News
& Notices
Organizations & People
Standing
Committees
Divisions
Projects
Reports
Publications
. . CI
. . PAC
. . Macro. Symp.
. . Books
. . Solubility Data
Symposia
AMP
Links
of Interest
Search
the Site
Home
Page
|
|
Pure Appl. Chem. Vol.
73, No. 8, pp. 1231-1236 (2001)
Pure and Applied
Chemistry
Vol. 73, Issue
8
Implementing green chemistry. An environmental policy
for sustainability*
Joe Thornton
Columbia Earth Institute, Columbia University
#2430, New York, NY 10027, USA
Abstract: A diverse cocktail of synthetic chemicals
is now globally distributed in the environment, food web, and human
tissues, posing significant health risks to humans and wildlife. The
current approach to environmental regulation is inherently inadequate
to address the scope and complexity of this problem. A fundamental
shift in paradigm is required to protect human health and ecological
systems from chemically induced damage. The concept of green chemistry
represents a critical part of this shift, but it is not sufficient
per se. Only if green chemistry is conceived as part of a new policy
based upon precautionary, democratically guided implementation of
sustainable production technologies will it contribute significantly
to establishing an ecologically compatible production base.
*Lecture presented at the IUPAC CHEMRAWN
XIV Conference on Green Chemistry:Toward Environmentally Benign Processes
and Products, Boulder,Colorado, USA, 9-13 June 2001. Other presentations
are published in this issue, pp.1229 1330.
Page last modified 15 November 2001.
Copyright © 2001 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions or comments about IUPAC, please contact, the Secretariat.
Questions regarding the website, please contact web
manager.
|