TRADE:
About-Face on ASP The House Ways and Means Committee, in the final moments of deliberations on trade legislation last week, agreed to allow President Nixon to abandon the American Selling Price (ASP) system of import valuation after next Jan. 1. The action is an aboutface from an earlier committee vote on ASP, as is a committee decision to include man-made fibers under the quota provisions of the bill. A final vote by the committee on the bill—the first major piece of trade legislation since 1962—was slated for last Thursday. A final draft of the committee bill— a watered-down version of an earlier draft—was still being written at press time. The ASP action, sources say, appears to include at least one fetter for Mr. Nixon. He would be required to re-examine the sepai'ate package agreement—of which ASP repeal is a part—negotiated in the 1967 Kennedy round trade talks to determine if the U.S. had received reciprocal trade concessions. If he decides that the U.S. didn't get a fair shake, then he is to negotiate with U.S. trading partners to better the agreement. The bill gives Congress 60 days to reject an announced decision by Mr. Nixon to repeal ASP. In the Administration's trade bill, Mr. Nixon asked for approval of the separate package agreement which includes ASP repeal. Thomas P. Turchan, president of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, comments that "the committee's refusal to approve the implementing legislation as presented by the Administration constitutes clear Congressional dissatisfaction with this unreciprocal agreement. "We would expect in light of the committee's action," he continues "that the President will renegotiate a package limiting U.S. tariff cuts to 50r/t . . . pending more meaningful concessions from our trading partners." Besides paving the way for ASP repeal—massive White House lobbying, sources say—the committee moved to soften quota provisions and maybe avert threatened Presidential veto. Major provisions of the bill include a mechanism for setting quotas on all commodities and quotas on shoes and textiles which would begin next year and would be based on an average of imports for 1967-69. The measure gives the President authority to drop or exempt quotas on products found nondisruptive to U.S. markets, where imports are causing higher domestic prices or a shortage of a commodity, and when quotas are not in the national interest. The committee included an Admin-
istration tax incentive proposal to boost exports through a Domestic International Sales Corporation but limited the President to quotas for regulation oil imports. Other provisions would hasten action on antidumping and countervailing duties, would give Mr. Nixon a 20% "housekeeping" authority to cut tariffs, and would liberalize relief criteria for industries injured by imports.
NUCLEAR POWER:
Support for MSR The Molten Salt Group, composed of 15 electric utilities and six industrial firms, was formed and started work last week "making an independent and objective technical appraisal of molten salt reactor (MSR) technology," according to Leonard Reichle, vice president of Ebasco Services, New York City and manager and technical director of the group. The group's stated purpose is to develop a safe, reliable, and low-cost heat source for large power plants. The study will assess the feasibility of breeding additional nuclear fuel using the thorium-uranium-233 cycle (C&EN, April 13, page 36) and of using as a fuel the plutonium that will soon become available in great quantitv from present-day water-type reactors. p ° P u bred from 238 U by neutron capture accumulates in existing power reactors.) Industrial members of the group will contribute the service of specialists in certain aspects of MSR design, construction, and operation as follows: Union Carbide will provide graphite technology and Cabot Corp.'s Stellite division will contribute metallurgical know-how. Graphite and special alloys of stainless steel are important materials in the primary system of the MSR. A petrochemical member, Continental Oil will be concerned with fuel cycling and recycling. Babcock & Wilcox will cover heat exchange technology and the Byron-Jackson Pump division of Borg Warner will cover pump design and use. Ebasco's Dr. Deslonde deBoisblanc, who has designed reactors for AEC and who is a member of AEC's advisory committee on reactor physics, will coordinate the project. A few members of the nuclear committee are concerned about slow progress in the development of the liquidmetal fast-breeder reactor (LMFBR) and say that increased attention should be given to the MSR as a backup system. But increased support will likely have to come from private industry. Some industry support has already been forthcoming. The Molten Salt Breeder Reactor Associates, again a
THE CHEMICAL WORLD THIS WEEK
group composed of utilities and private firms, led by engineering firm Black & Veatch announced earlier this year that it was beginning the second phase of its MSR studies, evaluating the feasibility of building a demonstration MSR plant. As environmental and health concerns continue to escalate, MSR may get more attention. MSR proponents claim inherent safety—possibly permitting urban siting—and low fuel costs as major advantages. The MSR system, they say, would also lend itself to continuous isolation and use of fission products—now mostly wasted.
FRAGRANCES:
Mixing the "Primaries" Growing concern over whether additives that go into many foods might be detrimental to the health of the consuming public is focusing attention on the 700 or so artificial flavoring adjuvants that appear in the Federal Register as "generally regarded as safe." Yet less than half of these chemicals that comprise this so-called GRAS list have been subjected to rigorous pharmaceutical testing. There may be an interim measure in lieu of such a costly and time-consuming program, suggests Dr. John E. Amoore at USD A Western Regional Research Laboratory in Albany, Calif. Because the sense of smell plays such a dominant role in the appreciation of flavor, he proposes that pharmacological testing be restricted to compounds that he refers to as primary odors. Drawing an analogy between the variety of hues that result from mixing the three primary colors, red, yellow, and blue, Dr. Amoore maintains that odors, too, might be reduced to a relatively few molecules to which nerve endings are particularly sensitive. Dr. Amoore is confident that he has pinned down at least one primary odor—the sweaty odor of isovaleric acid. There may be 25 or 30 such primary odors, a conjecture he bases on a preliminary survey he made of people who suffer from specific anosmia, a condition analogous to color blindness. The cost of searching out the primary odors would probably amount to $2 million, he estimates. But the need for putting some 30 compounds through the stringent pharmacological safety tests would be only a fraction of the cost of testing all 700 additives. Moreover, once the primary fragrances are identified, it might be possible to "synthesize" any desired odor by mixing the appropriate molecules in varying proportions, Dr. Amoore adds. AUG. 17, 1970 C&EN 15
