Top Topics – Ethics
In June 2026, the GDCh established an Ethics Commission. The GDCh is also active, either temporarily or on an ongoing basis, in various bodies working against 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 dialogue between academia and practitioners.
The GDCh is also represented on the Advisory Board of the “Competence Network on Chemical and Biological Weapons (CBW Competence Network)”, funded by the BMBF, 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’s 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 sets the framework for the destruction of chemical weapons.
The GDCh Commission “Ethics in Chemistry” has been in existence since June 2026. What is its role and ethos? We asked its chairs, Klaus Merz (KM) and Jennifer Strunk (JS). What is the Commission’s remit, and what goals do you want to pursue together with its members? Read the article by Klaus Merz and Jennifer Strunk in Nachrichten aus der Chemie or in the GDCh app (access for members at https://gdch.app/article/ethik-in-der-chemie-4161178).
The GDCh has established the new “Ethics in Chemistry” Commission. It aims to promote dialogue on responsibility, sustainability, scientific standards and the use of AI in chemistry. Initial projects include a platform for reflection, teaching materials, workshops and a digital lecture series. Read the article by Karin J. Schmitz (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 assistants and students, and reveal their fates. These people were absent as a corrective when the GDCh was founded. Read the article by Helmut Maier in Nachrichten aus der Chemie or in the GDCh app (access for members at https://gdch.app/article/verfolgung-emigration-widerstand-4143366)
Joint press release from the umbrella organisation 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 understand the criteria for the motivations behind their research and its consequences. Ethical considerations can be seen in examples such as atomic bombs, genetic engineering and rare earths. Read the article by Klaus Merz 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 fears that the warring parties might use chemical weapons. As chemists, we have a particular responsibility to prevent the manufacture and use of chemical weapons. The GDCh is active in various forums to raise awareness of this issue. Read the article by Karin J. Schmitz 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 in 2021, participants discussed the issue of dual use, that is, the use of research findings both for intended applications and for misuse. Another event with GDCh representatives followed in 2022.
After the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed repeated use of poison gas in Syria, including in February 2018, the German Chemical Society (GDCh) strongly condemned it. “We are appalled that people are once again 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 developed the “Hague Ethical Guidelines”, which were adopted in September 2015. Three GDCh representatives also took part in drafting them. 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 honoured the people who died there 100 years earlier in the first major poison gas attack of the First World War and in subsequent attacks. The chemistry community was represented by the then 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 science historian Helmut Maier on behalf of the GDCh, was published. In doing so, the German Chemical Society acknowledged its commitment to examining the history of its predecessor societies. This book, which runs to more than 700 pages, provides a detailed and independent study of the functions and structures of the DChG and VDCh from 1933 to 1945. Alongside its account of the structures created at the time, it also traces and illuminates individual fates as a warning for future generations.
Anyone wishing to become a member of the GDCh must sign the GDCh code of conduct. It states, among other things: “All GDCh members are aware that, as natural scientists, they bear 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, for example to produce chemical weapons and addictive substances. In developing, applying and disseminating chemical knowledge, they are committed to the truth and do not resort to improper methods.”