Short items

  • Chemistry World science correspondent Katharine Sanderson has been named New business features journalist of the year by the Periodical Publishers Association’s Periodicals Training Council.
  • Nineteen of the 90 exhibitors at the BCPC crop science and technology conference, held in Glasgow, UK, have been served with injunctions for infringing patent law. Two companies refused to comply and were ejected from the conference. The action was made on behalf of agrochemical giants BASF, Bayer CropScience and Syngenta. The injunctions were served mostly on Chinese companies marketing products which infringe UK patents. 
  • The European group on ethics in science and new technologies (EGE) is exploring the ethics of nanomedicine. EGE members were briefed on nanomedicine by a representative of the director general for research and technological development. The briefing was ’an expert contribution and in no way influences the EGE’s eventual ethical advice’, said EGE chairman Michael Rogers. EGE will officially announce its nanomedicine opinion by April 2006.  
  • The University of Zurich, Switzerland, is accepting nominations for the 2006 Siegfried medal award in chemical methods that impact process chemistry. The medal, awarded biannually, carries an honorarium of SF10 000 (?4400). It will be awarded in Zurich on 21 September 2006. 
  • The Chemical Hazards Communication Society is to issue a limited number of copies of its Safety data sheets - user guide  (Chemistry World, July 2005, p58) at the discounted price of ?10. Instructions to purchase can be found on the CHCS website.