Opportunities in Chemistry Today and Tomorrow (1987) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
VI. The Risk/Benefit Equation in Chemistry
VI. The Risk/Benefit Equation in Chemistry
Pages 203-222
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 203... ...
Gasoline is probably the most dangerous compound that the average person will ever encounter on a daily basis. Yet this same average person stores 5 to 10 gallons at home (in the car's gas tank)
|
From page 204... ...
But gasoline and DDT are excellent examples because they point out vividly the fact that handling all of these chemicals must involve some risks. We have only recently realized that minimizing risks must be considered to be as important a dimension of progress as maximizing benefits from technological change.
|
From page 205... ...
A toxic chemical can cause illness soon after exposure, which is called acute toxicity. Another chemical can have no immediate effect, but it may be injurious much later, after continuous, long-term exposure; this is called chronic toxicity.
|
From page 206... ...
Before jumping to the conclusion that dairy products cause colon cancer, we must remember that colon cancer appears in older people and that U.S. citizens live a lot longer (on the average)
|
From page 207... ...
Is There a Dose-Time Relationship? TABLE VI-1 Dioxin's Lethal Dose Varies from Species to Species Animal Guinea pig (male)
|
From page 208... ...
There are examples in the opposite direction as well. Liquid mercury has a rather low vapor pressure, about one millito~T, and breathing it continuously has no immediate effect on health.
|
From page 209... ...
In the United States, life expectancy has steadily risen throughout this century, and it continues to rise at a rate of 3 years of additional age per decade. This impressive statistic can ease some of the anxiety about modern, technological nsks, and steady our resolve to deal with them in an attentive, prudent, and rational way.
|
From page 210... ...
The outcome at that time was that the ozone would be lowered in the next few decades by at most 20 percent if chIorofluorocarbon use were continued. Since stratospheric ozone shields us from ultraviolet radiation, this depletion, if it were to occur, would cause a predictable increase in the number of nonfatal skin cancers in the U.S.
|
From page 211... ...
TABLE VI-2 Media Treatment of Three Chemical Spills Incident 10,000 gallons of toluene leaked into bay Newspaper Headline Chemical Scare Blocks Estuary Toluene—the ``T'' in TNT __. White solid substance Giant Traffic Jam spilled on roadway Scare Closes Bay Bndge MEDIA TREATMENTS OF ''Mystenous white Chemical Scare on Gate Bndge CHEMICAL SPILLS substance" found in roadway Table VI-2 lists three incidents that occurred during 1983 in the San Francisco Bay Area.
|
From page 212... ...
These facts and the outcome- that no one was injured- add perspective to this undesirable accident, but they were not effectively communicated to the public. The second incident caused the closure of the Bay Bridge during the peak commute hours, trapping 20,000 autos and disrupting the plans of their 40,000 occupants heading to work, to the airport, to the hospital, or to visit the San Francisco Art Museum.
|
From page 213... ...
Most chemical spills are well-handled and contained, but there have been, and will continue to be, rare but serious industnal accidents in which there is the possibility of catastrophe. While the potential dangers do not approach the centur~es-Iong and worldwide impact of a Chernobyl reactor meltdown, we are reminded by Bhopal and the recent chemical spills into the Rhine River that large-scale industrial operations pose real public risks.
|
From page 214... ...
Certainly, a factor has been the extreme and well-documented toxicity for guinea pigs and mice, coupled with the fact that there are some well-established, though most often temporary, human ailments caused by severe exposure. It does help to show that the '~chronic risk" to any individual, even those living near TCP chemical plants, is negligible compared with the chronic risks involved in driving a car, smoking cigarettes, eating peanut butter sandwiches, or drinking beer or wine.
|
From page 215... ...
The plant was sited near Bhopal to manufacture pesticides, an essential element of the "green revolution" in a country trying to come to grips with its most cntical national problems, starvation and maInourishment. This plant had three large, underground storage tanks containing the volatile and toxic liquid methyl isocyanate, which is an immediate precursor to several effective herbicides.
|
From page 216... ...
. Union Carbide has its biggest MIC production plant at Institute, West Virginia (10 times bigger than the Bhopal plant)
|
From page 217... ...
There should be an enforced safety zone around a chemical plant, and care should be exercised in the placement of chemical plants. There is now an increased awareness in communities near chemical plants, and in this country, many chemical industries have responded to this awareness with active communication programs that directly involve the local citizenry.
|
From page 218... ...
In Sh Lanka over 1bb same time period, 1be meads toU went Mom 12~000 deaths per year 10 zero! The Wodd BeaRb O~ganizabon of the Onited Nabons teas credited this wonder cbemica1 Bob saving possibly 30 miDion Eves ham mama alone.
|
From page 219... ...
In conclusion, we should be reminded that our quality of life and steadily increasing longevity are directly attributable to our technological advances in chemistry. An approach to chemical hazards based on unreasonable fear can deprive us of health-restoring drugs, essential sources of energy, increased food supplies, useful commodities, and industrial productivity.
|
From page 220... ...
220 THE RISKIBENEFIT EQUATION IN CHEMISTRY SUPPLEMENTARY READING Chemical & Engineering News "BhopaI" by W Lepkowski (C.&E.N.
|
From page 221... ...
CHAPTER VII Career Opportunities and Education in Chemistry
|
From page 222... ...
A suitable location was fourth at NASA's Goddard Flight Center, where 5,000 books from the Library of Congress took a simulated flight, not on a rocket into space, but in a laboratory space-simulating vacuum chamber. First, the books were thoroughly dried by wing under vacuum for about 3 days.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.