Chemical Spills, Environment, and Society

The use of chemicals and chemical products in the 21st century is comprehensive and widespread, and modern society depends on them. The chemical industry plays an important role in the industrial sectors of the economy, and many different chemicals are important in manufacturing, such as in pulp and paper, steel, aluminum, auto making, oil refining, and so on. In the agricultural production sector, chemicals are used in pesticides and as important ingredients in fertilizers. In the food sector, chemicals play a major role for processing foods. The transportation sector depends on fossil fuel products (gasoline and diesel). In our daily lives, we find chemicals everywhere. Some examples are flame retardants used in textiles in airplanes and public buildings and cosmetics, cleaning detergents, and paints used in homes. The use of chemicals is somewhat paradoxical. In smaller amounts and/or for certain purposes, chemicals are needed and effective. However, chemicals can also cause serious environmental and health-related problems. This entry reviews the scope of chemical use today, describes the harms that can result from chemical spills, and examines the potential harm associated with their regular use. It then discusses some of the paradoxical ways in which modern chemical use involves both benefits and costs.

There are 90 natural chemical elements, and in total, 111 chemical elements are known. The most common chemical elements (percentage by weight) in the Earth's crust are oxygen (45%), silicon (27.2%), aluminum (8.3%), ferrous (6.2%), and calcium (4.7%). The number of chemical compounds has grown dramatically since the end of World War II. Some of the most widespread and commonly used chemical compounds are petroleum products. In the North American and European markets, about 75,000 different chemical products can be found. These consist of about 13,000 different chemical compounds. Global production of chemicals has increased from 1 million metric tons/yr. (per year) in 1930 to 400 million metric tons/yr. of chemicals today, according to the Swedish Chemical Agency. Some of these chemicals are less harmful to health and environment, but we lack knowledge of the effects of many of these compounds, and there is a tendency to replace harmful compounds with new compounds that have not been sufficiently tested.

Many harmful compounds and products are being produced and transported despite large uncertainties about their effects on human health and the environment, and thus the massive use of chemical compounds could be better controlled. Chemicals are also related to environmental [Page 383]problems such as depletion of the ozone layer, acidification of soil and water, pollution of the seas, and concentration of long-lived organic chemical compounds such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), DDT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane), and dioxins.

A worker uses a water hose to clean Highway A5 near Frankfurt, Southwestern Germany, September 22, 2004. About 20 metric tons of methylamine, an inflammable and poisonous chemical, was spilled onto a road near the city of Frankfurt after an accident involving a hazardous goods transporter. Emergency services were attempting to contain the chemical, which was seeping into the ground and the nearby river Nidda.

Source: Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters/Corbis.