This new initiative demonstrates a process and tools for managing the security vulnerability of sites that produce and handle chemicals, petroleum products, pharmaceuticals, and related materials such as fertilizers and water treatment chemicals. Includes: enterprise screening; site screening; protection analysis; security vulnerability assessment; action planning and tracking.

The U.S. Department of State charged the Academies with the task of producing a protocol for development of standard operating procedures (SOPs) that would serve as a complement to the Chemical Laboratory Safety and Security: A Guide to Prudent Chemical Management and be included with the other materials in the 2010 toolkit. To accomplish this task, a committee with experience and knowledge in good chemical safety and security practices in academic and industrial laboratories with awareness of international standards and regulations was formed. The hope is that this toolkit expansion product will enhance the use of the previous reference book and the accompanying toolkit, especially in developing countries where safety resources are scarce and experience of operators and end-users may be limited.

Recent advances in disciplines such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and neuropharmacology entail a "dual-use dilemma" because they promise benefits for human health and welfare yet pose the risk of misuse for hostile purposes. The emerging field of synthetic genomics, for example, can produce custom DNA molecules for life-saving drugs but also makes possible the creation of deadly viral agents for biological warfare or terrorism. The challenge for policymakers is to prevent the misuse of these new technologies without forgoing their benefits . Innovation, Dual Use, and Security offers a systematic approach for managing the dual-use dilemma. The book presents a "decision framework" for assessing the security risks of emerging technologies and fashioning governance strategies to manage those risks. This framework is applied to fourteen contemporary case studies, including synthetic genomics, DNA shuffling and directed evolution, combinatorial chemistry, protein engineering, immunological modulation, and aerosol vaccines. The book also draws useful lessons from two historical cases: the development of the V-series nerve agents in Britain and the use and misuse of LSD by the U.S. Army and the CIA. Innovation, Dual Use, and Security offers a comprehensive, multifaceted introduction to the challenges of governing dual-use technologies in an era of rapid innovation. The book will be of interest to government officials and other practitioners as well as to students and scholars in security studies, science and technology studies, biology, and chemistry.

Richard M. Price asks why, among all the ominous technologies of weaponry throughout the history of warfare, chemical weapons carry a special moral stigma. Something more seems to be at work than the predictable resistance people have expressed to any new weaponry, from the crossbow to nuclear bombs. Perceptions of chemical warfare as particularly abhorrent have been successfully institutionalized in international proscriptions and, Price suggests, understanding the sources of this success might shed light on other efforts at arms control.To explore the origins and meaning of the chemical weapons taboo, Price presents a series of case studies from World War I through the Gulf War of 1990-1991. He traces the moral arguments against gas warfare from the Hague Conferences at the turn of the century through negotiations for the Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993. From the Italian invasion of Ethiopia to the war between Iran and Iraq, chemical weapons have been condemned as the "poor man's bomb." Drawing upon insights from Michel Foucault to explain the role of moral norms in an international arena rarely sensitive to such pressures, he focuses on the construction of and mutations in the refusal to condone chemical weapons.

Since the publication of the second edition several United States jurisdictions have mandated consideration of inherently safer design for certain facilities. Notable examples are the inherently safer technology (IST) review requirement in the New Jersey Toxic Chemical Prevention Act (TCPA), and the Inherently Safer Systems Analysis (ISSA) required by the Contra Costa County (California) Industrial Safety Ordinance. More recently, similar requirements have been proposed at the U.S. Federal level in the pending EPA Risk Management Plan (RMP) revisions. Since the concept of inherently safer design applies globally, with its origins in the United Kingdom, the book will apply globally. The new edition builds on the same philosophy as the first two editions, but further clarifies the concept with recent research, practitioner observations, added examples and industry methods, and discussions of security and regulatory issues. Inherently Safer Chemical Processes presents a holistic approach to making the development, manufacture, and use of chemicals safer. The main goal of this book is to help guide the future state of chemical process evolution by illustrating and emphasizing the merits of integrating inherently safer design process-related research, development, and design into a comprehensive process that balances safety, capital, and environmental concerns throughout the life cycle of the process. It discusses strategies of how to: substitute more benign chemicals at the development stage, minimize risk in the transportation of chemicals, use safer processing methods at the manufacturing stage, and decommission a manufacturing plant so that what is left behind does not endanger the public or environment.