CHEMISTS REACH OUT TO CANADIAN PUBLIC

Abstract

For 20 years, three chemistry professors in Canada have worked to inform the public about the roles of chemistry in everyday life. Now their prolific and varied efforts have finally found a home. The Office of Chemistry & Society (OCS) at McGill University, Montreal, inaugurated not quite a year ago, is channeling the professors' output of continuing education courses, public lectures and demonstrations, newspaper columns, books, and radio and television programs to the Canadian public. The multifaceted outreach program is the work of David N. Harpp, chemistry department chair at McGill; Joseph A. Schwarcz, director of OCS and chemistry professor at McGill; and Ariel E. Fenster, chemistry professor at Vanier College in nearby St. Laurent, Quebec, who is an adjunct professor at McGill and OCS director of communications. In addition to producing multimedia educational materials, they encourage letters and phone calls from the public about chemical concerns. 'There are a lot of questions about genetically ...