Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association Research Articles

MAKING MORE IN AMERICA

“AND WE THOUGHT this kind of thing was only supposed to be happening in China and India,” said Joseph Acker, president of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association. Acker was speaking earlier this month at the groundbreaking ceremony for a commercial-scale active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturing facility that Cambridge Major Laboratories (CML) is building in Germantown, Wis. Acker and others at the podium, which was set up near CML’s existing clinical-scale API facility, lauded Michael W. Major, the company’s founder and chief executive officer, for his $30 million bet on U.S. API manufacturing. They noted that the investment goes counter to the general trend of siting such projects in lower cost Asian countries. “Successful entrepreneurs see possibilities others don’t,” Acker said of Major, pointing to several factors—including the Food & Drug Administration’s difficulty in ensuring the quality of imports—that may put Major at the leading edge of a reversal in the off-shoring ...

TRUSTING MEDICINE FROM CHINA

CHINA IS AN INCREASINGLY competitive supplier of drug ingredients to the U.S. But in the wake of recent scandals involving Chinese food and drug ingredients, critics are asking for more controls on imports from that country. Last month, the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA), a U.S.-based group of fine chemicals makers, reiterated its call for the Food & Drug Administration to step up visits to overseas pharmaceutical plants. The association claims that foreign-made active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) are often produced in plants that have never been inspected by FDA. SOCMA's statement was prompted by media reports that a cough syrup formulated with counterfeit Chinese glycerin had killed dozens of people in Panama last November. Glycerin is an edible substance that is routinely used in making medicinal liquids. Unscrupulous businesspeople have from time to time substituted diethylene glycol for glycerin to cut costs. This practice prompted FDA to issue a recommendation last...

SOCMA Opts Out Of Responsible Care

The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association has launched a mandatory environment, health, and safety (EHS) and security performance improvement program for its member companies. SOCMA ...

THE STATE OF REGULATION

INDUSTRY'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON chemical regulation, held for more than a decade, traditionally has focused almost exclusively on policies related to one U.S. law—the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). Extensive discussions by Environmental Protection Agency officials on getting new chemicals to market and on testing older compounds are always a key part of the gathering, hosted by the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) and the American Chemistry Council (ACC). But international issues, most notably the European Union's proposed Registration, Evaluation & Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) program, took up a significant share of this year's conference, held March 9—10. Robert H. Donkers, environment counselor at the EU office in Washington, D.C., warned chemical industry representatives that REACH is practically a done deal. He disparaged notions that the new EU chemicals legislation will not be adopted. It will be law, I guarantee, he said. However, he allowed that some deta...

SOCMA REENGINEERS ITS ANNUAL MEETING

THE SYNTHETIC ORGANIC CHEMical Manufacturers Association got down to business at its annual meeting earlier this month. Forsaking Hilton Head, S.C., and Scottsdale, Ariz.—favorite locales for its golf-heavy events of the past—SOCMA convened its first Corporate Excellence Conference, two full days of meetings and presentations, at the Hyatt Regency Chesapeake Bay in Cambridge, Md. Attendees said they welcomed the meeting's heightened emphasis on business issues. The prolonged economic slump for the custom and batch chemical manufacturers that dominate SOCMA's membership has boosted their need for serious networking, they said. The meeting also afforded attendees a chance to scout out business leads and hear what their customers are thinking. Both days featured panel discussions with purchasing and outsourced services managers from the pharmaceutical, Acker flavors and fragrances, agricultural chemical, and photographic products industries—the main markets served by most SOCMA members. Foremost on everyone'...

REGULATORY POLICIES EVOLVE

THE EUROPEAN UNION'S NEW policy on chemicals. A treaty to curb production of persistent organic pollutants. A developing global plan for managing chemicals. Testing of high-production-volume chemicals. Evolution of the Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement efforts on chemical controls. These and other policies were plumbed at the 10th annual Global Chemical Regulations Conference, held earlier this month in Baltimore. The conference, which covered developments under the U.S. Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) and international efforts on chemical management, was organized by the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association and the American Chemistry Council (ACC). International chemical regulation issues constituted a large portion of the conference program. Joe J. Mayhew, ACC vice president of regulatory and technical affairs, discussed the EU's planned Registration, Evaluation, & Authorization of Chemicals (REACH) policy. This would require registration, testing, labeling, and, for some...

Administration Drafting Chemical Site Security Bill

The Bush Administration is preparing legislation to protect the public from potential terrorist attacks at chemical plants, Administrator Christine Todd Whitman said last week. EPA is working closely with the Department [of Homeland Security] on legislation that will set clear requirements for the chemical industry, she told a conference on chemical regulation. Whitman said she and DHS Secretary Tom Ridge conferred on April 1 about the legislation. But Whitman neither provided details about the bill nor indicated when the Administration hopes to send the draft law to Congress. She suggested that EPA, and not DHS, would enforce the planned law on chemical plant security. Under the President's homeland security strategy, is designated as the lead agency with responsibility for chemical site security, she told the conference, which was organized by the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association and the American Chemistry Council. The two industry groups have said they oppose the idea of...

