Global Chemical Firms To Jointly Counter Hormone Disrupters

[ttweed@wildrockies.org (Tony Tweedale)]

            Global Chemical Firms To Jointly Counter Hormone
                                                              Disrupters


          The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Saturday Morning Edition
          August 15, 1998

          TOKYO--Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. (4010), Bayer AG,E.I. du Pont de
Nemours and
          Co. and other chemical giants will send top officials to Prague
in October to set
          up a fund to promote research into the effects of chemicals on
humans and the
          environment, sources said.

          Concern is increasing worldwide about hormone-disrupting
chemicals, with the
          increased possibility that effects from these substances on human
health and the
          environment will become a significant matter for the chemical
companies in the
          near future.

          The world's nine chemical industry groups will support the
project. They include
          the Japan Chemical Industry Association and the Chemical Manufacturers
          Association of the U.S. About 4,000 chemical firms are expected
to join the
          scheme, the sources said.

          The planned joint fund will focus on nine topics, including
Hormone-disrupting
          chemicals, cancer-causing substances and chemicals causing air
pollution. It will
          allocate about $20 million annually on mid- to long-term research.

          If it gets the go-ahead, the project will be the first ever to
coordinate joint
          action by chemical firms worldwide in pursuit of the same goal.

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