firm. The small chemical plant, literally a "garage operation" (it occupied a former gasoline filling station), adjoined the much larger Allied plant at Hopewell. The Life Sciences plant was closed because of conditions described by Virginia officials as so sloppy as to endanger plant workers. Many plant workers complained of severe neurological symptoms as a result of working in the plant. Settlements were also agreed to, according to the Allied spokesman, with eight wives of plant workers and 12 of their children, all of whom claimed to have been exposed to Kepone through contact with the workers. Previously, Allied had paid out more than $18 million in property damage claims arising from the Life Sciences incident, including $8 million that Allied used to set up an environmental foundation in Virginia to study ways of reversing the damage caused by Kepone runoff into the James River, an important fishing and oyster gathering area in southern Virginia. However, a suit by James River fishermen, who claim loss of livelihood because of Kepone contamination of the river, is still pending. Another suit, by William P. Moore, formerly co-owner of Life Sciences, also is pending against Allied. Moore claims that Allied did not adequately inform him of Kepone toxicity, even though for years he had been plant chemist at Allied's Hopewell facility where Kepone was produced before the Life Sciences arrangement. D
Commissioner pleads for keeping CPSC An impassioned plea for the continued existence of the Consumer Product Safety Commission was made last week by one of its commissioners, Barbara Franklin, at a meeting of the Society of the Plastics Industry in Washington, D.C. The "plain truth," she says, is that CPSC is the latest target of President Carter's reorganization drive. The Administration, according to Franklin, is considering abolishing the commission as an independent regulatory agency and splitting its functions between the Department of Health, Education & Welfare and the Environmental Protection Agency. This proposal, Franklin charges, is "based more on hearsay than thoughtful analysis." She says CPSC is one of the most significant and sensible concepts for protecting the public health and safety. To back up her statement, Franklin points out 8
C&EN April 17, 1978
Franklin: based more on hearsay
that under CPSC, more than 7 million units of potentially unsafe products have been repaired, replaced, or recalled—at little or no cost to the consumer; bans have been issued for such items as free-form asbestos in certain consumer products and fluorocarbon propellants used in aerosols; standards have been set for the level of lead in paints; and mandatory child-resistant caps have cut by some two thirds childhood deaths resulting
from accidental ingestion of aspirin and cut in half childhood poisonings involving other household products. Franklin admits that the commission "is not perfect" and in the past has been plagued with management problems. But she says some critics' assaults on CPSC "have been so frequent, so foundationless, and so ferocious that the net result has been to sap the enthusiasm and dedication of our staff and totally obfuscate public understanding of what we are trying to do." In this criticism, she adds, "careful deliberations were misconstrued as regulatory rigor mortis. Adherence to law became bureaucratic bungling/Attempts to merge the best available science with regulation that is intelligent and fair were seen as callousness to the consumer interest." Franklin points out that abolishing CPSC would mean the second major change in product safety at the federal level in less than five years. "This, for sure, will generate uncertainty and confusion for business people," she says, and it would "represent a net loss for consumers." The Carter Administration efforts, she believes, "however well intended, would be far better spent in joining hands with consumers, industry, Congress, and the commission to improve our effectiveness." D
Sea mining profitable, c< nputer study finds Strewn with mineral-rich nodules, the sea floor holds out a challenge and promise as the next realm for mining. And the promise might come true as such mining appears a feasible and profitable venture, according to a study conducted by Massachusetts Institute of Technology's sea grant program. The computer-based study, directed by Dr. J. Daniel Nyhart of MIT, tries to account for the wide range of variables that now hold such mining efforts in abeyance. For example, because international laws governing seabed mining are being worked out, the MIT model looks at impacts of possible revenue sharing arrangements between nations. The study also assesses how delays in working out international agreements might affect the profitability of a mining venture. Besides uncertainties in laws— uncertainties that already are leading one international consortium to curtail technology development (C&EN, April 10, page 19)—changing technology is apt to affect the outlook on deep-sea mining. However, the computer model is "very flexible/' permitting changes in variables to be
made "with relative ease." So far, it appears that factors such as ore grade, production rate, or delays in getting mining started "could have a major impact" on success of a venture, Nyhart says. Other factors would have only a minor impact. Overall, the study estimates a rate of return of 15 to 22%, taking into account changing values of future cash flow. The scope of the hypothetical mining operation in the MIT study covers a project that would be located in the nodule-rich, east central Pacific. Annual operating costs of $10 million would be borne by gross revenues of $258 million, once in full commercial production, which ought to occur in the sixth year of a 30-year venture. A single mine ship would handle 3 million tons of nodules per year for its 25 years of productivity. The major brunt of expense would be transportation and refining, and only an estimated one fifth of cost would go directly to the mining. But the total cost to get a commercial venture under way is estimated at $360 million. Nyhart expects it to take another five to eight years before sea mining is in commercial production. D