INVESTMENT CONTINUES IN CUSTOM SYNTHESIS

THE SYNTHETIC ORGANIC CHEMical Manufacturers Association got down to business early at its annual Informex conference in New Orleans late last month—despite its being held in the middle of Mardi Gras week. Instead of booking former quarterback Terry Bradshaw or political analysts James Carville and Mary Matlin—typical of recent headline speakers—SOCMA tapped an industry insider, Andrew N. Liveris, president of Dow Chemical's performance chemicals division, for the opening address. The effect of that address on attendees was sobering or fortifying, depending on whether or not their companies were on the shortlist that Liveris offered of who will be at Informex in 2008 (C&EN, March 3, page 11). Akzo Nobel, Avecia, BASF, Degussa, Dow, DSM, and Lonza—Liveris' picks as the top players in fine chemicals outsourcing in five years—have several things in common that he said are required for survival in a market that some say has gone from bad to worse in ...

SEEKING TO CHANGE THE RULES

CHANGES TO THE ANNUAL Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and other chemicalrelated federal rules are among the second annual set of recommendations suggested by the public and released by the Bush Administration late last month. Some public interest groups characterize the report as a hit list for federal regulations. But John D. Graham, administrator of the Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management & Budget, says the Administration is neutral on the recommendations. The public suggested changes to 267 rules, and OMB referred 126 of these to agencies for evaluation. Agencies must report to the White House by Feb. 28 on suggestions they plan to implement and explain why they are disregarding the others, Graham says. Chemical producers made several suggestions for regulatory changes. The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association takes issue with TRI information on waste that gets sent off-site for disposal, recycling, or other ...

SEEKING TO CHANGE THE RULES

CHANGES TO THE ANNUAL Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) and other chemical-related federal rules are among the second annual set of recommendations suggested by the public and released by the Bush Administration late last month. Some public interest groups characterize the report as a hit list for federal regulations. But John D. Graham, administrator of the Office of Information & Regulatory Affairs in the White House Office of Management & Budget, says the Administration is neutral on the recommendations. The public suggested changes to 267 rules, and OMB referred 126 of these to agencies for evaluation. Agencies must report to the White House by Feb. 28 on suggestions they plan to implement and explain why they are disregarding the others, Graham says. Chemical producers made several suggestions for regulatory changes. The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association takes issue with TRI information on waste that gets sent off-site for disposal, recycling, or ...

GETTING BEYOND 'THE PERFECT STORM'

IT'S BEEN A DIFFICULT TWO YEARS for some of our businesses, admitted Nance K. Dicciani, president and chief executive officer of Honeywell International's specialty materials group. And like rest of chemical industry, $3.3 billion Honeywell business she has headed for only seven months is experiencing most prolonged downturn since 1930s. Dicciani called downturn the perfect storm, an allusion to a combination of factors coming together all at once to create a disaster—in this case, price declines in key markets coupled with high energy costs and raw material prices. But she sees scenario as providing opportunities for Honeywell's growth. As economy heads toward recovery during second half of 2002, growing markets in Asia, Middle East, and South America will provide some of these opportunities, Dicciani told attendees at Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) stakeholder's conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., a ...

LONZA'S VISION

LONZA HAS BEEN UNDERGOING A strategic reorientation over past year. It's a transformation that has involved divesting noncore energy and polymer intermediates businesses, developing a new vision statement, and restructuring into the preeminent supplier to life sciences industry through chemical and biotechnology platforms driven by an unrelenting passion. Today, more than 80% of its activities are directed toward life sciences. Nowhere is unrelenting passion clearer than in Markus Gemuend, a 14-year veteran of Lonza who took over as chief executive officer on Feb. 1. The tall, boyish-looking 43-year-old head of company's fast-growing biologies division was tapped to succeed Sergio Marchionne, who oversaw divestitures and is now vice chairman of board. Gemuend also remains head of biologies division. Gemuend spoke about Lonza's metamorphosis last month at annual Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association luncheon in New York City. Custom manufacturing is a...

MAKING CONNECTIONS IN THE BIG EASY

LAST WEEK, IT WAS MARDI GRAS that drew celebrants to Orleans. Next week, because of Informex 2002, New Orleans is the place to be for suppliers and custom manufacturers of fine chemicals. This annual exhibition of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) is one of the most important annual events of the fine chemicals and custom manufacturing industry. Here, manufacturers have the opportunity to meet with multiple clients in one place, customers have the chance to size up various potential suppliers, and everyone has lots of networking and educational opportunities. Informex has grown dramatically from its modest beginnings of 42 tabletop exhibits in 1984. This year, from Feb. 27 to March 1, there will be 425 companies showing off their capabilities at New Orleans' Morial Convention Center. As C&EN went to press, about 3,000 of an expected 4,000 attendees already are pre-registed, according SOCMA. The show ill be biased toward services to the pharmaceutical ...

CHANGES AHEAD FOR CHEMICAL CONTROL LAWS?

