Chemists Work With Arms Control Agency Toward Chemical Arms Ban

Abstract

After much haggling, negotiators at the Geneva Conference on Disarmament (CD) have tentatively agreed to a list of dual-purpose chemicals that would be monitored under a global treaty banning the production, use, or storage of chemical weapons. Such a treaty has been sought by the 40-nation conference since 1968. Achieving a total chemical weapons ban has been hindered by such thorny issues as verifying that a dual-use chemical scanned under a treaty is in fact being used only in commercial products. The U.S. chemical industry for several years has been working closely with the Arms Control & Disarmament Agency in seeking solutions to such issues. The Chemical Manufacturers Association's representative to ACDA, Will D. Carpenter, who is vice president of Monsanto Agricultural's technology division, says his industry could greatly assist efforts to assure compliance. But he cautions that success is predicated on an initial short list of monitored chemicals. Those chemicals, he says, ...