CHEMICAL & ENGINEERING
NEWBQfflTHmEEK JUNE 9 2003 \ EDITED BY WILL AM G. BQHULZ k^STERHEN TRZASKA
DIPLOMACY
COMMON GOALS CT8 summit touts science, technology to imorove human condition
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the economic summit of the G8 industrial nations played the event as a clash of titans—the first meeting of President George W Bush and French President Jacques Chirac since their bitter rift over the Iraq war. But disagreements were largely papered over, and the three-day meeting ended on June 3 with a set of initiatives of interest to the science community Bush won support for his views on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and terrorism and curbs on Iran's and North Korea's nuclear programs. And he was able to sideline the issue of giving poorer nations access to trade-name drugs at lower cost, which U.S. drug companies oppose. But he could not get agreement from his European G8 partners on free trade in genetically modified foods. The summit's communique recognized the spread of W M D in tandem with international terrorism as "the preeminent threat to international security" As countermeasures, the G8 leaders adopted an action plan to prevent radiological terrorism and to secure radioactive sources, and they created a CounterTerrorism Action Group to combat international terrorist groups. They also reaffirmed their commitment to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) and the chemical and biological weapons conventions. G8 leaders "strongly urged" North Korea "to visibly verifiably and irreversibly dismantle any nuclear weapons programs." And they underscored Iran's need to HTTP://WWW.CEN-0NLINE.ORG
first is coordination of global observation strategies over the next 10 years to build a system that will produce reliable data on the atmosphere, land, fresh water and oceans, and ecosystems. Another effort will center on developing and promoting cleaner, sustainable, and more efficient energy use. This includes developing both cleaner fossil fuel technologies, such as cleaner coal, and hydrogen fuel-cell technology. A W h i t e House fact sheet notes that the U.S. is investing $ 1.7 billion to develop hydrogenfuel-cell technology and is spend-
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comply fully "with its obligations under N P T " and to allow a comprehensive assessment of its nuclear program by the International Atomic Energy Agency The group's statement on the spread of W M D n o t e d t h e range of existing instruments to halt W M D proliferation. I n cluded are global treaties, inspection regimes, coordinated export controls, weapons destruction programs, "and, if necessary, other measures in accordance with international law" According to an unnamed U.S. official, the U.S. interprets "other measures" to mean the use of force, if necessary At a press conference, President Chirac said "this interpretation seems to be extraor- ROUNOTABLE Leaders of the G8 industrial nations met in Evian, France, to discuss a bevy of issues, including science and dinarily daring." There was more f o r h n n l n n u n r n n r a m c unity among t h e ing $1 billion on the first zeroleauers iur science anu teennoioemissions coal-fired power plant. gy programs to support sustainThe third area of effort conable development. The adopted centrates on promoting sustainaction plan stresses "cooperative able agricultural technologies and scientific research on transforpractices—including the safe use mational technologies ... to imof biotechnologies—to reduce prove public health by cutting pollution, improve human health, pollution." It also calls for reducand encourage biodiversity The ing greenhouse gas emissions "to goals include the prevention of address the challenge of global famine, improvement in producclimate change." tivity, and conservation of water The G8 leaders agreed to focus and other natural resources.— efforts on three areas that offer LOIS EMBER the best avenues for progress. The C & E N / J U N E 9, 2003
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