Chemical process development public image

More and more chemical companies do recognize the fact that their image, their reputation, plays a very important role in successful business. A proper image of the company is necessary to ensure public support for its activities. A study done in the United States showed that only the tobacco industry and the nuclear energy sector had a worse reputation than the chemical industry. The situation in Europe is probably not very much different. On the other hand, process intensification, deeply anchored in the philosophy of sustainable development, in safe and environmentally friendly processing, presents perhaps the simplest, the most obvious key to the improved image of the chemical industry. 

One of the main challenges for risk assessors and managers is to make people aware that our knowledge on chemicals is incomplete and uncertainty is inherent to the risk assessment process, especially if mixtures are involved. This is a difficult task since the notion of uncertainty is in conflict with the traditional image of the natural sciences as a provider of unambiguous answers. Not only the general public suffers from this view, but also administrators and policy makers, who often consider uncertainty a nuisance in their search for clear answers and effective policy actions. Here lies an important task for risk assessors and communicators, that is, the development of adequate tools to identify, describe, quantify, and communicate... 

The American Chemical Society (ACS) publishes 19 primary journals. Chemical Abstracts (CA), computer-readable and on-line data bases, and many other publications in chemistry. Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), a division of the ACS located in Columbus, Ohio, does most of the computer processing and software development for these publications and data bases. ACS publications and data bases contain chemical structures, tables, equations, line drawings, and other images. CAS continues to automate the processing of graphics for both printed publication and on-line data base publication. 

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