Chemicals, Human Health, and the Environment

As we enter the new millennium, chemical and energy technology practice is in the throes of a paradigm shift. During the past fi fty years there has been a growing awareness of the adverse effects of chemical products, byproducts and wastes upon human health and the environment, and the development of federal and state regulations has been an important fi rst step in the redress of these problems. This book provides a history of these early years from a scientific and sociopolitical perspective to provide the necessary background for charting a course for the new millennium. The sources of pollution of the air we breathe, the water we drink, the land that provides our sustenance and the blood that courses through our veins are no longer regional or even national in scope and it is clear that new ways of thinking are required to insure that the ongoing evolution of chemical and energy technology is in keeping with the needs of all the people and ecosystems of planet earth. The book concludes with an environmental credo to provide the technical, political and ethical bases for the paradigm shift to a sustainable balance among chemicals, human health and the environment.