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THE PROBLEM OF HAZARDOUS TOXIC SUBSTANCES: HOW SHOULD WE MAKE IT UNDERSTANDABLE FOR THE GENERAL PUBLIC O.Yu.Tsitser, the Executive Secretary of Section of Science and Engineering Board of the Ministry of Natural Resources In the long history of the humankind, only in the last 20th century (maybe we should also add a small period of 19th century), human beings and the environment have first encountered chemical consequences of progress in sciences and technologies. The dream of ancient alchemists became the reality. Endless search for more and more "clean" chemical compounds and invention of huge numbers of new chemical compounds, that have never been found in nature - all these developments resulted in fairly dialectical results - the quantity generated a new quality. Now, we produce artificial chemical compounds, which have never been encountered in nature, for almost all spheres of life - from medical drugs to construction materials. New thing are always attractive. However, the most dangerous consequences are associated with prevalence of the instinct of consumption over the instinct of self-preservation. We tend to reveal hazardous properties of new chemical compounds only when a jinni is out of the bottle. And now we have to discuss problems, that should have been addressed long ago, before making an ill-considered decision to develop and implement a new technology. The concept of "laboratory testing" has been reduced to a negligibly short period of time, nothing to say about the ecosystem approach, which was simply neglected. The state and corporations, that relentlessly contract development of new technologies (from nuclear to genetic ones) are not too interested in informing the general public on potential health and environmental consequences of these technologies, especially at the background of underdeveloped legislative base for environmental liability and largely non-existent mechanisms of alienating damages for health and life-supporting environment, mechanisms of insurance and expert follow-up in the course of marketing of new technologies. Only in 1995, a basic framework provision was incorporated into the Russian legislation on these matters - Federal Law "On Environmental Assessment" contains the key principle for assessment of safety of any human activities - the principle of "potential environmental danger of any planned production or other activities”. Now we may have some grounds for hope, that new technologies and new chemical compounds would become subjects to comprehensive laboratory tests and assessments. Now, the most serious threat is associated with chemical compounds and relevant technologies, that have been operating for a long time. These toxic compounds, their metabolites, by-products and production waste continue to be released to the environment and accumulate in environmental media. Besides that, many of these compounds pose serious difficulties for control. Analytical control of them may be expensive and underdeveloped, relevant standard control techniques are often simply non-existent, moreover, sometimes there are no official standards for residual levels of these toxicants in environmental media. For many years ordinary citizens were in euphoric mood, using products and goods, generated by new chemical technologies and witnessing immediate benefits of their use - from pesticides to paints of flaming colours, convenient synthetic wear and construction materials. Now, the mood is further fuelled by well designed advertising messages like "Comet for every day!". Therefore, the task of informing EVERY individual on all risks, associated with environmental releases of hazardous, toxic and other chemical compounds, is of extreme relevance now. Non-governmental organisations represent the best possible channel for raising public awareness in the sphere. The major problem, associated with use of this channel is associated with making scientific information and monitoring data easily understandable, with development of clearly defined and easily perceived environmental actions and protection measures, that could be used by ordinary citizens themselves. These measures should result in self-adaptation, informed individual responses to external risks, public participation in minimisation of adverse impacts, in environmental rehabilitation, promotion of demand for continuous environmental education, development of environmental ideologies and relevant civil values. |