Chemical industry scrutiny

The replacement of established chemistries with newer ones is one of the classic drivers of change in the chemical industry. One of the current hotbeds of this kind of change is the replacement of brominated flame retardants in polymer formulations. The brominated flame retardants under the most scrutiny have been polybrominated diphenyl ethers, particularly penta- and octabromodiphenyl ether, which have been shown to be persistent in the environment and to bioaccumulate. Great Lakes Chemical is voluntarily phasing out penta- and octa-BDEs by the end of next year. The phaseout is made possible by the clean bill of health granted by EPA for Firemaster 550, a replacement for penta-BDE in flexible PU applications. BRG Townsend claims the phaseout of penta-BDE and octa-BDE is not as earth shattering as would be an exit from deca-BDE, a styrenics additive that is produced in the highest volume of the PBDEs. 

The absence of judicial review and of independent, external scrutiny of regulatory agencies, combined with the small size and relative political impotence of Sweden s chemical industry and the strong anti-industry sentimentin important parts ofthe public sector, have produced overzealous regulation of chemicals. This state of affairs is almost perfectly demonstrated in the following example. 

Nevertheless, events during the past 35 years have directed public and government scrutiny on the chemical industry and its unintended impacts on the environment and society. For instance, despite evidence of health effects linked to chemical exposure, a great majority of the chemicals found in our air, water, food, and everyday products lack basic safety data for human and ecosystem health, particularly that of developing organisms. Of the 100,000 chemicals in common use, 30,000 are used in volumes of one ton or more. Of these, 95 percent have little or no environmental or human health data, simply because prior to 1980 no data were required before marketing in the United States or Europe (Thorpe, Chapter 3, Section 3.2 of this volume). 

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. 

Increased scrutiny of any industry with a heavy environmental impact -especially the chemical industry. 

The leading sustainability companies in the chemical industry have made a public commitment to sustainable development despite the possibility that this commitment may result in extra scrutiny for those involved and present risks in terms of subsequent commercial and personal outcomes (Hemingway and Maclagan, 2004). This public commitment is a necessary component and antecedent to success in sustainable development. 

Across the United States, approximately 15,000 chemical plants, manufacturers, water utilities, and other facilities store and use extremely hazardous substances that would injure or kill employees and residents in nearby communities if suddenly released. Approximately 125 of these facilities each put at least 1 million people at risk 700 facilities each put at least 100,000 people at risk and 3000 facilities each put at least 10,000 people at risk, cumulatively placing the well-being of more than 200 million American people at risk, in many cases unnecessarily. The threat of terrorism has brought new scrutiny to the potential for terrorists to deliberately trigger accidents that until recently the chemical industry characterized as unlikely worst-case scenarios. Such an act could have even more severe consequences than the thousands of accidental releases that occur each year as a result of ongoing use of hazardous chemicals. 

Pt is, of course, not a good electrocatalyst for the O2 evolution reaction, although it is the best for the O2 reduction reaction. However, also with especially active oxides of extended surface area, the theoretical value of E° has never been observed. For this reason, the search for new or optimized materials is a scientific challenge but also an industrial need. A theoretical approach to O2 electrocatalysis can only be more empirical than in the case of hydrogen in view of the complexity of the mechanisms. However, a chemical concept that can be derived from scrutiny of the mechanisms mentioned above is that oxygen evolution on an oxide can be schematized as follows [59] ... 

Some information about cyanide toxicity in humans is available from research on accidental exposures—for example in industrial accidents—although the usefulness of these data is limited because exposure durations and concentrations are often not known or not reported, because small numbers of individuals were exposed, and because other details, such as possible exposure to other chemicals, also are often not reported. Scrutiny of blood cyanide concentrations in victims of cyanide poisoning could be misleading for the purposes of characterizing dose-response relationships, depending on the length of the delay before performing the assay (Chaturvedi et al. 1995). 

X HE LEVELS OF INDUSTRIAL CHEMICAL WASTES BEING DUMPED into our nation s coastal waters are constantly being monitored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NO A A). To carry out the frequent marine monitoring programs necessary to stay abreast of this problem, it was determined in 1977 that more expedient shipboard sampling and analyses systems would have to be developed. One area of prime interest for sampling and scrutiny was the surficial seafloor sediments. To enhance rapid data collection, the ability to analytically measure samples while at sea was essential. This capability would allow areas of interest to be delineated and studied in detail before the survey vessel returned to port. 

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