what the implications of their manufacture and use may
In short, without chemicals and their fascinating and
be, both immediately and over extended periods of time.
myriad interactions, there could be no life of any kind, let
The cautious approach is not necessarily a bad thing,
but it does not address the reality that without chemicals,
So the problem is really not about 'chemicals' as such,
as we know and use them today, we could not lead the
but rather their appropriate and responsible use, as well
modern lives we have.
as how they are manufactured, moved and stored, and
So we need to employ some different (not
preconceived) thinking when it comes to the complex
•
This applies not merely to issues of product and
production
'chemicals' in our day-to-day lives.
management and other obvious considerations, but
safety,
transportation,
storage,
waste
increasingly to wider impacts such as energy usage, water
conservation and other key sustainability aspects.
That is why the recent announcement by the Chemical
For a one thing, even your thoughts are based on
and Allied Industries' Association (CAIA) around its
chemicals, specifically neuro-chemicals. Your whole body
Responsible Care initiative is significant – and why you
runs on thousands upon thousands of chemical reactions
are reading this article.
every second inside your cells, in messages that move
What, ultimately, could be better than the chemical
between the billions of cells that make up who you are,
and related industries' players themselves seeing the
and in the nerve impulses that tell you whether something
need for such an initiative, and that the number of these
is hot or cold to the touch.
parties joining CAIA's Responsible Care initiative (RC) is
Smell runs on chemicals, as does sight – and even
DIGIMAG
the impact of all that on the environment.
issue of how we see and understand the role of
Everything is a
chemical
ODYSSEY 80
alone human life or 'life as we know it'.
growing?
breathing is about exchanging one lung-full of gaseous
This initiative directly addresses, among other
chemicals (mostly carbon dioxide) for another lung-full
elements, the longer-term sustainability issues around
of gaseous chemicals, hopefully most consisting of fresh
energy
air rich in oxygen, which also happens to be the chemical
management, with a growing number of industry players
that gives us life in the first place.
thinking far beyond their traditional concerns around
consumption, water
utilisation and waste