The influence of science in chemical disarmament | Jonathan Forman | TEDxYouth@ISH
well I'm going to tell you about an organization I work for whose purpose is to make the world a better place and we make the world a better place by striving to eliminate chemical weapons if you think about chemical weapons you might think about chemistry chemistry is very interesting take this picture here this is chlorine something you might see in a chemistry lesson doesn't look like anything very dangerous does it but it was one of the first chemicals to be used on industrial scale in warfare in the First World War and the chemical weapons treaty that I'm going to talk about over the next few minutes has a list of chemicals schedules we call them of chemicals that the countries that sign the treaty need to pay particular attention to in how they regulate chemistry and chemicals within their borders but if you look at that list quite complicated list chlorine is nowhere to be found chlorine of course used as a weapon is still a violation of the treaty and it's certainly regulated just not under laws specific to a chemical weapons treaty which begs the question what kind of chemicals must be on this tree well very nasty things nerve agents that inhibit biological functions mustard agents that cause blisters one of the worst chemical weapons used in the First World War but interesting thing about mustard agents you might have heard of a compound chemical called nitrogen mustard it's actually used as a chemotherapy drug can you imagine that a chemical warfare agent that's actually on that list but is also used in medicine and how many chemicals actually are there scientists come up with about fifteen thousand new chemicals every day that get added into a database that tracks these things that's about a hundred and fifty five million more chemicals in that database today in 2016 than there was in 1993 that's the dotted line on that chart when that chemical weapons convention or treaty that I'm that I mentioned was first sight how do diplomats and policymakers make decisions about chemistry this room that you see here on the screen is hardly a lab or hardly a classroom to learn about science but science and chemistry in particular have influence over diplomatic negotiations take for example the events in Syria science alone certainly won't won't put a put an end to everything that's going on there but in 2013 it was chemistry chemistry results from scientists that influence decision makers to negotiate the removal of 1,300 metric tons of toxic chemicals associated with the chemical warfare program out of Syria and have them destroyed within a year those chemists of course don't wear white lab coats they dress more like this and as a science policy advisor and science advisor I get to talk to diplomats and explain the science behind the chemistry that not only use chemical weapons but is used to protect people against chemical weapons the treaty that I'm speaking about was open for signature in 1993 it's about to enter its 20th anniversary being in force tonight from 1997 and we have 192 countries States Parties the diplomats call them that are adherent to this treaty the OPCW for its work in chemical disarmament was awarded the nobel peace prize in 2013 and if you think about this work about destroying chemical weapons take for example this purple this purple line at the top of this chart that's the number total number of chemical weapons chemicals that have been produced and declared by countries that are members of this treaty that are that they're obligated to destroy and what they're obligated to destroy is everything shown in black that has been destroyed that's pretty amazing more than 70,000 metric tons of chemicals that militaries have put up for destruction and more than ninety percent of it in 2016 has actually been destroyed how does one actually destroy chemical weapons well you need to know some chemistry so that's pretty amazing chemistry is chemical weapons but chemistry also makes chemical weapons go away pretty cool how does one actually implement a chemical weapons convention well I told you about the destruction of chemical weapons there's also non-proliferation and what this it means in some of the activities that the OPCW does is that international chemical weapons inspectors go around the world and visit chemical facilities commercial facilities in countries that are members of this treaty can you imagine that chemical weapons inspectors at the and not opposed by the governments of those countries coming in and checking things out in a chemical production facility it's all about transparency insha in the country's showing that they have nothing to hide and then there's two other aspects of treaty implementation countries helping them helping each other building trust with one another because that's how treaties work and how does this work countries provide emergency response assistance to one another in case of a chemical incident and they also use science chemistry to build international collaborations chemistry chemists collaborating on science projects across international borders chemistry for peace if you will so as a science policy advisor what do i do I get to talk to politicians and diplomats I'm the man on the right is the director general of the OPCW because in their decision-making they're often given information that come from my colleagues who might dress like this and they need to understand something about the scientific dimensions into decisions that they're making and on on other days I get to work with interns and students from universities and talk about science and talk about how science and chemistry influence a chemical weapons treaty fun stuff because science is fun but science also can influence decision-making on an international level and in the end science is not the only solution but it was definitely an important ingredient in making the world a better place thank you