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 exchange between academia 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’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 establishes the framework for the destruction of chemical weapons.
The GDCh has established a new “Ethics in Chemistry” Commission. It is intended to promote discussion of 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 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 assistants and students, and reveal their fates. These people were absent as a corrective when the GDCh was founded. Read 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)
Joint press release by the umbrella organisation of geosciences (DVGeo), the German Mathematical Society (DMV), the German Physical Society (DPG), the German Chemical Society (GDCh) and the Association for Biology, Biosciences and Biomedicine in Germany (VBIO).
Researchers in the natural sciences should be familiar with criteria for assessing their research motives and its consequences. Ethical aspects can be seen in examples such as atomic bombs, genetic engineering and rare earths. Read 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 fears that the warring parties could 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. Read 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—the use of research findings both for desired applications and for misuse—was discussed in 2021. A further event involving 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 the attacks. “We are appalled that people are once again, and time and again, being killed 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” (in 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 during the first major poison gas attack of the First World War and in later attacks. The chemical 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 historian of science 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 organisations. This book of 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. Alongside describing the structures created at the time, it also traces and illuminates individual lives as a cautionary reminder 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 effects of their professional activities on people and the natural world. (…) 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 truth and do not resort to dishonest methods.”