Developmental incentives

Effective international cooperation, be it to provide protection, to enhance national legislation and regulatory measures, or to foster the development of the peaceful uses of chemistry, is an integral element within the Convention, delivering concrete security and developmental benefits. These benefits also act as incentives that have led to the OPCW s unprecedented growth in membership since the treaty entered into force in 1997. 

For many years, and particularly in its earlier developmental stages, irradiation was a technology looking for applications and finding a community reluctance to embrace and exploit its immense potential. This is now changing rapidly. Properly used, the method gives reliable responses, which are a prerequisite for quarantine applications. Currently, there do not appear to be any economic incentives as such for irradiation, and other factors will determine whether it becomes used as a treatment method - factors such as unavailability of any other treatment for whatever reason. The USDA-APHIS recently permitted test shipments of... 

This section discusses these routes in the order shown. Aqueous electrolysis of HCl is a commercial process that has been practiced widely. The anhydrous route is developmental but has the potential for large reductions in operating cost. The incentive for indirect electrolysis is the reduction in cathode voltage when reducing certain metals rather than hydrogen ions. The last-named process depends on the added value for its commercial success. The chief product is a metal, with chlorine as a useful byproduct. Sodium and magnesium are the examples covered in the text. 

California s Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, more commonly known as Proposition 65, requires products that contain chemicals identified as carcinogens or toxic to development or reproduction by the state of California s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to be labeled as such in the state. DEHP is labeled as a carcinogen and male developmental toxicant. DINP is recognized as a carcinogen, and DBP, DIDP, BBzP, and DnHP are developmental toxicants under this act (State of California Environmental Protection Agency Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment 1986). This rule can provide an incentive for companies to reformulate products with safer alternatives. 

---