cess will be much leaner, less cyclical, produce fewer hazardous materials, be more sharply focused on corporate strengths, and prepared to compete aggressively throughout the world/' Analysts see the restructuring as a confluence of circumstances, some of which came through the acquisition of Searle. These include the need to reduce debt incurred in that acquisition, the need for a management structure to handle the acquisition, and the potential liabilities arising from a spate of lawsuits over the safety of Searle's Copper-7 intrauterine device. In addition, profitability has been lackluster in the chemical sector in general and especially commodity
chemicals such as those that Monsanto has already said it is exiting. For instance, it says that although the businesses from which it is withdrawing contributed about $600 million in sales in the first nine months of 1985, they were essentally breakeven in profits. Yet another factor has been continuing problems in the agricultural economy, resulting in an earnings decline for one of the company's strongest business sectors. In this year's third quarter, operating income for agricultural products fell 45% from third-quarter 1984 to $44 million, and in the first nine months operating income in agriculture totaled just $299 million, 22% less than in the first three quarters last year. D
Funding for binary chemical arms dealt setback The Reagan Administration has been dealt yet another setback in its fiveyear effort to get funding for binary chemical weapons. Last week the House approved a Defense Department appropriations bill that did not contain the $164 million for production of binary shells and the Bigeye bomb requested by the Administration. The Administration's failure was not from a lack of effort. Congressional and media lobbying was fierce. Two days before the House vote, Thomas J. Welch, deputy assistant to the Secretary of Defense for chemical matters, released what he called a recent unclassified Defense Intelligence Agency report that purports to document new evidence of a massive Soviet buildup of chemical and biological arms. Rep. John E. Porter (R.-Ill.), who opposes production funding for binaries, quickly blasted Welch's effort. "The Pentagon's news is not news at all. That information has been around for decades." In fact, most of the information in the DIA report was made public in the Pentagon's 1984 document, "Soviet Military Power." As evidence the Soviets have a "serious chemical weapons program," the 1984 document cited their testing of chemical arms on special test grids, their "active production facilities," and their "en-
larged storage capacity of chemical agents and weapons." Quoting from the DIA report, Welch amplified the last point. He said the Soviets have increased their chemical weapons depots 26% over the past 10 years. According to the DIA report, there are now 32 such depots in Eastern Europe. The heaviest concentrations are said to be in East Germany and Czechoslovakia, which border West Germany. The report mentions Soviet research on new agents capable of penetrating the protective gear of North Atlantic Treaty Orga-
Weinberger: Soviet
intentions
nization troops, and Welch reiterated this claim. In short, Welch argues that deteriorating stocks of U.S. chemical agents and munitions that are obsolete offer no deterrent to "a Soviet threat that continues to build." He alludes to a serious problem of leaking munitions in the U.S.'s "old and militarily unusable stockpile." Yet the Pentagon's own Chemical Warfare Review Commission reported in June that it found that "the rumors of the stored munitions being dangerous or leaking appear to be exaggerated and inaccurate." The commission also said "the metal parts of most kinds of artillery rounds and bombs were sound." That last point is important not only because it describes the structural integrity of the weapons but because it states that the U.S. has chemical bombs. That is a point Welch failed to mention to the press last week. The Soviets, he said, have chemical artillery shells, multiple rocket launchers, and missiles that can lob chemicals against U.S. and NATO frontlines and airfields, depots and ports, and all points in between. "We, on the other hand, only have some short-range artillery," Welch said. Forgotten is the existing stockpile of n e r v e gas bombs containing the nonpersistent agent GB. As to agent deterioration, Congress recently got the results of accelerated aging tests. Although the results are classified, sources indicate that the aging tests show little breakdown in the potency of U.S. stocks of mustard gas and nerve gases. Welch raises the specter of a massive Soviet buildup in chemical arms, yet he fails to explain why the Soviets are producing so much. In his 1985 annual report to Congress, Secretary of Defense Caspar W. Weinberger writes: "We no longer believe the Soviets intend to use chemical weapons on a massive scale." Despite the failure of his arguments to prevail, a Pentagon spokesman says, "Welch is optimistic. The fight is still not over." The Senate is expected to take up the Defense appropriations bill this week. And it is expected to approve funds for chemical arms production. An amendNovember 4, 1985 C&EN
7
News of the Week ment, however, may be offered to direct the Pentagon's Operational Testing Office to prove out the Bigeye bomb. To date, much skepticism has been expressed over the Pentagon's claim that the bomb has been tested successfully. A House staff member says a likely outcome of the House-Senate conference on Defense appropriations is "some money for bricks and mortar for the Bigeye production facility, but no funds for weapons production/' D
