n e w s of t h e w e e k of a car's spark plugs and cuts emissions system performance. Indeed, last June, Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors all announced that 1997 car owner's manuals will recommend that gasolines containing MMT not be used if optimum performance is desired. The bill would not ban use of MMT in Canada. But Ethyl stresses that the bill's trade strictures could force closure of Ethyl Canada. "As the sales of MMT represents almost half of Ethyl Canada's total sales revenues, the passage of [the import ban] could effectively force us out of business," says Christopher Hicks, Ethyl's vice president of government relations. "Theoretically, in order to continue operating as a business, Ethyl is being re-
quired to build manufacturing and blending facilities in each of the provinces and territories in Canada," adds David Wilson, president of Ethyl Canada. In response, Ethyl will invoke provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement that call for an arbitration panel to rule on a government's alleged breach of obligations under NAFTA. Ethyl will seek to recover damages it estimates at $200 million. "As the only manufacturer and distributor of MMT, Ethyl has had its national and international reputation damaged by the [Canadian] government's contention that MMT poses a threat to the environment and human health," Hicks notes. George Peaff
Upgrading of airport bomb detection urged The U.S. should spend $430 million in fiscal 1997 alone to protect passengers from terrorist attacks on airplanes, recommends an Aviation Safety & Security Commission chaired by Vice President Al Gore. In addition to upgrading bomb detection equipment and deploying more bomb sniffing dogs at airports, the commission urges stepped-up funding for airport security research. The panel was set up following the explosion of TWA flight 800, the cause of which is still under investigation. President Clinton asked the panel to study airport security, overall aviation safety, and modernization of air traffic control. The initial report makes 20 recommendations on airport and airline security. Some can be implemented right away; others need congressional approval.
Praising the commission's work, Clinton urges prompt action on several of his legislative initiatives. Among them is addition of taggants to explosives, including black powder, to aid investigators in finding terrorists. "We need all these laws, and we need them now, before Congress recesses for the year," Clinton says. The Gore panel recommends significant spending to upgrade airport detection systems. Noting that no single machine can solve all the challenges airports face, the commission says the federal government should spend more than $161 million this year on computed tomography detection systems, upgraded X-ray equipment, and "other innovative systems." At present, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has approved only one computed tomography system
In test at San Francisco Airport, InVision Technologies' CTX 5000 computed tomography system was installed behind baggage counter to screen for explosives.
8 SEPTEMBER 16, 1996 C&EN
^ for use at airports—the CTX 5000 made by InVision Technologies, Foster City, Calif. (C&EN, July 24, 1995, page 10). This detector is being used at some European airports, but has been tested at only two U.S. airports. El Al Israel Airlines has three of the systems in place in Israel and is now installing one at Kennedy Airport in New York City. The commission stresses that improving airport safety and security will require a government-industry partnership and says this partnership should accelerate R&D to enhance air travel security. The panel recommends that FAA seek an additional $20 million for such research in fiscal 1997, to double what it currently spends. The additional money would fund development of new technologies for explosives detection, aircraft hardening, security technology integration, and aviation security human factors research. Some congressional Republicans aren't too happy about the large amounts the Gore panel wants to spend—coming on top of $550 million already being sought by Clinton for other antiterrorist activities. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Livingston (R-La.) complains that Clinton is promising to spend a lot, but doesn't say where the money will come from. White House Chief of Staff Leon E. Panetta indicates the Administration may try to enact antiterrorism legislation as part of the continuing resolution Congress is expected to approve this month to keep the government running after Sept. 30. David Hanson
C 36 H 12 : A stiff, fullerene-like bowl The generally flat world of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) just got a bit curvier. Chemists at Boston College have used flash vacuum pyrolysis (FVP) to synthesize C36H12, a bowl-shaped PAH whose carbon-atom framework comprises 60% of the buckminsterfullerene (C60) soccer ball. Their starting material was the nearly planar PAH decacyclene, a compound that has been known to chemists for 100 years [/. Am. Chem. Soc, 118, 8743 (1996)]. "This molecule is a bridge between the old flat world of organic chemistry and the new round world of fullerenes," says Lawrence T. Scott, the Boston College chemistry professor who carried out
