
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 28, 1990                   TAG: 9003280357
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

PENTAGON MAY FORCE GAS SALES/ FIRMS REFUSING TO SUPPLY CHEMICAL

The Pentagon confirmed Tuesday that it is considering forcing two chemical firms to sell the Army a key ingredient for poison gas.

A spokesman defended the administration's policy of maintaining a chemical weapons stockpile.

The Army has used up its supplies of the chemical thionyl chloride, accrued from the 1950s, and has sought new supplies from Occidental Petroleum Co., and the Pittsburgh-based Mobay Corp., a subsidiary of the West German chemical firm Bayer AG, officials said.

Both companies have refused to supply the chemical and told the Pentagon their corporate policies bar them from providing chemicals that would be used in the production of chemical weapons.

Given the firms' responses, officials from the two agencies are conferring on what action to take.

The administration could invoke the Defense Production Act of 1950, which gives the government the authority to compel the sale of material to the Pentagon for reasons of national security.

In the meantime, "The Army is attempting to locate thionyl chloride from other sources," Pentagon spokesman Bob Hall said.

The chemical is used to make the poison gas to fill the artillery shells for binary chemical weapons that could be used in battle.

President Bush has decried the proliferation of chemical weapons and the administration has proposed a treaty limiting their use. But pending an international accord, the administration contends the United States must maintain a supply of such weapons to deter their use by other nations.

The administration also has attempted to block the export of the chemical to nations believed to be involved in chemical weapons production.

Hall noted that the next step could be up to the Department of Commerce, which as yet has not directed the companies to provide the chemical to the U.S. government.

He said there are other companies that could be potential sources of the chemical, but he declined to identify them or state whether they were able to supply the material.

by CNB