Yale School of Public Health Professor Paul Anastas, widely regarded as “the father of green chemistry,” is one of several Yale scientists calling for a fundamental shift in chemical design and engineering to protect the planet—and its inhabitants—moving forward.
Yale School of Public Health Professor Paul Anastas, widely regarded as “the father of green chemistry,” is one of several Yale scientists calling for a fundamental shift in chemical design and engineering to protect the planet—and its inhabitants—moving forward.
If the global community is to sustain a healthy planet and civilization, Anastas and colleagues argue in a paper recently published in the journal Science, the evaluation of new chemical products and processes must extend beyond consideration of function and performance to include their potential impact on human health and the environment. From the moment new chemical compounds and products are designed to their production, use and ultimate disposal, scientists must consider whether they are “depleting versus renewable, toxic versus benign, and persistent versus degradable,” the authors said.
Anastas, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III Professor in the Practice of Chemistry for the Environment and director of the Center for Green Chemistry and Green Engineering at Yale, took some time recently to elaborate on the paper’s primary message.
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Image: Professor Paul Anastas. CREDIT: Yale University
