Document QO0br2kgQmbVNrNORrvRXgYL

') : * ` ,1 1 1 "` Industry/Business /i j Synthetic fiber markets held up well in June, ordi- ! narily a slow month for fibers, according to the ; Th U.S. should not abandon its breeder reactor R&D program and should go ahead with plans to build a breeder demonstration plant, says the TSeneral Accounting Office in a 149-page report released latest data from the Textile Economics Bureau. Total man-made fiber shipments for the month re mained at the level for May, while fiber inventories continued to decline. Stocks are now 3.5% lower than May levels and down 47% from their peak last December. Shipments for June were only 11% below the year-earlier level, compared with a 31% ' ; 'j late last week. That, in effect, is the same decision already reached by the Energy Research & Devel opment Administration. Development should con tinue, GAO says, because of uncertainties over future energy demand and U.S. willingness to con serve energy. The agency adds that a firm deci sion on commercializing the breeder is seven to 10 decline for May. : Allied Chemical will grow synthetic crystals for laser and electronics applications in a new plant in Charlotte, N.C. An industry source valued the project at more than $7 mill on Major products of its i j j I i .first phase, due for ccmc etion in March, will be magnetic garnet films for magnetic bubble memo- ; ries and epitaxial silicon films on sapphire for use in . ; semiconductors. Allied "as been making small j - quantities of both films for about three years and ; now is going into commercial-scale development. Mobay is offering a 5-gal polycarbonate bottle for the j bottled water market, following the lead by General Electric. Bottles made of Mahay's Merlon polycar- v years off, and during that time many of the breed er's safety, safeguard, and environmental prob/lems are expected to be reduced or eliminated. Birth defects cannot be correlated with vinyl chloride exposure, at least in Painesville, Ohio, the Center for Disease Control has found. Last March the Ohio Department of Health reported a significantly in creased rate of birth defects in three communities having polyvinyl chloride polymerization plants. But a followup study of the parents of the 14 af fected children showed that none of the parents had ever worked at the polymerization plants or livgd=W@n 2 miles of them. And a study of a simiAprarrjLinity in Pennsylvania showed no inses m the rate of birth defects. bonate are being marketed on the West Coast. GE^lj T announced last month the: its Lexan resignsi6eing nj 0 Conferees dropped the Bauman amendment from the I introduced in milk bothes, oaby bottle^ wljlsr \ NSF authorization bill, approving a S791 million bottles throughout the U.S. Scihrjprodua^s/stress budget for the agency for fiscal year 1976. The polycarbonate's lighter weicflw^tfta-^GE bottle Ford Administration had sought $775.4 million. weighs; a tenth of what a glasgifemTle would--and j The bill authorizes S377.6 million for research proj * unbreakability as advantages over glass. Advan- j ect support, about $3 million less than NSF asked tages over plastics include transparency, heat i for. And the compromise bill would have NSF resistance so that the bottles can be sterilized, ; spend 7.5% of its research applied to national and lack of contamination of the taste or odor of ! needs program budget, which totals about $65 . -thewater. ... ! million, for work performed by small R&D firms. Construction activity in the second quarter rose 29% . over the first quarter--the first quarterly increase ; International . since the end of 1973 and another indication that ; Opposition to Dow Chemical's entry into Japanese . the economy is beginning to recover from the re- j chlorine-caustic soda production, sparked by the cession, according to F. W. Dodge's construction Japan Soda Industry Association, has spread to index. The index slipped 4% from May to June be the Hokkaido prefectura! government. The pre ! cause of a drop in utilities construction that had i been exceptionally strong in April and May. But the fecture's assembly has passed a resolution urging Japanese government refusal of Dow's proposal June index is still 5% above its level in June 1974, ; to put a 1000 metric-ton-a-year (of chlorine) plant on stream by the early 198Q's (C&EN, July 28, Government j page 5). A prime prospective site is Tomakomai, a Hokkaido coastal district reserved for develop Legislation to set up a White House science adviser's ' ment into one of Japan's largest Industrial com office is being firmed up by the House Science & plexes. Technology Committee. Rep. Olin E. Teague (D.- Tex.) and Rep. Charles A. Mosher (R.-Ohio), the j Du Pont plans a major expansion of its Mexican oper chairman and ranking Republican on the commit ation, chairman Irving S. Shapiro announced last tee, have jointly introduced a bill that probably will : week. The company's present investment of more be quite close to what the committee eventually than $200 million in Mexico will be increased at votes on. The bill's major provisions include a least 25% during the next few years, he says, al statement of a national science policy, an Office though the specific areas for this investment are of Science & Technology Policy whose director not being disclosed. Du Pont has had facilities in and up to four assistant directors are appointed Mexico for 50 years and currently manufactures by the President and confirmed by the Senate, and a wide range of products there, including textile a 15-month study of the federal science apparatus. fibers, agricultural chemicals, and plastics. 10 CXPN Aonnst 4 1Q7X BFS 005332