Chemical and Engineering News 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 Acting Editor: Richard L. Kenyon Managing Editor: Michael Heylin Assistant Managing Editors: David M. Kiefer, James H. Krieger, Donald J. Soisson Senior Editor: Earl V. Anderson (New York) Senior Associate Editor: Howard J. Sanders Staff Writer: Joseph Haggin Associate Editor: Ernest L. Carpenter Assistant Editors: Janice R. Long, P. Christopher Murray, Rebecca L. Rawls, Richard J. Seltzer Editorial Assistant: Theresa L. Rome Editing Services: Joyce A. Richards (Head) Editorial Reference: Barbara A. Gallagher (Head) Production Manager: Bacil Guiley Associate Production Manager: Leroy Corcoran Art Director: Norman W. Favin Art/Production: Linda McKnight NEWS B U R E A U S : New York: William F. Fallwell (Head). Chicago: Ward Worthy (Head). Houston: Bruce F. Greek (Head). Washington: Fred H. Zerkel (Head), Thomas E. Feare (Associate Editor) FOREIGN BUREAUS: London: Dermot A. O'Sullivan (Head). Tokyo: Michael K. McAbee (Head) ADVISORY BOARD: Alfred E. Brown, Marcia Coleman, Arthur W. Galston, Derek P. Gregory, James D. Idol, Jr., Gerald D. Laubach, Paul F. Oreffice, Edward R. Thornton, Herbert L. Toor, M. Kent Wilson Published by AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY Robert W. Cairns, Executive Director Division of Public Affairs and Communication Richard L. Kenyon, Director Arthur Poulos, Editorial Promotion EDITORIAL BOARD: Mary L. Good (Chairman), Herman S. Bloch, Bryce Crawford, Jr., Robert W. Parry, B. R. Stanerson; PresidentElect: William J. Bailey; Representative, Council Publications Committee: Arthur Fry; PastPresident: Alan C. Nixon © Copyright 1974, American Chemical Society Subscription Service: Send all new and renewal subscriptions with payment to: Office of the Controller, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. All correspondence and telephone calls regarding changes of address, claims for missing issues, subscription service, status of records and accounts should be directed to: Manager, Membership and Subscription Services, American Chemical Society, P.O. Box 3337, Columbus, Ohio 43210; telephone 614-421-7230. On changes of address, include both old and new addresses with ZIP code numbers, accompanied by mailing label from a recent issue. Allow four weeks for change to become effective. Claims for missing numbers will not be allowed if received more than 60 days from date of issue plus time normally required for postal delivery of journal and claim; if loss was due to failure of notice of change of address to be received before the date specified above; or if reason for claim is "issue missing from files." Subscription Rates 1974: nonmembers, U.S. and Canada, 1 yr. $9.00, 2 yr. $15, 3 yr. $19; foreign $16, $30, $43. Postage: Canada, Pan American Union, $4.00; foreign $5.00. Air freight rates available on request. Single copies: Current $0.50. Rates for back issues and volumes are available from Special Issues Sales Dept., 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. An annual index is available for $20. Standing orders are accepted. Back and current issues are available on microfilm. For further information, contact Special Issues Sales, ACS, 1155—16th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036. Published by the American Chemical Society from 20th and Northampton Sts., Easton, Pa., weekly except the last week in December. Second class postage paid at Washington, D . C , and at additional mailing offices. The American Chemical Society assumes no responsibility for the statements and opinions advanced by the contributors to its publications. Views expressed in the editorials are those of the editors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the American Chemical Society. Advertising Management CENTCOM, LTD. (For list of offices see page 42)
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C&EN April 29, 1974
Editorial
Science, technology, and food Among the predicted crises of the next 10 years or so, that of food shortage looms perhaps most ominous. Recent runaway prices in feed grains, drought in African countries and the threat of famine in India, and the serious shortage of fertilizers are among the more obvious evidence. In general, our food supply is very much at the mercy of the weather. It also has been involved in politics, sometimes not so subtly, both domestically and internationally. The financial aspects of food are great and complex. Investment in the farm futures markets has become immense, with an annual turnover reported above $200 billion, more than that of the world's combined stock markets, according to The Economist. In addition, there is the unpredictable or inexplicable, such as the recently announced return of the anchovies off the coast of Peru after an absence of two years that has sent soybean prices skidding downward. Meal from these fish has been a cattle feed supplement replaced during its recent absence by soybeans. The world's food is produced by a technically modified agricultural economy, despite the fact that we are often inclined to think, at least in the western world, that we have moved out of the agricultural and into the industrial era. The inefficient process of using land and other resources to produce grain ftp be fed to animals to provide the protein in our diets has become increasingly predominant in the affluent countries. Even the food we take from the sea comes from a process inefficient relative to the resources consumed. At the same time our communications over the world impress us more and more with the extent of diets below the level of basic need. It has been said that the U.S. sFTare of world food production is nreater than the Arab world's share of known oil reserves. The objective of the system of feeding people is to transport protein and energy from molecules from the earth, air, and water into the human body. It is very much a chemical process. Basic energy resources in our universe are almost infinitely beyond the energy delivered to human beings through nutrition. Yet a great part of the scientific and technological effort applied to food problems is still directed to technical modification of a relatively primitive and inefficient system. Some attention is being given to basic science that might bring significant changes, such as the Nitrogen Fixation Conference to be held in Pullman, Wash., in June (C&EN, April 8, page 43). This area of science alone may hold great potential for improvement of the technology available for feeding the world. The public and cultural reaction to what is thought of as synthetic food is quite unfavorable because most of the world still fails to realize that all material goods are combinations of chemicals, including the purest food we eat. But much benefit could come from an assessment of the potential that lies in a more efficient technical process of delivery of nutritional energy from the world's natural resources to the world's human bodies. Yet at the present time we can hardly claim that we have assessed or inventoried the material and scientific knowledge available for making a concerted, long-range international attack on that most basic of human problems, the lack of adequate nutrition. The sooner major attention is fixed effectively on this matter the less likely we are to find ourselves in a crisis of world panic proportions. Richard L. Kenyon
C&EN EDITORIALS REPRESENT ONLY THE VIEWS OF THE AUTHOR AND AIM AT INITIATING INTELLIGENT DISCUSSION.
