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New chemistry building to be built at NIST The National Institute of Standards & Technology (NIST) has begun con struction on a new three-story, 200,000sq-ft Advanced Chemistry Sciences Laboratory to replace its existing facili ty. Ceremonial ground breaking for the structure was held July 29, although ac tual construction began in April. Com pletion is scheduled for August 1998. "This is the first building in a series of activities leading NIST into the 21st century," said NIST Director Arati Prabhakar. This is part of a 10-year ef fort to upgrade facilities at the Gaithersburg, Md., site, which was built more than 30 years ago. Representing the Commerce Depart ment, of which NIST is a part, at the ceremony was Undersecretary for Technology Mary L. Good. "Chemistry is fundamental in keeping U.S. techno logical leadership in the future," Good said. She also noted that building a
Commerce's Good uses a gold-plated shovel at the ceremonial ground breaking for NIST s new chemistry lab. Behind Good are (from left) Rep. Connie Morella (R-Md.), Sen. Paul Sarbanes (D-Md.), Montgomery County Executive Douglas Duncan, and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.). Good is using the same shovel used to break ground for the onginal National Bureau of Standards building in Washington, D.C., in 1915.
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new $57.4 million chemistry facility was less expensive than making the major reno vations needed to upgrade the old chemistry labs. The new building will allow NIST sci entists to increase their measurements in many areas. Ultraclean and highly con trolled environments will enable better ultratrace chemical analysis for many fields, such as developing methods for measuring contaminants in advanced materials, detecting chemicals at low
Official debunks Senate critics of chemical arms "Mary Kay Cosmetics will not be sub ject to the [chemical weapons] treaty," Arms Control & Disarmament Agency director John D. Holum insisted to a gathering of reporters recently. He used this forum to make his brief for Senate ratification of the pending Chemical Weapons Convention and to debunk what he called "alarmist" and "inaccurate claims" being made by Senate opponents of the treaty (C&EN, Aug. 5, page 5). "There are several offices on [Capi tol] Hill that are engaged in a vigorous campaign to generate opposition to the treaty. And, unfortunately, they are do ing it in a way that doesn't give due regard to the facts," Holum said. For example, Holum noted, "They are claiming that 8,000 or 10,000— very large numbers of—companies are affected. And they are going state by state putting out press releases saying that breweries, cosmetic com panies, and dry-cleaning establish ments are all going to be subject to a huge, new regulatory burden. That is total nonsense." Instead of thousands of affected firms, Holum predicted the treaty will 32
AUGUST 19,1996 C&EN
have significant implications for about 140 companies nationally. This much smaller number will have to submit to routine declarations and on-site inspec tions because they deal in significant quantities of chemicals controlled by the treaty. For the most part, these are dual-use chemicals that have commer cial value but can be used to make chemical agents. Senate opposition is being spear headed by Jesse Helms's (R-N.C.) of fice, and the efforts are designed "to create alarm when there is no basis for it," Holum said. For example, Helms's press secretary is claiming that the trea ty's implementing body, called the Or ganization for the Prohibition of Chem ical Weapons, will be headed by an Ira nian. Holum explained that an Iranian has indeed announced an interest in being a candidate, "but he has about as much prospect as Lyndon LaRouche has in being president of the U.S." Helms, who chairs the Foreign Rela tions Committee, argues that the treaty is not verifiable and that countries such as Libya, Iraq, Syria, and North Korea— which pose the greatest threat to the U.S.—will not be party to the treaty.
levels that cause adverse health effects, or developing improved standards for environmental pollutants. Another area NIST scientists are looking at is chiral ac tivity of biomolecules. The lab will have improved facilities for detecting differ ences in activities and toxicities of differ ent isomeric forms of molecules. David Hanson
"There is no question but that this is a difficult treaty to verify with absolute certainty in terms of catching any pro duction of chemical agent," Holum ac knowledged. But, he claimed "a mili tarily significant violation . . . is likely to be caught." In a recent speech, President Clinton, urging Senate ratification, called the treaty an indispensable part of U.S. ef forts to combat terrorism. As Holum explained, the treaty "will make it harder and more expensive for terror ists to acquire the materials to make chemical weapons." Senate critics dispute that. And they argue that the treaty would violate the search and seizure protections in the Constitution. But, in fact, Holum said "the treaty calls for adherence to con stitutional principles." And domestic legislation implementing the treaty now provides for administrative search warrants, if they are needed. The Senate is slated to debate treaty ratification on or before Sept. 14. De spite the "real battle under way" in the Senate, Holum said he expects the Sen ate "will ratify the convention." If he is correct, Congress will consider imple menting legislation early next year. Lois Ember
