&EN 39
