Chemistry: A Boon to Mankind, but when Misused Can Be Hazardous Essay Example

problems threatening the society. In Plastic Waste Management Awareness Creation and Public Education program launched by Ministry of Environment Science and Technology (MEST), the ministry declared an astounding statistic that seventy percent of plastic disposed in Ghana ended up in drainage system and other open spaces, and since plastic is non-biodegradable, it forms permanent clog in the sealed underground drain, which is a major cause for flooding.

Also, the lack of effort in treating plastic waste is demonstrated when Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that only seven percent of plastic waste in the world is recycled. After studying the long terms effect created by domestic chemicals and taking considerations on the impact of these products on multiple aspects especially environment and resources scarcity, the ideas f “treatment disposal” and “retirement and recovery” are incorporated into the products life cycle and subsequently causing a shift in production lines of various products particularly the domestic chemicals. This is to mitigate the negative environment impact of chemicals after its disposal. Back to the case of plastic, in the past twenty to thirty years, plastic-making industry has diverted its conventional productions line for plastic.

One of the most common examples is to insert carbohydrate or sugar molecule in plastic to make its products more bio-degradable etc. in order to reduce its environmental impacts. Problem such as clogging of underground piping system caused by the improper disposal of plastic waste can be then significantly reduced for these new plastics can be decomposed more easily and thus would not result in the formation of permanent clogs.

The case-study regarding plastic is just one of the many examples of

how the knowledge on effects of chemicals have contributed in modifying the production lines of domestic chemicals from manufacturing perspective, and with the growing understanding and studies regarding the long-term effect of domestic chemicals, there will be even more modification and diversion in the process of synthesizing domestic chemicals in the future. The widespread knowledge regarding chemicals and its impact changes not only the industry but also the consumers’ preference over the choices of domestic chemicals.

Chemicals’ database sharing network like PublisherChem, ChemSpider, and even the FDA agency have provided a tremendous amount of information regarding the effects, usages etc. of many domestic chemicals online. With the growing competition in food industries, addition of preservatives, coloring, flavoring to the food products has become a preference for most of the manufacturer in order to improve the taste, appearance and prolong the expiry date of their products.

In recent years, there are discoveries that show certain unpleasant side effect caused by food additives. Tartrazine (Sunset Yellow E110) for example, has proven to be one of the factors that cause hyperactivity in children, and sodium benzoate (E211) is known to be a potential carcinogenic compound after reacting with other chemicals found in human body, after the discovery, Coca-Cola announced that it would be phasing out sodium benzoate from many of its drinks in year 2008.

Also in Malaysia, acts such as 1983 Food Act, 1985 Food Regulation are signed to control the quantity of additives permitted in food. With the development of chemical database sharing network, food act etc. over the decades, it is not uncommon to see a general public preference shift from food

with flamboyant color, heavy taste to food with natural flavoring, and quote like “stop adding E numbers to my food” begin to emerge in the community. Everyone is going for a better or arguably more natural type of food.

Unfortunately, the shift of preference is only true in the relative affluent and middle-income society, for they have a wider range of choices over the food, and the people who live in poverty will still continue to consume food with high concentration of these unhealthy artificial food additives because the latter can be synthesized relatively easily by laboratory in large quantity, thus it can be sold at low price. Buildings have become more than just a compartment for people to stay, but a landmark that represents the culture of a particular place.

Advancement in material chemistry particularly in the research and synthesis of polymers has given rise to many buildings with intricate architecture. Such novel material has been found to have many advantages over its conventional alternatives such as concrete (the nightmare of architecture) and glass. Concrete is tough and able to withstand high tension, but it is incapable of building complex structure, glass makes building looks elegant but its advantage is simply outweighed by its fragility and large mass. Polymer is, however, able to withstand high tension, light and can be molded into different shapes.

In recent years, polymer such as ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) has become the creme de la creme of various well-known engineering firms like ARUP. ETFE is used by ARUP to build many notable buildings across the globe such as Beijing National Aquatic Center or affectionaly known to be

the water cube, Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany etc. The rapid progress in the development of material chemistry is changing many conventional thoughts on how a building should look like, and gives rise to the emergence of novel architecture, design and most importantly, it provides a new way for people to express their culture and heritage.

Chemistry in many ways is changing our society, it is a part of our lives that we constantly take for granted, and this ignorance has caused chemicals to be particularly vulnerable to the misusage by irresponsible parties. We should at least from now, be sensitive to the domestic chemicals around us, make efforts to understand the labels on chemical products, and play our part to ensure that knowledge of chemistry is only used for the benefits of mankind and the environment in synchrony with the marketing slogan used by DuPont Chemical Company, “better things for better livings…through chemistry”.