ABSTRACT
The chemical industry has grown enormously in recent decades. It provides petroleum fuels, antibiotics and other drugs, plastics, pesticides, food preservatives, agricultural fertilizers, and so, without which our society cannot survive. About 100,000 chemicals are estimated to be in daily use, and of these, approximately 7000 are produced commercially in comparatively large quantity. Most of these substances have little or no adverse environmental effects, but some may be harmful to human health or the natural environment (Connell & Miller, 1984). Often these effects only become apparent after wide and prolonged usage, and then control measures are introduced. Clearly, there should be an effective testing and evaluation program to determine those chemicals that present a potential environmental hazard before use. Many countries have developed hazard evaluation programs for new chemicals. Some have indicated that this control program will be their major environmental management program for the foreseeable future.
