The world-wide production of chemicals on an industrial scale is a relatively recent development. Today we face massive environmental problems resulting from production and use, storage, transport, handling and disposal of chemicals - problems that never troubled societies in previous centuries, when such substances were used mainly in traditional crafts and trades. Along with contemporary problems have come vastly increased risks to workers, the population at large, and the environment.
Today there are more than eight million known chemicals.
Around 70,000 are in common use, including pharmaceuticals and pesticides, and as many as 1,000 new chemicals may be coming onto the market each year. We create between 300 and 400 million tones of hazardous wastes each year. In addition, agricultural pesticides are deliberately released into the environment in large amounts. By accident they may enter water systems, food chains and, eventually, our own bodies. The greatest obstacle to our safe use and disposal of chemicals is ignorance.