Chemical data offered on compact disks Laser-read compact disks, which have been revolutionizing the audio music industry, are now becoming available for storing and retrieving chemical and other technical information. Digital Equipment Corp., along with Chemical Abstracts Service, the National Technical Information Service, and other technical database producers, is offering technical databases on laserread optical disks. Compact optical disks, called CDROMs (for compact disk read-only memory), that contain the technical database are now being marketed. The disks also contain the search and retrieval software necessary to use them with Digital's Micro VAX I and II and VAXstation II computers or with IBM's PC-XT computer. Digital also offers the compact disk reader needed for using the disks. In the chemical information area, about 50,000 CAS abstracts in environmental chemistry and chemical safety and toxicity are offered in this format. The material, called Chemical Abstracts: Health & Safety in Chemistry, corresponds to the content of 11 of CAS's CA Selects publications. These include environmental pollution; gaseous waste treatment; liquid waste treatment; pollution monitoring; recovery and recycling of wastes; solid and radioactive waste treatment; water treatment; chemical hazards, health, and safety; drug and cosmetic toxicology; flammability; a n d food toxicity. CAS's CD-ROM file is being offered on an annual subscription ba8
November 4, 1985 C&EN
sis. The first installment, which will cover abstracts from January 1984 through the first quarter of 1985 plus three quarterly updates, costs $1195. The advantages of such a system for information storage are greater accuracy than information stored in numeric databases and the ability to store more information on a smaller disk, thereby lowering materials costs. One 4.7-inch plastic disk—the format in which the technical databases are being offered— can store up to 600 megabytes of information, the equivalent of about 200,000 single-spaced pages. Information on the disks can be searched at will, but it cannot be changed or erased by users. D
Industrial safety focus of international effort Creation of an international "task force" of safety and health experts to help prevent major industrial accidents has been recommended by a tripartite meeting of special consultants held at the International Labour Office (ILO) in Geneva, Switzerland. The chemical and chemically related i n d u s t r i e s figured prominently in the discussions. The meeting—formally titled Tripartite Ad Hoc Meeting of Special Consultants on Methods of Prevention of Major Hazards in Industry— was composed of five government, five employer, and five worker members. There was also a body of observers. In all, some 50 people participated. Government participants included India, the Netherlands, the U.K., the U.S., and the U.S.S.R. Labor members came from Belgium, France, India, Norway, and the U.S. Employer participants included Union Carbide from the U.S., Shell Australia, Nigerite Ltd. from Nigeria, Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique from Belgium, and Federacion Venezolana de Camaras y Associaciones de Comercio y Produccion from Venezuela. The meeting was chaired by Anthony C. Barrell, director of the technology and air pollution division of the U.K.'s Health & Safety Executive.
One thrust of the meeting was to generate activity in countries lacking hazard control systems on something similar to the so-called Seveso directive of the European Economic Community. That directive, published in mid-1982, is a recommended code of practice for EEC, and most of the EEC member countries have implemented regulations similar to it. The directive deals with identification and notification of locations of hazards to the environment and to people, assessment of the hazards, prevention management, both on-site and off-site emergency plans, and provision of information to the public. The task force envisioned by the ILO meeting would be made up of expert consultants in fields relating to major hazard controls and would be assembled for specific projects by ILO. It would assist in major hazard audits, advising governments on setting priorities. It also would advise on ways to upgrade factory inspection agencies and on planning training. In addition, it would seek to identify methods of creating public awareness of the need for action to prevent and control industrial accidents. ILO was asked by the meeting to develop checklists for use in monitoring standards on installations that could be hazardous. It was also asked to prepare urgently a comprehensive manual on major hazard control and to begin work on a code of practice on prevention of major accidents involving hazardous materials or processes. Among other recommendations was that ILO develop training programs in the hazard control field and coordinate a major incidence database that would include a listing of accidents and remedial measures taken. Also, the meeting recommended that ILO member states be encouraged to ratify at the earliest opportunity Convention No. 155 (1981) on occupational safety and health, which covers all enterprises, including those that may be classified as major hazards. ILO says the meeting's report and recommendations will be submitted to the organization's governing body. It plans to have a followup meeting, probably early next year. D
