The Chlorine Debate: How White Do You Want It?
...the building
element vital to almost every United States industry. We use chlorine and
chlorine-based products whenever we drink a glass of water, buy food wrapped in
plastic, purchase produce in the supermarket, pour bleach into a washing machine,
have a prescription filled, print out a computer document like this one, or even
drive a car. (Abelson 94)
Chlorine, a member of the halogen (salt-forming) group of metallic
elements, was first made by Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele in 1774, who
treated hydrochloric acid with manganese dioxide. In 1810, the English chemist
Sir Humphrey Davy determined that chlorine was a chemical element and named it
from the Greek word meaning greenish-yellow. One hundred and eighty-five years
later, chlorine compounds are ubiquitous components in the manufacturing of
paper, plastics, insecticides, cleaning fluids, antifreeze, paints, medicines,
and petroleum products. The unfortunate and unavoidable by-product of these
manufacturing processes is dioxin, one of the most toxic substances on the
planet earth. Dioxins are also produced whenever chlorine containing substances,
such as PVC, are burned.
Life as we know it will change, if a Greenpeace campaign is successful.
The powerful environmental group has mounted a well-organized campaign that has
as its objective nothing less than a total, worldwide ban on chlorine. With the
public health and billions of dollars at stake, the debate over chlorine has
become one of the world's most contentious and controversial issues. "Is a
chlorine-free future possible?" asked Bonnie Rice, a spokesperson for
Greenpeace's Chlorine Free Campaign. "Yes, it can be done without massive
disruption of the economy and of society, if it is done in the right matter."
(Gossen 94)
The chlorine industry and its allies say a total ban on chlorine would
be neither wise, possible, nor...
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