TÁC ĐỘNG HOÁ CHẤT Hầu như hàng ngày người ta đọc báo cáo trên báo chí về mối nguy hiểm mới được tìm thấy hoặc nghi ngờ trong thực phẩm, thuốc và các sản phẩm khác. Công nhận thức về hiểm họa có thể có trong các sản phẩm hàng ngày đã tăng lên rất nhiều. Hút thuốc lá, amiăng, chất thải độc hại, nguy hiểm (một lần được gọi là chất thải công nghiệp) được thảo luận rộng rãi. Vấn đề kết quả từ các công nghệ tiên tiến đang được phát hiện với một tốc độ đáng báo động | EFFECTS OF CHEMICALS Almost daily one reads reports in the press about new dangers found or suspected in foods medicines and other products. Public awareness of possible perils in everyday products has increased greatly. Smoking asbestos toxic and hazardous wastes once called industrial wastes are widely discussed. Problems resulting from technological advances are being uncovered at an alarming rate. While it is possible to predict with some accuracy benefits to be expected from improvements and new approaches in applied science seldom have serious efforts been made to determine adverse effects resulting from these. The general public is increasingly aware of potential hazards from new products and processes and the trend in industrialized countries is toward greater control and regulation of hazardous undertakings. The question as to the more effective approach gentle persuasion to gain voluntary compliance or strong legislation for strict regulation has not been satisfactorily answered. Probably there never will be agreement. In the United States the Office of Technology Assessment was dissolved. The stated reason was that this Office did longterm studies which were not immediately useful to a legislator. In remarks at the Conference on Technical Expertise and Public Decisions at Princeton University the then Chairman of the House Science Committee said that it was more desirable to depend on the views of those most interested in the topic the lobbyists. The relationship among the air water and soil is not a static one. Effects of a pollutant may be demonstrated progressively in the various compartments into which the environment is divided. A substance may be initially present without apparent ill effects in one compartment. Later the same substance or a demonstrable derivative may appear in a different part of the environment in a most undesirable way. An excellent example is the high mercury level found in fish. Initially it was felt that disposal into the .
