www.asiachem.news December 2021 | 117 of the teratogenic effects of organic mercury compounds formed in the waters of the Japanese town of Minamata and taken up the food chain to be present in fish eaten by residents. The severe birth defects in children born from mothers who had consumed fish contaminated with these organo-mercury compounds were powerful incentives to develop the Convention. The text of the Convention was opened for signature in 2013. The Convention seeks to stop the manufacture and trade of mercury-added products, listing them specifically in an Annex. Certain types of batteries, lamps, switches and cosmetics are also to be phased out. The major manufacturing processes using mercury are also to be phased out or modified to control any use or release of mercury. The goal is to remove mercury from its current uses, including dental amalgam, and so this Convention has a considerable impact on chemical industry. It also leads to stockpiles of elemental mercury whose future requires careful consideration. The Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), that is, the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction, has a different history from those of the Agreements outlined above. The CWC emerged from a lengthy historical process beginning in the 19th century with the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, the first international treaties that addressed the conduct of warfare and explicitly forbade the use of poisons. The use of chemical weapons during the first World War (1914-1918) and elsewhere kept the issue on international disarmament agendas leading to the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Progress after 1925 was limited, as described in detail by Mathews 10. Negotiations for the CWC commenced in Geneva in 1972 but concluded only in 1992 at the UN Conference on Disarmament. The CWC opened for signature in Paris in January 1993 and came into force in Agreement Date text agreed No. FACS countries signed, ratified or acceded Montreal Protocol 1987 28 Basel Convention 1989 26 Rotterdam Convention 1998 24 Stockholm Convention 2001 27 Minamata Convention 2013 25 Chemical Weapons Convention 1992 28 Table 2: FACS countries and the several Agreements Note that while the Hong Kong Chemical Society and the Chemical Society located in Taipei are members of FACS their governments do not sign or ratify international agreements. April 1997.The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is the implementing authority for the CWC. A significant feature of the CWC is its verification provisions. Since entry into force of the CWC, over 70,000 tonnes (98.5%) of declared CW stockpiles have been destroyed and 9000 relevant chemical industry, production and research facilities have been inspected. Chemists of many countries were closely involved with their diplomatic colleagues in the negotiations to establish the treaty and to determine the scope of the chemicals and facilities to be subject to routine verification measures. The OPCW established a Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), consisting mostly of chemists, experts in their field relevant to the CWC. The 2019 list of members of the SAB includes chemists from five FACS member countries: Bangladesh, China, Japan, Pakistan, Philippines. More recently, a series of seminars and workshops (referred to as Science for Diplomats program) have been established within the OPCW to assist diplomats in their understanding of scientific and chemical concepts relevant to the CWC 11,12. The then Director-General of the OPCW, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, spoke at the FACS’ Asian Chemical Congress in Melbourne in 2017 on the challenges and achievements of the OPCW. The OPCW SAB has worked closely with IUPAC in preparing for the report of the SAB on developments in science and technology for the Special Sessions of the Conference of States Parties to review the Convention which have typically convened every five years. This and other SAB reports provide an up-to-date briefing for diplomats on the scientific and technological developments relevant to the CWC. As of April 2021, the FACS has 31 chemical societies as members, with Timor Leste the most recent member, being accepted at the Taipei FACS meeting in December 2019. The geographic spread of member societies ranges across Asia, involving 28 member States of the United Nations. For Table 2, the maximum number of FACS countries having signed up to the several Conventions is thus 28. The data of Table 2 indicate that, within the geographic scope of the FACS, these chemistry-related Conventions have received widespread support, a compliment to the chemistry community of FACS. Two of them, the Montreal Protocol and the Chemical Weapons Convention have universal coverage across the FACS geographic spread. Several of the Agreements concern environmental issues where chemistry is crucial in understanding and ameliorating dangerous pollution matters. The role of the chlorofluorocarbons in depletion of the ozone layer was an intense issue of public debate and controversy for many years before consensus was reached across industry, environmental chemists, political actors and the broader community that could lead to the Montreal Protocol. The 1995 Nobel Prize in chemistry was awarded to three chemists ‘for their work in atmospheric chemistry, particularly concerning the formation and Ozone concentrations in 2065 with and without the Montreal Protocol. Dobson Units measure the concentration of ozone in the atmosphere. Higher measurements of Dobson Units = more protection for the earth. Source: NASA Visualization Studio
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