APPENDIX IV 



Problems in Waste Management Need 



As America's technological giant continues to 

 grow, it becomes ever more ravenous for better 

 information. In doing so, this giant also casts a 

 powerful spotlight over broad areas of ignorance — 

 untilled fields that should be producing food for 

 the giant. 



The development of digital computers opened 

 up a capacity to effectively digest vast quantities 

 of complex data towards attaining an optimal 

 solution to sophisticated problems. As an example, 

 these computers are the sine qua non in advanced 

 planning for river basin development. They en- 

 able the programer to take into account all perti- 

 nent inputs, both stochastic and determinative ; all 

 prevailing constraints; and all desirable attain- 

 ments on development. This provides for a realistic 

 appraisal of alternatives in social and economic 

 objectives. The capacity of the computer to handle 

 such programs has often focused onto the serious 

 dearth of accurately accrued data, both physical 

 and economic. 



Experience has amply shown that an advance- 

 ment in one area of science or technology may have 

 wide ramifications in many other areas. In the 

 process, the demands for pertinent technical and 

 economic information snowball. 



When Fritz Haber of Germany synthesized am- 

 monia from atmospheric nitrogen in 1910, one can 

 rest assured that he gave no thought that his dis j 

 covery would cause massive problems on animal 

 waste disposal in the United States. Following 

 World War II, synthetic nitrogenous materials for 

 fertilizers were produced so abundantly and so in- 

 expensively that it became cheaper for the farmer 

 to supply plant nutrients to his fields from the bag 

 than from barnyards and feedlots. Endless prob- 

 lems arose as to just what to do with huge accumu- 

 lations of a socially unattractive product. 



World War I gave a major impetus to the work 

 of organic chemists in new products. By the end 

 of World War II, a whole array of organic com- 

 pounds began to appear that worked miracles on 

 controlling pests of people, crops, livestock, and 

 forests. Unfortunatel}-, some of these chemicals had 

 other repercussions in the environment. A myriad 



ng Attention in Agriculture and Forestry 



of new problems arose concerning their use and 

 abuse. 



When Henry Ford developed the assembly line 

 in 1912 and initiated mass production of a low- 

 cost car, he opened the door to literally putting 

 the United States on wheels. Unfortunately, a gas- 

 eous exhaust system was also associated with the 

 wheels. The effects of air pollution emanating from 

 millions of automobile exhausts upon human 

 health and comfort, and plant and animal life, 

 have become of prime concern in our efforts to im- 

 prove environmental quality. 



Because of a successful test at Los Alamos, N. 

 Mex., on July 16, 1945, our atmosphere will prob- 

 ably never again be free of radioactivity. 



Past experience reveals that technological prog- 

 ress usually spawns whole families of unforeseen 

 problems. Research must not only seek answers for 

 the problems of today, but also anticipate the key 

 questions that will loom up in the future. 



The need for sound information relative to pro- 

 duction, management, use, and control of wastes is 

 so vast that no one responsible for direction of re- 

 search in this area will ever emulate the U.S. Com- 

 missioner of Patents in the early 19th century who 

 resigned from his post on concluding that every- 

 thing that could possibly be invented, had been in- 

 vented. As a consequence, the director of research 

 pertaining to wastes must carefully evaluate all 

 the possibilities and place his resources on the most 

 promising ones. 



Radioactive Substances 



The need for additional information on how to 

 cope with radioactive contamination of the en- 

 vironment depends on things to come: things 

 largely unknown but rife in speculation. If the 

 problems wore confined to the effects of natural 

 radioactivity found in the effluvium from uranium 

 mines, the need would not be serious. If we art 

 be prepared to counteract accidental releases of 

 radionuclides from research laboratories or nu- 

 clear power plants, then we must be confident of 

 available decontamination procedures. If radio- 

 so 



