COMMITTEE ON CHEMISTRY EDUCATION
Education, outreach, and codes of conduct to further the norms and obligations of the Chemical Weapons Convention (IUPAC Technical Report)
Graham S. Pearson1 and Peter Mahaffy2
1Department of Peace Studies, University of Bradford, Bradford, West Yorkshire BD7 1 DP, UK; 2Department of Chemistry, The King's University College, 9125 50th Street, Edmonton, Alberta T6B 2H3, Canada
Abstract: The 2002 IUPAC evaluation of scientific and technological advances relevant to the operation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) included a recommendation that greater efforts are required in education and outreach to the worldwide scientific and technical community to increase awareness of the CWC and its benefits. In 2004, the President of IUPAC and the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) agreed on a proposal for a joint project on chemistry education, outreach, and the professional conduct of chemists. This led to a joint IUPAC/OPCW international workshop held in Oxford, UK on 9-12 July 2005 with 27 participants from 18 different countries. This report sets out the background to the workshop, the scope of the presentations and discussions, the outcomes of the workshop, and the recommended steps to further chemical education, outreach, and codes of conduct in regard to the obligations of the CWC.
Keywords: chemical weapons; codes of conduct; OPCW; Chemical Weapons Convention; outreach; ethics; responsible use; public understanding of chemistry; IUPAC Committee on Chemistry Education.
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