To a chemist, chlorine is the perfect compound.
Easily combining with other elements and molecules, chlorine is transformed into new classes of chemicals with an endless array of uses. It disinfects water, cleans clothes, kills bugs, degreases metals, bleaches paper. It has long been vital to the synthesis of plastics, drugs, microchips and many other products around the globe.
But to environmental scientists, chlorine is a perfect nightmare.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Sunday, September 21, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 28 words Type of Material: Correction
"Green" chemistry: An article in the A Section on Friday's about the limitations of more environmentally friendly "green chemistry" said chlorine was a compound; it is an element.
Fumes seeping from a tanker could kill thousands. Some formulations are linked to cancer. And several notorious chlorinated compounds, including DDT, chlorofluorocarbons and PCBs, have saddled society with many of its costliest environmental problems.
Though great strides have been made in reinventing some chemicals and products, most industries remain dependent on thousands of hazardous substances such as chlorine. Many obstacles, including insufficient investment and lack of training, keep chemists from embracing green chemistry and designing safer substitutes for the vast majority of compounds in use today.
Of the estimated 83,000 chemicals in commerce, only a few hundred are "green." Hundreds of others accumulate in human bodies, build up in nature or are linked to diseases such as cancer. For many of the rest, the risks are unknown or uncertain.
"Today, chemists can make virtually any molecule, no matter how structurally complex, using the synthetic methods available to them. On the other hand, only a very small percentage of the chemical products are made following the principles of green chemistry," says a 2005 National Academy of Sciences report called "Sustainability in the Chemical Industry."
The industry -- which had $637 billion in global sales in 2006 and employs 7 million people -- has begun to focus more of its efforts on environmental health and safety, but the transformation is occurring slowly.
"I believe 100% that it will happen, but what terrorizes me is how long will it take? A decade? A generation? A century?" said John Warner, a former University of Massachusetts chemistry professor who is now president of a research company, Warner Babcock Institute for Green Chemistry. "Right now, it's not nearly the pace it should be."
In 2006, 12 of the largest chemical companies, including BASF, Dow, DuPont and Rohm and Haas, hired consultants to explore ways to make their industry more environmentally friendly. After nearly a year of research, the consultants concluded the industry was "fiercely defensive" with a "bunker mentality" that was impeding progress.
