Public perception chemical industry

These challenges are critical to the profession of chemical engineering, the chemical industry, and our country. Risk assessment and management involve input from a multitude of different disciplines. The methodology is rapidly changing and extremely complex and reqrrires both technical input and input from professionals with expertise in legal, economic, judicial, medical, regrrlatory, and public perception issues. 

There is a serious problem with public perception that the chemical industry needs to correct. In a survey of 1,012 U.S. adults commissioned by the American... 

Most research on aroma recovery by organophilic pervaporation has been conducted using aqueous aroma model solutions [25-28], although in recent years significant interest has been devoted to the recovery of aroma compounds from natural complex streams, such as fruit juices [29-31], food industry effluents [32] and other natural matrixes [33]. The increasing demand for natural aroma compounds for food use, and their market value, opens a world of possibilities for a technique that allows for a benign recovery of these compounds without addition of any chemicals or temperature increase. However, in most situations, dedicated requests by industrialists are formulated in cooperation with marketing departments, which translate into the need for a correct public perception. 

The chemical industry, more than any other industry, is perceived as a threat to humans, society, and the environment. Nevertheless, the benefits resulting from this activity cannot be negated health, crop protection, new material, colors, textiles, and so on. This negative perception is more enhanced after major accidents, such as those at Seveso and Bhopal. Even though such catastrophic incidents are rare, they are spectacular and retain public attention. Thus, a fundamental question is raised What risk does society accept regarding the benefits of an activity, of a product Such a question assumes that one is able-a priori-to assess the corresponding risk. 

Public Perception of the Chemical Industry - its Structure and Significance... 

For the VCI, the issue of public perception is mainly focused on the image of the chemical industry in Germany. However, since Germany is the third largest chemical-producing nation in the world and exports over half its output in terms of value, and since German subsidiaries abroad manufacture products to a further... 

The Chemical Industry and Public Perception 359 Wilfried Sahm ... 

The pressure to eliminate particular chemicals or classes of chemicals comes in the form of considerable media misinformation and the singling out of certain companies as low scorers in overall environmental rankings. As a result, manufacturers of electronic equipment and other consumer and industrial goods have become more conscience of public perception and have started to restrict certain materials even without legislation to restrict these materials being in place. 

The Brussels Roundtable discussions also point out the interactions between the different stakeholders, e.g. the industry and consumers. As Terence Koh of the Singapore Chemicals Industry Council argued, the chemicals industry demands that it should not be reduced to a role of polluter and in fact, it has recognised that it does well in accommodating public concerns. Daniel Verbist of the European Chemicals Industry Council further argued that We need to learn from scientific progress as well as from public perception to update our knowledge and adapt our practice. ... 

Of major concern to the chemical industry is the public perception that facility managers have little concern for the welfare of their neighbors. Managers themselves have contributed to such false impressions by failing to interact with their communities in a consistent and meaningful way. 

Public perception appears to be focused on the risks rather than the benefits of chemicals production. A pan-European survey found that only 50% of the general public viewed the chemical industry as beneficial to society, whereas 93% consider that chemicals negatively affect human health [78]. Rarely do public debates on chemicals policy discuss the benefits that chemical products provide to society or how to best devise regulation that supports the competitiveness of EU chemical producers. The media eye sees only chemical risks and regulation responds with knee-jerk reactions. Society is faced with complex issues on the sustainability of the chemical industry, not just in terms of maintaining international competitiveness but maximising the potential for the application of innovative chemistry. 

Increasing international competition and poor public perceptions could jeopardise the sustainability of the EU chemical industry. REACH is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the stakes are high. Whether REACH seals or opens the coffin for many EU chemical businesses will depend on the finer details of its implementation, which appears to be in the hands of the EU Member States, the European Commission and the new European Chemicals Agency. 

Given the prominent role of the chemical industry in Germany42, it is not surprising that the German public holds one of the highest perceptions of the benefits of the industry in the EU [429, 430]. Several interviewees expressed similar views on the positive public opinion of the industry and described German companies as experiencing less pressure from environmental NGO than the other... 

Chapter 3 Views on Key Issues Facing the Chemical Industry This chapter looks at the public s perception of the chemical industry. The numbers of chemicals produced and the range of products that contain the chemicals have raised serious concerns about the impacts of chemicals on human health and ecosystems, which often boil down to the public s mistrust of the industry as a whole. This chapter highlights key issues, challenges and opportunities for the chemical industry, including the complex process of quantitative risk assessment... 

Section 3.2, The Chemical Industry and the Public Will the Chemical Experiment Continue opens with a summary of public concerns and how the chemical industry is perceived. Without increased scrutiny of chemicals, and their use in commerce and in products, perception of the chemical industry will remain unfavorable. The public sees the next few years as an unprecedented opportunity for the chemical industry to assume a larger burden of assessing and managing chemical risk to provide environmental and human health toxicity data and to promote green chemistry, safer substitutes, and innovation in the development of chemicals. 

From 1980 to 1990 in the United States, favorable opinion about the chemical industry fell from 30 percent to 14 percent, while public perceptions of the industry as unfavorable grew from 40 percent to 58 percent (CMA, 1993). Polls showed that the public believed the chemical industry had no self-control, did not listen to the public, did not put safety and the environment first, and did not take responsibility for its processes and products (Rees, 1997). 

Respondents believe the public has a very negative general perception of the chemical industry, although their own perception is only slightly negative. 

Despite the effort that has gone into implementing Responsible Care globally, public perception of the industry is still very low. Probably not surprising. The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) tested the blood of 14 European Union Environmental Ministers to determine levels of persistent chemicals (they all had man-made chemicals in their blood) and recent studies have indicated that Arctic animals have high levels of the brominated compounds that are typically used as fire retardants. With that kind of news in the media, it is hard to imagine a positive industry image. 

Figure 1.3 reports the results of a poll made by the UK Chemical Industries Association to analyze the general public s view of the chemical industry by (MORI survey) [21, 22]. Although the survey was limited to UK, it is indicative of the general perception of the chemical industry by the public [23]. A constant decline, with a maximum of unfavorable opinions around the end of the 1980s, is evident. 

Responsible Care is an initiative that originated in the chemicals industry in Canada in 1984 and was then further developed in the USA in 1988. Essentially, it is a voluntary industry action programme aiming to demonstrate improvements made in all aspects of performance. A key step is to involve all interested parties, including employees, local communities, suppliers and customers, in order to improve dialogue with a view to improving public perception of the issues and the industry s attempts to deal with them. 

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