Multiple Uses of Chemicals: An Education Tool

A small international working group was established to develop this educational package to help foster debate. Four working papers were produced, which cover:

the multiple uses of chemicals;
the CWC;
the toxicology of selected chemical-warfare agents; and
codes of conduct.
The papers have been peer reviewed and tested in workshops in Italy, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Korea, and the United Kingdom. Participants in the workshops have included chemistry students, teachers, university professors, diplomats and specialists in chemical warfare. These four papers have all been translated and are available in the working languages of the OPCW.

The papers are written to help foster discussion, and to encourage chemists to debate what happened in the past and to consider the implications of their own work. The papers make it clear that chemical weapons are illegal, and that any decision by chemists to assist in making these weapons is an active choice. Chemists will have to make a decision to break the law and to engage in some questionable deal with whoever wants chemical-warfare agents.

It is about conscious choices. Readers of the papers are introduced to the subject in the paper on the multiple uses of chemicals. They are told how easy it is to convert a common ingredient in cough linctus into an addictive and highly dangerous street drug. The paper also discusses the multiple uses of chemicals like thiodiglycol — a useful starting point in the manufacture of mustard gas, but a chemical used in many ballpoint inks. The widely used industrial solvent isopropanol is another example, chosen because it is a key ingredient for making sarin.

Having been introduced to these topics, readers are then encouraged to debate a number of issues, including how much information about chemicals (or drugs) ought to be made public; whose responsibility it is to control these substances; and to identify other chemicals where there are dual-use concerns. The subject matter is something with which most chemists will be familiar, either as individuals or as parents concerned about the welfare of their children.

Two other papers introduce readers to the CWC, the OPCW and the effects of exposure to chemical-warfare agents. These papers ask questions similar to those raised in the first paper about controlling drugs. Having already discussed the drugs question, most chemists will find it easier to engage in a debate about the control of chemical-warfare agents.

The final paper in the series is on codes of conduct. Codes may simply refer to ethical issues, such as the Hippocratic Oath for doctors. These aspirational codes set standards that should be upheld, but that are often very general and not enforceable. There are educational/advisory codes for how to conduct oneself in a place of work, for example, or more specific enforceable codes that may govern accreditation to a profession. These latter codes will be very specific and run the risk of being inflexible in a rapidly changing profession. They may also not say much about ethical issues, but might merely state a set of rules that needs to be followed. There are pros and cons with all codes, and debate within a profession is needed to decide which type best fits the needs of the group. Chemists are encouraged to debate these issues and to decide on a code that would encourage good (legal) behaviour.