The ACS is a professional organization composed of many individuals with a variety of political opinions. Should the opinion of an individual, such as Rudy Baum, be expressed as the opinion of the group when the group has not even been surveyed for a consensus? I think it is very presumptive and I resent it.
Political opinions have also been expressed where the opinion of the publishing company ACS is at odds with its professional organization members. The members could benefit greatly from the free chemical information such as the NIH database, especially those with limited resources working as self-employed consultants, but ACS the publisher is trying to sell that same information. It benefits the ACS members, but not the publishing company, so what should be the official position of the group?
I agree with the previous writer. A scientific organization like the ACS should stick to advancements in our relevent fields. Like most citizens of this country, we all have specific political views, and thats good. But the role of ACS is to avoid the tendency to infuse politics into the science. This tends to dilute the importance and scope of the articles in our publications.