Top Topics – Ethics
In June 2026, the GDCh established an Ethics Commission. The GDCh is also temporarily or permanently active in various bodies opposed to chemical weapons. For example, it is a member of the German working group “Disarmament and Non-Proliferation of Biological and Chemical Weapons”. The working group was established in 1997 and is supported by various organisations. Among other things, its aim is to deepen knowledge of biological and chemical arms control through exchanges between science and practice.
The GDCh is also represented on the Advisory Board of the BMBF-funded “Competence Network on Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW Competence Network)”, which began its project work in April 2022. Among other things, the network works to strengthen the norms against chemical and biological weapons (CBW).
From 2016 to 2021, the GDCh was represented on the OPCW Advisory Board on Education and Outreach. The OPCW is an independent international organisation that monitors compliance with and implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and establishes the framework for the destruction of chemical weapons.
The GDCh has established the new Commission “Ethics in Chemistry”. It is intended to promote dialogue on responsibility, sustainability, scientific standards and the use of AI in chemistry. Initial projects include a reflection platform, teaching materials, workshops and a digital lecture series. Karin J. Schmitz’s article (Free Access) in the GDCh app: https://gdch.app/article/neue-gdch-kommission-ethik-in-der-chemie.
New findings from biographical research provide figures on persecuted chemists, laboratory technicians and students and reveal their fates. These people were absent as a corrective when the GDCh was founded. Helmut Maier’s article in Nachrichten aus der Chemie or in the GDCh app (access for members at https://gdch.app/article/verfolgung-emigration-widerstand-4143366)
The GDCh has established the new Commission “Ethics in Chemistry”. It is intended to promote dialogue on responsibility, sustainability, scientific standards and the use of AI in chemistry. Initial projects include a reflection platform, teaching materials, workshops and a digital lecture series. Karin J. Schmitz’s article (Free Access) in the GDCh app: https://gdch.app/article/neue-gdch-kommission-ethik-in-der-chemie.
Joint press release by the Association of Geosciences (DVGeo), the German Mathematical Society (DMV), the German Physical Society (DPG), the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and the Association of Biology, Biosciences and Biomedicine in Germany (VBIO).
Researchers in the natural sciences should be aware of criteria for the motives behind their research and its consequences. Ethical aspects become apparent in examples such as atomic bombs, genetic engineering and rare earths. Klaus Merz’s article in Nachrichten aus der Chemie or in the GDCh app (access for members at https://gdch.app/article/wissen-wie-zu-handeln-ist-4138912)
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, there have been concerns that the warring parties might use chemical weapons. As chemists, we have a particular responsibility to prevent the production and use of chemical weapons. The GDCh is active in various areas to raise awareness of this. Karin J. Schmitz’s article in Nachrichten aus der Chemie or in the GDCh app (Free Access): https://gdch.app/article/gegen-chemische-kampfstoffe-4133151
In a joint event with Leopoldina and the German Research Foundation, the issue of dual use was discussed in 2021, meaning the use of research findings both for intended applications and for misuse. A further event with GDCh representatives followed in 2022.
After the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) had confirmed the repeated use of poison gas in Syria, including in February 2018, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) strongly condemned the use. “We are appalled that people are once again, and repeatedly, being murdered or injured with chemical warfare agents,” said Dr Matthias Urmann, then President of the GDCh, in a press release entitled Chemists Condemn the Use of Poison Gas in Syria.
At the time, Europe’s chemical societies, including the GDCh, reaffirmed their commitment to the Seville Declaration, issued in 2016. The declaration, signed by 36 chemical societies in Europe, states: “We, the member societies of the European Association for Chemical and Molecular Sciences (now the European Chemical Society, EuChemS), condemn the use of chlorine in Syria and other parts of the world and call on the international community to bring those responsible for the misuse of chlorine to justice”.
Under the leadership of the OPCW, more than 30 scientists and representatives of chemical societies and organisations developed the “Hague Ethical Guidelines”, which were adopted in September 2015. Three GDCh representatives were also involved in their development. The GDCh Board supports the Hague Ethical Guidelines.
“Hague Ethical Guidelines” (English), German translation of the “Hague Ethical Guidelines”
In April 2015, a commemorative event in Ypres, Belgium remembered the people who died there 100 years earlier during the first major use of poison gas in the First World War and in later attacks. The chemical community was represented by the then serving Presidents of the GDCh and EuChemS, Thomas Geelhaar and David Cole-Hamilton, and the then Past President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, David Phillips.
In 2015, the study Chemists in the Third Reich, written by the historian of science Helmut Maier on behalf of the GDCh, was published. In doing so, the German Chemical Society acknowledged its responsibility to examine the history of its predecessor societies. The book, which runs to more than 700 pages, provides a detailed and independent study of the functions and structures of the DChG and the VDCh from 1933 to 1945. In addition to describing the structures created at the time, it also traces and examines individual fates as a warning and reminder for subsequent generations.
Anyone wishing to become a member of the GDCh must sign the GDCh code of conduct. Among other things, it states: “All GDCh members are aware that, as natural scientists, they have a particular responsibility for the impact of their professional activities on people and nature. (…) They comply with the laws and international conventions applicable to their work and its results and effects and oppose the misuse of chemistry, e.g. for the production of chemical weapons and addictive substances. In developing, applying and disseminating chemical knowledge, they are committed to the truth and do not use dishonest methods.”