WHEN POLICY WONKS HASH out which environmental laws are likely to be changed by Congress, the conversation focuses on well-known pollution control statutes— including the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Superfund law The Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which controls the manufacture of chemicals in commerce, does not appear on the radar screen of most political observers. But Congress may indeed end up changing TSCA—in addition to amending the federal pesticides statute—so that the U.S. can abide by two new environmental treaties, according to speakers at a recent conference on global chemical regulation. The conference, held in Baltimore in mid-March, was sponsored by the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association. The two international accords address persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and prior informed consent (PIC). The PIC agreement, known as the Rotterdam Convention, requires importing nations to give their consent before accepti...

VISION 2020 COMES INTO FOCUS

Early in June, the Department of Energy's Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT) asked corporate consortia along with academic experts to submit proposals for joint chemical re search projects with the department's respected national labs. OIT has $12 million in matching grants available for three-year projects that met the submission deadline late last week. This is the second time OIT has solicited proposals using as its basis the agenda published in Technology Vision 2020: Report of the U.S. Chemical Industry, a more than two-and-a-half-year project of the American Chemical Society, the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA), the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), the Council for Chemical Research (CCR), and the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) (C&EN, Sept. 30, 1996, page 12). The vision statement outlines a technology agenda for the chemical industry covering such topics as new chemical science and engineering technology, supply-chain management, informa...

Trade associations split over chemical tests

The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA)—representing some 300 mostly small- and medium-sized chemical companies—is calling for significant changes in a planned program to test some 2,800 high-production-volume (HPV) chemicals. Meanwhile, the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA)—representing some 190 larger companies—is moving ahead with the project. It will have an Internet web site up by the end of the month where the public can track industry commitment to the testing program. The HPV testing program is a voluntary one in which industry conducts or pays for a battery of basic toxicity tests for chemicals that are used or imported in amounts exceeding 1 million lb per year (C&EN, Nov. 2, 1998, page 19). The program resolves a stalemate going back 20 years and comes on the heels of studies by CMA and the Environmental Protection Agency that found that fewer than 10% of these commonly used chemicals have been thoroughly In a pact ...

DOE, chemical industry set joint R&D priorities

Chemical industry executives and Department of Energy officials will work together to identify possible areas of joint RD Victoria F. Haynes, BF Goodrich; and C. Kyle Simpson, DOE—who were involved in the development of Vision 2020. Signatories were Anderson, Council for Chemical Research Chair Ronald W. Rousseau, American Institute of Chemical Engineers Executive Director Glenn Taylor, Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association Chairman Wayne Tamarelli, and Chemical Manufacturers Association President and Chief Executive Officer Frederick L Webber. Vision 2020 has already led industry and government executives to begin developing technology road maps that wil...

SOCMA CELEBRATES 75 YEARS

Oct. 28 marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA). Then-Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover helped baptize the newly formed association in 1921 at a meeting in the Hotel Washington, in Washington, D.C., at which 50 representatives from 47 U.S. textile dye, pharmaceutical, and explosives manufacturers were present. I have the feeling that this coming together of manufacturers in the different trades for the purpose of the advancement of their industry as a whole is a profound step towards cooperation in the entire business world, and that out of it will be gained tremendous benefits to the whole business public, said Hoover 75 years ago. In broad terms, SOCMA has succeeded in advancing the cause of synthetic organic chemicals manufacture. On the eve of World War I, the U.S. textile dye industry, the largest segment of what would become SOCMA's original membership, consisted ...

CHEMICAL WEAPONS TREATY BLOCKED

Under a unanimous consent agreement reached in June, the Senate was poised last week to finally vote on ratification of a treaty to outlaw chemical weapons. But on Sept. 12, the Clinton Administration asked—and the Senate leadership agreed—to set aside the agreement. There was no debate, no vote on ratification, and no new date for a vote. An accord negotiated by three Republican Administrations and signed in January 1993 by President Bush was sidetracked, despite its GOP pedigree, by a determined group of conservative Republicans. This group, led by Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott of Mississippi and Sen. Jesse Helms of North Carolina, apparently garnered enough votes to prevent ratification by the required two-thirds vote and forced the Administration to request postponement of the vote. No vote is expected before the November elections. The Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA), the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association, and the Pharmaceutical Research & Manufacturers of America—whos...

Manufacturers strive for regulatory relief

While the House is rushing headlong to pass legislation that will slow the pace of federal government regulations—the Senate is proceeding at a more leisurely pace—the chemical community is making sure that its special concerns are heard and understood. The Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturers Association (SOCMA) made its presence known on Capitol Hill this month with its first health, safety, and environmental forum. The Washington, D.C.-based organization, which represents about 260 companies, mostly smaller chemical manufacturers and formulators, says it conveys a necessary point of view to legislators. We bring a unique perspective, says SOCMA's vice president for public affairs, Mary James Legatski. When we visit Congress, we wear both chemical industry hats and small business hats. This is a perspective that is different and significant. Legatski notes that the new Republican leadership in Washington is seen as more amenable to industry and that SOCMA members are increasingly interested in r...