the escher chems are in isolation one of the weakest gang traits, however they also got death maidens who are nails, so as a gang they are okay.
their toxin weapons are a poor early loadout choice because of this
I dont understand this, their toxin weapons arent bad, they are identical to everyone elses, and they have easy access to chem synths as well. but anyway, thats a who different conversation.
(Seriously, giving everyone access to a 15CR item that basically turns off gas as an option is just frustrating!)
so you would spend...150 creds (and rating) so give you the ability to ignore... one, maybe 2 weapons? against a single enemy gang? Man, you must have some bad gangs, with the anti blaze armour (to counter cawdor), night vision (to counter delaque), gas masks (to counter escher), thats getting on for 50 creds per fighter, plus I guess you would want drop rigs to counter falling.
Yes, it can be countered, and yes, if you are in a 2 gang campaign, it sucks as the one opponant can list tailor. BUT, thats not feasible normally, and the only time I've seen such things is when there is a delaque gang running around turning the lights off that others have invested in night vision. Toxin has never caused that reaction that I've seen, or heard about.
Okay, all that aside, to the OP:
technically yeah, no chems at start as others ahve said, however its a marginal thing, personally I dont see the big deal with having them (and even hiring a hanger on) at gang creation. Personally I'd wait until you can get the chemist though, and then view the d3*10 creds she generates as your 'budget' for chems, that just keeps being what you can take in chems the following game. Nothing major, but some nice extra bits here and there.