ABSTRACT
Agriculture has become much more productive due to the new agricultural chemicals. Effective pest control became possible by the use of the chemically manufactured pesticides. Many of the beneficial chemicals such as pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, and various plastics were obtained by organic syntheses that involve toxic chemicals. Particularly, dangerous are toxic volatile organic substances, because they can escape to the environment faster than most solid materials or high boiling liquids. Toxic materials of all sorts were dumped into the rivers or other waters, under the assumption that they would be eventually diluted to the point that they would not be hazardous anymore. The Pollution Prevention Act of 1990 reflects the regulatory policy change from pollution control to pollution prevention as a more effective method. This act incorporates the green chemistry paradigm, which states that the focus should be on the benign chemicals/processes, as they prevent pollution.
