Marketplace: 'Green chemistry' hitting the market:
KAI RYSSDAL: When he said it, Timothy Leary was talking about LSD. But the slogan, 'Better living through chemistry,' originally came from DuPont. Actually, the whole catch phrase was 'Better Things for Better Living . . . Through Chemistry.' DuPont's point was chemistry can improve our daily lives. Decades of toxic spills, pollution and Superfund sites might make you think twice about that. But the backlash has inspired something called green chemistry. And now it's moving out of the laboratory and into the marketplace. Here's Sarah Gardner from the Sustainability Desk.
SARAH GARDNER: If green chemists had their way, there'd be no need for massive toxic clean-ups or class-action consumer safety lawsuits, or company spokesmen forced to defend their most popular brands.
DUPONT SPOKESMAN: In fact, cookware coated with Teflon has been used safely by tens of millions of people for over 40 years and is safe when used properly and as directed.
That was DuPont recently, on the defensive over a long-lasting chemical used to make Teflon. That chemical may ultimately prove safe. But the point, say advocates of green chemistry, is to determine safety before products go to market, not after. Paul Anastas is one of the movement's founders:
PAUL ANASTAS: Green chemistry is the design of new products and processes that reduce or eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.
Anastas and fellow scientist John Warner wrote what you might call the bible of green chemistry in 1998. The book challenged chemists to design with the environment in mind. In the past few years companies like Cargill, Archer Daniels Midland and Pfizer are taking a stab at it.
TV COMMERCIAL: I'm back. I'm back. We're back. If you or your partner isn't living life to the fullest because of erectile difficulties. . . .
Bet you didn't know green chemistry is now behind Viagra. Pfizer"
