Since the early 20th century, American chemical firms have drawn on raw materials derived from oil and natural gas. With these expensive, large-scale facilities in place, chemical firms used the magic of substitution to turn out myriad varieties of these basic chemical products to be used in myriad applications. When they raised the alarm about a particular chemical, chemical entrepreneurs did what the market incentivized and their training equipped them to do: find a slightly different molecule that could do the same thing. This would require a whole new way of doing chemistry — not just making safer chemicals, but making safer kinds of chemicals, possibly using entirely new starting materials and processes. The health of humanity — not just your sperm count — is at stake.

Source: New York Times July 31, 2017 20:03 UTC