INTERNATIONAL
WORLD WIPE
CHEMISTRY
Babassu palm promises billion-dollar industry in Brazil, providing nut-cracker is developed . . . Australia fights rabbits T^OINT Four aid to Brazil is expected to •*- -pave the way for industrialization of the babassu palm, -which, according to the Point Four administrator, Henry G. Bennett, has potentiahties that could make it almost as important as coffee, economi cally. The Brazilian Bulletin reports that able investment of capital and technique in the palm could result in a billion-dollar business. Possibilities for such development are being studied at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Tex. Oil ex tracted from babassu nuts is rich in prac tically all the elements needed in making plastics, detergents, and other important materials, and the oil has been classified as a strategic material. The biggest problem is the finding of a workable nut-cracking machine. The ba bassu nut has one of the hardest shells known, and machines that crack the nut may also ruin the kernel. A u s t r a l i a Exterminating Rabbits It looks as though Australia might be at last rid of rabbit ravages, thanks to a campaign of biological warfare being waged against them, so far successfully. The Australian government is carrying on the scientific extermination by means of the virus myxomatosis, which is harmless to other animals. The virus is said to spread like wildfire among rabbits, bring ing swift fever, paralysis, and death. The virus was first cultured in Canberra 15 years ago, but was not liberated then because of the protests of rabbit trappers, furriers, and exporters. Last year, with wool prices booming and Britain calling for more meat, the ministry for development ordered myxoma tosis taken from cold storage and liberated. The infection was spread all over the country and millions of rabbits, Australia's greatest pest, fell in its wake. Food growers and sheep herders are jubilant, because rabbits had been de stroying pastures that could support 40 million sheep. Scientists are still cautious, however, because it may be found that the mass death is no more than a largescale epidemic which will subside in the same way the black death vanished in Britain and Europe. It is also possible tbat the rabbits will build up immunity. Long-range results will not be sure for
British Chemical Export Gains Although exports to important eastern markets were held up in June by lack of shipping space and the total of chemical 3726
exports in that month consequently fell below the May level, British exports of chemicals, dyes, drugs, and paints set up a new record in. the first half of 1951. The total of over $JL85 million compares with over $131 million in the first and over $168 million i n the second half of 1950. The most striking feature of Britain's chemical export trade this year has been the expansion i n shipments to the U. S. Α., from about $3.6 million in the first half of 1950 to about $16.2 million in the corresponding rperiod this year, due chiefly to heavy sales of benzene, creosote oil, and other coal-tar products. Of European, markets Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, and T h e Netherlands all absorbed greatly increased quantities of British chemicals, but Commonwealth countries are still the solid foundation of Britain's export trade in chemicals. India, Australia, South Africa, and Canada all took several million pound sterling worth of chemicals from British manufacturers. Some of these countries seem to have re plenished their* stocks, while the decline in June of shioments of soda ash, caustic soda, sodium a.nd sulfate, and copper sul fate suggests tihat shortages in the British home market begin to make themselves felt in the export trade. As British exports of metal and engi neering goods will have to be curbed in the interest of the home defense program, British chemical manufacturers are likely to be called ixpon to help to make good export losses on this account. A further substantial exjpansion of chemical exports from the British Isles is indeed anticipated because of t h e big order books of many producers, the persistently heavy demand from most foreign customers, the high price ruling fox most kinds of chemical and allied products, and the increase in pro duction due t o new plant and extensions reaching the productive stage. Keen com petition by German firms has been met in some Europeam markets, and shortage of raw materials limits manufacturing opera tions in some directions; shortage of con tainers is also "being felt more acutely now. Chemical imports into the United King dom during tfcie first half of 1951 actually increased more steeply than exports owing to the government's purchases of fertilizers after imposition of production restrictions on British makers. On the import side, however, recent progress in putting new carbon black and petroleum chemicals plants into commission should soon make a substantial contribution to economies. Nevertheless i t is expected that more will have to be spent on imports of chemicals and raw materials for the chemical indus try, if only because of higher prices, in the CHEMICAL
second half of this year. Efforts will there fore be made to expand export sales as much as possible; if the rate of increase achieved in the first half of 1951 is main tained, British chemical exports in the whole of 1951 will approximate $320 mil lion, compared with a little over $300 million in 1950. Research Fellowships in Pakistan The Pakistan Association for the Cul tivation of Science has accepted an offer from Imperial Chemical Industries, Ltd., to provide the sum of $33,600 for research fellowships in chemistry, physics, and bi ology at Pakistan universities or institu tions, over a period of five to seven years. Each fellowship will be worth about $74 per month, and will be for two years with a possibility for extension to three. In addition fellowship holders would be given a grant to cover expenses for special ap paratus and materials. The Pakistan Association for the Culti vation of Science will make appointments to, and control, the fellowships, which will be open to persons irrespective of sex, race, or religion, the over-riding con sideration being their scientific fitness. Mexican Plant Specialises in C u s t o m - M a d e Insecticides The boll weevil has appeared in Chi huahua, Mexico, but farmers are said to be better prepared to combat it than for merly. An insecticide-mixing plant, re ported to have cost about $60,000 has been opened at Delicias. It has a capacity of 1500 20-kg. bags per 8-hour shift. Out put is expected to supply the needs of the state and the region near Torreon, Coahuila. The factory is prepared to mix insecticides to order as required by con sumers and will operate a soil-analysis laboratory for its customers. Slight infestations of pink bollworm were reported near Laredo. The affected areas have been dusted by planes and tractors with a mixture of DDT, benzene hexaohloride, and sulfur. ECA Sponsors Exploitation O f Greenland Minerals Lead for Western European defense in dustries shortly may come from large min eral deposits discovered in East Greenland in 1949, according to the Economic Co operation Administration. Exploitation of these deposits is being speeded by ECA, which has approved a technical assistance project that will take Carl Koch, a Danish mining engineer, on a tour of U. S. lead and zinc mines early in October. Koch, who will participate in the Greenland enterprise, will study America's latest min ing techniques and mining machinery. C&EN Foreign Correspondents Con tributing t o This Issue: G. ABRAHAMSON, Britain
A. P. SOM, Pakistan AND
ENGINEERING
NEWS
