Chemical World This Week of interested American groups and individuals whose function it would be to give less technical viewpoints to the delegates. On the subject of aid to developing countries, Mr. Rogers favors the creation of a U.S. International Development Institute, recently proposed by President Nixon. IDI would make possible broader technical cooperation to countries that have ceased to receive or have never received aid funds.
chloride, which damages incinerators and pollutes the air. Industry efforts to circumvent this problem have centered on improving the incineration process. Dow's new process would control release of HC1 by application of alkalies to the wastes before burning. Dow says the procedure cuts HC1 emissions 75% in laboratory tests, but cautions that scaling up to commercial use poses problems. For example, the alkali attacks the clay brick used to line most incinerators. Possible solution: use of WASTE DISPOSAL: more resistant but also more expenMethods and plans sive magnesia brick. Efforts toward solving the solid According to the Aluminum Aswaste disposal problem advanced sociation, a recycling plant processon a broad front last week. ing 500 tons per day of municipal »Dow Chemical said it has pat- waste from a city of 200,000 could ented a method for controlling re- produce salable products worth lease of hydrochloric acid during aboiit $1.5 million and a net revincineration of chlorine-containing enue of about $133,000. A detailed plan for a demonstration plastics and other wastes. • A more comprehensive plan for plant of that size was presented by getting re-usable materials from the association to the National Cengarbage—a $15.9 million municipal ter for Solid Waste Disposal, Inc., waste recycling plant—was pro- last week. The national center—a posed by the Aluminum Association. newly organized, privately financed, corporation—has ac® New Yorkers this week will be nonprofit trading trash for cash on Recycling cepted the concept for review by Day, Feb. 2, sponsored by the en- its scientific advisory panel. Acvironmental action coalition of New cording to Donald M. Kendall, presYork City and Reynolds Metals Co. ident of Pepsico, Inc., and chairman Aluminum containers will be of the board of directors of the naturned in to Reynolds for a bounty tional center, the center will accept funds from private and public of 10 cents a pound. The packaging industry and its sources for research and will make suppliers have for some time been grants available for development of concerned over mounting criticism waste management systems. of the burgeoning use of polyvinyl Implementation of recycling chloride in consumer packaging. plans for solid waste disposal will The complaint has it that incinera- likely depend on government subtion of PVC liberates hydrogen sidy, according to Chem Systems, a New York City consulting firm C&EN: Tom Bradshaw that recently completed a study on the economics of solid waste management (C&EN, Dec. 21, 1970, page 13). Considering the inherent logistics problems and the lack of any kind of guarantee of constant, dependable sources of solid waste feedstock, the prospect of making money from waste adds up to at best a marginal proposition for private investors, Çhem Systems says. But the fact remains that some cities will soon run out of space to dump their waste. Add to that pressure from those concerned with depletion of natural resources and the fact that recycling would provide some recovered value. Then investment in recycling plants, even though no immediate return is foreseeable, begins to look atPepsico's Kendall tractive. 8
C&EN FEB. 1, 1971
TOXICOLOGY:
Pine Bluff conversion The Army's biological warfare facilities at the Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas will be turned into a National Center for Toxicological Research to study the health effects of chemicals on man. The action, announced by President Nixon late last week, ended months of speculation on what would happen to the sophisticated multimillion-dollar facility. The center will be administered by the Food and Drug Administration, but will be available for use by other federal agencies such as the Environmental Protection Agency. An FDA spokesman says the action will put the agency in the major leagues in toxicology studies. FDA and EPA are each expected to contribute about $4 million to the center's budget in fiscal 1972, according to Sen. John C. McClellan (D.-Ark.), but the budget is expected to grow quickly. The center will be concerned with developing a better understanding of "what data acquired from experimental animals means to man" and with evaluating the safety of chemicals in the environment. For instance, the biological effects of chemicals such as pesticides, food additives, and therapeutic drugs will be examined. Research at the center will include investigating the metabolism of chemicals in animals, rates of chemical adsorption and excretion, and developing a better understanding of dose-response relationships, particularly for longtime exposure of animals to low doses of chemicals. FDA will take over the facilities as the Army moves out and expects to take over the entire biological facility sometime in fiscal 1973. The Army meantime expects to be destroying biological antipersonnel agents stored at the arsenal. Late last year the Army said it would take about a year to dispose of agents stored at Pine Bluff. President Nixon on Nov. 25, 1969, banned U.S. use of biological or bacteriological agents in warfare and directed the Pentagon to draw up plans to dispose of biological and toxin stocks except for those used in defensive research efforts. Since then, federal agencies such as Health, Education, and Welfare and Agriculture have been looking at the surplus biological facilities for possible nonmilitary uses.
