European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 20, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 18 the stars and stripes sunday october 20, 1985 consider seriously getting Back to it the indemnification question would be the key i to. Union Carbide s catastrophe Bhopal Nteta. A concern has spread to me Manu  e any new Vork tinsel drawing James Jones the army has $1.5 billion to spend but most companies shun the business the bidding to make Poison Gas by Bill Keller new York times w Hen the army solicited companies to manufacture components Lor the lies Battlefield nerve gases to be produced by the military in 16 years the Verta chemical corporation of Memphis a company with $60 million in sales and a Small Ruche in custom herbicides and fertilizers had no qualms about bidding Tor Trie Job. We Don t have to worry Abou housewives not buying out Saran wrap because we re involved in a weapons project said David Simmons Vertiac s Public attains counsel. We Don t Haw exposure in the commercial Range most of the big chemical companies however do. The army expects 10 award $1.5 billion in contracts to the private sector Lor the new chemical weapons called binaries because they consist of two nonlethal agents placed in an artillery Shell Hal Combine in High to make a Quick killing Poison and. Although the army says the contracts would Likely provide hundreds of millions of dollars in revenues to participating companies Many of the Industry giants shied away. Of the Fortune 500 chemical companies Only the Olin corporation entered he bidding. Dupont which makes plutonium Lor nuclear weapons at its Savannah River Plant passed on nerve Gas. Dow Union Carbide. Monsanto none Wei interested. Olin and Verlac. Working jointly with a Stamford conn., chemical engineering and construction firm Crawford & Russell Are now the finalists in a contest to be decided in he next few months. We As a company have come to grips with the ethics of that  said David e. Marchand. Vice president of commercial development at Crawford & Russell. The major chemical companies describe their Lack of interest As a business judgment. For one thing. The nerve agent business holds Little Promise of Long running revenues because alter the military stockpiles have been topped Oil the production plants will be geared Down to a slate of readiness. And. Although the nerve agent ingredients the army is shopping Lor Are relatively simple compounds generically related to insecticides and herbicides that most of these companies have made for years there is that Cocci Kim Mical whether used Tor military says Anantha Raman an Independent no larger commercial Market or the specific stuff the army will buy. Some companies say the program did not suit their corporate strategy. It s just not our Niche said Monsanto company vice president John f. Hussey. Generally the military contracting business is not o place that Monsanto believes is in the Best interest of its shareholders in the years  Union Carbide told the Pentagon that nerve Gas was not in keeping with our Overall production and marketing strategy said de Van Der Ameele a spokesman. The Industry View was clearly coloured by a tear of bad press and potential liability. Memories of consumer Boycotts including one of Saran wrap and expensive litigation and settlements that the Dow chemical company endured in the aftermath of its manufacture of the incendiary napalm and the defoliant agent Orange both used by the military in Vietnam have made executives leery of any involvement with military poisons. There Are a lot better ways of making Money in the chemical  said an executive with one major chemical company who declined to have his name even associated with the topic. I guess the Altitude is who needs it said Patrick a Mccurdy a Lorimer Dow executive who is now editor of chemical week Magazine. It is certainly the attitude at Dow. There is a Clear consensus among top management said Robert w. Chariton Dow s Washington Public affairs manager. We have virtually no interest in that line of business. The experiences with agent Orange and napalm have been enlightening in that  those experiences included a great Deal More than Adverse publicity. Last year Dow was one of seven companies that joined in a $1 to million settlement with Vietnam veterans who said they were harmed by exposure to agent Orange. Ii was the largest award Ever received by a class of litigants claiming wrongful injury and Dow managers still blame the government for getting them into it. Now Dow Taya that liability is a major Issue keeping it away trom any kind of government contract involving chemical weapons. Long term in we would where they want to get away of have any kind of  he said. A if it entertains such worries is not rotting them Stop it from competing Lor a share of the nerve agent business Tho company already has a longstanding relationship Witt. The military As an ammunition maker and its consumer line skis swimming Pool chemicals hares is narrow enough others in the Industry said that the company would not face a risk of backlash. Even so olm responded to questions about its merest in chemical weapons with a cautiously worded statement we i Ike the people in the administration. The Congress the defense department and their laboratories genuinely Hope that any need Lor the binary system or. For that matter any weapons system will never arise. At the same time we have no doubt about the need to support the United states government s Ellerts to strengthen our military program As approved by this country s elected  tha nerve Gas program also contains a sizable degree of uncertainty that May have put off some potential bidders. It still awaits final congressional approval. And its continued survival is subject to an annual appropriation trom Congress which has Long been sharply divided on the question of nerve Gas. Every year s  said col. Donald c. Rhein hard who oversees the program Lor the army munitions and chemical command in Rock if1 my. Iii., is at the whim of  american production of chemical weapons has been on hold since president Richard m. Nixon ordered a moratorium in 1969. Amid the popular outcry Over napalm and agent Orange earlier generations of nerve Gas were produced primarily in government owned arsenals so the question of Industry interest did not arise the Reagan administration has tried to Bieak the moratorium. Arguing that the binary weapons Are safer to Storo and handle than the aging stockpiles. Tho House voted three years running to deny the request. Out this year persistent lobbying and the election of several do in new House republicans tipped the balance in the army s Tavor. In june the House gave its Blessing to the binary program which is part of an Overall military authorization now awaiting final House approval. Tha army estimates that the program will Cost $2.3 billion Over the first live years. Private contractors would build plants to produce the components operate them until military stockpiles Are full then maintain them in a state of crisis readiness. Almost All details of the program costs Are classified to avoid disclosing intended production capacities. Some executives still believe that the squeamishness of the Industry giants is unjustified. The Public got Over its napalm hangover but the Industry did  said one executive who asked not to be named. Still there is recent evidence that the chemical warfare business carries political if not Legal risks. The consulting term of Arthur d. Little discovered that in 1983, when it built a new Laboratory in Cambridge mass and accepted military contracts to develop defensive gear Lor soldiers in chemical combat. Although All of the experiments involved protective clothing decontamination techniques and other defensive measures the Laboratory stirred angry resistance in Cambridge and two adjoining communities. Environmentalists worried about leaks of the Small quantities of nerve agents kept on hand Lor the experiments. Peace activists challenged the morality of any work related to chemical warfare programs. Last year the Cambridge health commissioner ordered a halt to the Laboratory s work and after a protracted court Battle the Massachusetts supreme court sided with the City this summer. Or William s. Augerson an Arthur d. Little vice president acknowledges that Campus heavy Cambridge has a unique political atmosphere but he adds. Things that Start in Cambridge and Berkeley have a Way of happening elsewhere "