Doing Our Part

I was delighted to read the ACS Comment by Nina McClelland on the international programs of ACS (C&EN, July 9, page 43). As a past member of the Joint Board-Council Committee on International Activities and a past-president of ACS who made international activities one of my priorities, it is good to see that we continue to move forward in this area. Chemists are an international community. What is good for chemists in Cuba is good for chemistry everywhere, and what is bad for chemists in Israel diminishes us everywhere.

McClelland is, however, too modest. The American Chemical Society is doing yet more to advance our science worldwide. We have, until a few years ago, cooperated with our Canadian and Mexican colleagues to have regular North American Chemical Congresses, which also attracted chemists from Latin America and the Caribbean. We continue to cooperate with other societies in the Pacific Basin to present, every five years, Pacifichem, which has proven to be one of the most highly respected and successful of international meetings.

And perhaps most important of all, as a society, we took the lead in creating the Malta Conferences, which are unique in bringing together chemists from throughout the Middle East to share their wisdom and experience as they try to cooperate in utilizing chemistry for the common good of all their people regardless of nationality, politics, or religion. Joining us now in continuing these conferences are the German Chemical Society, the Royal Society of Chemistry, and IUPAC.

From its beginning, our society has encouraged the advancement of chemistry in all its branches, cooperating with scientists internationally and being concerned with the worldwide application of chemistry to the needs of humanity. Goals like these make me very proud to be a chemist.

Several years ago I was confronted by a distinguished member of the society asking why I was spending so much time on the Pacific Basin Congresses. He asked why I wasn't dealing more with "American chemistry." But there is no American chemistry. There is just chemistry, one of the greatest sources for progress and good in the world. If we can do our part to bring together chemists from the Middle East, from the Pacific Basin, and from the Americas, we are truly carrying out our function in this world.

Paul H. L. Walter
Savannah, Ga.