Societal issues

Engineers consider the consequences of their work and societal issues pertinent to it and seek to extend public understanding of those relationships. 

The two main societal issues that create a need to reconsider the current use of fossil fuels are the cogeneration of C02 in stoichiometric ratio to carbon used in the fuel and depletion of fossil oil reserves. 

Risk assessment is a multi-step process to relate the association of exposure to a chemical or physical agent with adverse outcome. Initially the focus was human health but now it has broadened to include wider environmental and ecological concerns. Risk management is a more overtly political process directed at determining an action based on relevant public and environmental health goals, cost, societal issues, and other related or even unrelated issues. An important part of risk management is balancing the risks, costs, and benefits - never an easy task. 

Problems to be solved are related to membrane stability (of polymeric membranes, but also the development of hydrophobic ceramic nanofiltration membranes and pervaporation membranes resistant to extreme conditions), to a lack of fundamental knowledge on transport mechanisms and models, and to the need for simulation tools to be able to predict the performance of solvent-resistant nanofiltration and pervaporation in a process environment. This will require an investment in basic and applied research, but will generate a breakthrough in important societal issues such as energy consumption, global warming and the development of a sustainable chemical industry. 

Fuming flasks, white lab coats, explosions, toxic substances—these are images that often come to mind when people think of chemists and chemistry. For ordinary people, chemistry is often vastly misunderstood and is often considered too difficult to grasp. Steve Zumdahl (1993) writes that it is impossible to define (chemistry) concisely because the field is so diverse and because its practitioners perform such an incredible variety of jobs. This statement provides a much broader vision of chemistry than simply the study of matter. An understanding of chemical concepts is essential not only for chemistry majors but also for other science majors and even students with undecided majors as it leads to a richer understanding of other science disciplines, health fields, and societal issues. 

The HGP is spurring medical advances. But this powerful knowledge also raises important issues. For example, if a person s genome map shows a predisposition for a certain illness, should an employer or insurance company be informed While the HGP is opening exciting doors, the associated ethical, legal, and societal issues must be acknowledged and addressed. 

Communicating Ideas Research some of the ethical, legal, and societal issues being raised by genome research. Write a brief essay giving your opinion about how one or more of these issues could be addressed. 

Undeniably, genomics and pharmacogenomics opens up a whole host of legal, ethical, and societal issues that will have implications in patient confidentiality, discrimination, malpractice, and informed consent (135-137). However, as clinicians, scientists, and health care practitioners, we must always remember the unquestionable power of an individual s right to choose, and prospectively fight to ensure patients rights and prevent genomic discrimination. 

Teachers and coaches have the idea that a coherent program is achieved. Students are able to connect their chemical knowledge to societal issues. They learn to communicate about chemistry. They obtain an adequate basic knowledge of chemical methodology and chemical principles to be able to continue in further education. 

COMPETENCY 4.0 UNDERSTAND THE RELATIONSHIP OF CHEMISTRY TO CONTEMPORARY, HISTORICAL, TECHNOLOGICAL, AND SOCIETAL ISSUES... 

Therefore, the particular hazards of the Gulf War have resonance to general societal issues and concerns. There is, for example, a powerful antivaccination lobby which receives frequent media coverage, as exemplified by the controversy over whooping cough vaccination, and more latterly MMR vaccination (Jefferson, 2000). Likewise, the intense concerns around the use of DU munitions seem less related to its toxic properties (those of a heavy metal), and more to the powerful emotional impact of its assumed link with radioactivity (actually weak), engendered by the term uranium . 

Aguinis, H. (Ed.). (2004). Test-score banding in human resource selection Technical, legal, and societal issues. Westport, CT Praeger. 

Dealing with waste is one of the important hot-button societal issues of any country, where waste prevention including the capability of reusability has highest priority in the waste hierarchy defined by the waste framework directive (European Union, 2008). Reuse option stands as the second highest priority, next to waste prevention in the order of hierarchy. When we talk about reuse, at times the material under question might need preparation for being reused, which is also included in the reuse option that is discussed here. 

Research into cloning methods and procedures continues today and has proved to be a sensitive ethical and societal issue. A repeatedly asked question is Why do it Supporters of the practice give numerous answers to the question, including the need to save rare or endangered animal species, and the need to produce more quality food for an ever-increasing world population. 

Risk management requires value judgments that integrate social, economic, and political issues with risk assessment. Risk assessment is the province of scientists, but determination of the acceptability of the risk is a societal issue. It is up to all of us to weigh the benefits against the risks in an intelligent and competent manner. 

Before proceeding with this study of chemistry and its relationship to our society, you might want to examine your prejudices (if any) and attitudes about chemistry, science, and technology. Many nonscientists regard science and its various branches as a mystery and think that they cannot possibly comprehend the basic concepts and their relation to societal issues. Many also have what has been christened chemophobia (an unreasonable fear of chemicals) and a feeling of hopelessness about the environment. These attitudes are most likely the result of news stories about the harmful effects of technology. Some of these harmful effects are indeed tragic. 

Chapter 1 continues to set the philosophical tone for the book. Three major and current societal issues involving chemistry are introduced. An introduction to fossil fuel use and its relationship to global warming has been added. There is an expanded discussion of risk/benefit analysis. 

World of Chemistry boxes describe new developments related to chapter topics, or focus on science-related societal issues that often raise difficult questions that do not always have clear-cut answers. In the previous edition, these boxes were called Science and Society and Frontiers in the World of Chemistry. 

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