Project Details:
The impact of advances in science and technology on the Chemical Weapons Convention
| Project No.: | 2006-036-1-020 |
| Start date: | 2006-04-01 |
| End date: | 2008-01-15 |
| Division: | Executive Committee |
The purpose of the proposed project will be to contribute to this review of advances in science and technology, by bringing together the expertise available to IUPAC and the OPCW. IUPAC will be able to reach into the experience and knowledge about advances in chemical research and production that resides its Divisions and constituent societies and academies on a global scale. The OPCW will contribute the expertise resident in its Scientific Advisory Board and the governments of CWC Member States. The chemical industry will also be involved in this process.
The three-day workshop in Zagreb will feature a number of talks in areas such as Advances in Chemical Synthesis, Chemical Production Technology, Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Chemical and Biomedical Analysis, and Medical Countermeasures. Much of the time will be devoted to break-out discussion sessions, where four groups, each of about twenty participants, will discuss the implications of these advances for the Chemical Weapons Convention. A final plenary session will assemble the views of participants as the basis for a report to OPCW. Speakers, commentators, and other participants are being invited as the program is finalized.
A workshop Secretariat has been established at the US National Academies by Drs. Jo Husbands and Katherine Bowman [KBowman@nas.edu]. Local arrangements for the workshop are being handled by Dr. Danko Skare and a number of colleagues in Zagreb.
The result will be a report by IUPAC that will be made available to the OPCW and its Member States in time for their preparations of the Second CWC Review Conference. Plans are being made for publication of a summary report and extended abstracts of the lectures in Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Background information on the Chemical Weapons Convention is available at www.opcw.org.
May 2007 - As planned, a workshop on "The impact of advances in science and technology on the Chemical Weapons Convention" was held in Zagreb, Croatia, 22-25 April 2007. Sixty-eight participants, from 30 countries, came from government, chemical industry, chemical research institutes and universities, including 17 representatives of government departments, government laboratories and National Authorities. Twenty-two speakers and commentators described the challenges facing the CWC and presented information on topics ranging from advances in organic synthesis, drug development in the post-genome era, use of nanoparticles, and aerosol drug delivery to the impact of the internationalization of the chemical industry and the potential for use of microreactors to produce large amounts of chemicals in a setting that might be difficult to recognize as a chemical plant.
All attendees participated in a four breakout sessions, where small groups explored the impact of material presented in lectures on future threats to the CWC. They formulated guidance on ways that technological advances might help in enforcement of the CWC and in possible treatment of casualties from possible use of chemical weapons on civilian populations.
> Workshop homepage
<http://www7.nationalacademies.org/IUPAC-OPCW_Workshop/>
A report on the outcomes of the workshop and the conclusions to be drawn is being prepared for submission in July to the OPCW and its 182 member states.
Jan 2008 - Project completed - IUPAC Technical report publishedin PureAppl. Chem.80(1), 175-200, 2008.
Last update: 15 January 2008
<project announcement published in Chem. Int. Jan -Feb 2007, p. 22>