Improving public understanding of science

A view of the past president of the American Chemical Society

By Clayton E Cnllis

A major goal of the celebrants of the 20th anniversary of Eartb Day should be to improve public understanding of science and of chemistry in particular.

We live in a chemical world, and chemical science is central to much of our technological progress. This pro- gress has created, in much of the world, a society that is more affluent, better educated, longer lived, and with more leisure time than ever before. People in developing countries and, as is so evident at this time, in Eastern Europe, want the freedom and life-style enjoyed by those living in the West. But

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in the United States, our way of life is threatened by the lack of public under- standing of science and technology and of chemistry in particular.

Polls (including one by ACS) have indicated that only 5 % of adult Ameri- cans claim to understand basic scien- tific concepts or issues of science pol- icy, more than 70% want curbs on scientific activities, and only half of our 17-year-olds believe science is useful.

One facet of the problem is that our elected representatives interpret the public will as desiring more and tougher regulations on facilities using and handling chemicals. The regulation of American industry began in earnest

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in the early 1970s. Smce that time, the wonder why industry in the United The thrust of the ACS effort is educa- amount of environmental regulation has States has problems being competitive tion to overcome scientific illiteracy. Ig- exoloded. In 1972. there were fewer with industrv in J a m and the develoo- norance has alwavs been the most dam t h k 500 pages of federal environmen- tal regulations; tcday there are more than 10,000. This does not include reg- ulation of work place exposure by the Occupational Safety and Health Ad- ministration. The increase in the amount of state environmental legisla- tion and regulation has been much greater.

Let us consider, as an example, a leading current issue. Congress is con- sidering the reauthorization of the Clean Air Act. It has vowed that we shall have clean air, and because of this it gets points from the voters. EPA has focused on cutting industrial emissions and putting catalytic converters on new automobiles. The agency got points, and budget increases, from Congress. Industry cut back on releases and got points from the agency. And so, at the end of the chain, the public expected the air would be cleaned u p b u t it didn’t happen. The air in some cities is still so bad that Congress is imposing prohibitions on industrial consbuction. But that won’t solve the problem either.

The reason is that (m a typical mid- western city) vehicles account for 33% of emissions; dry cleaning and printing for 23%; and solvents, paint, and other surface coatings for 25%. Together that’s 81 %, as opposed to the industrial portion of 18%. The portion attribut- able to automobiles is more significant in major metropolitan centers, where the air is generally of the poorest qual- ity. On the pie chart of air pollution sources, industry has a relatively small slice, and you can’t reduce the sue of the pie very much by reducing the sue of the smallest uiece. The bottom line is

ing nations: Now’the public has &e right-to-know! But will this right-@ know achieve public understanding when roughly &O% of adult Americans lack even a rudimentary understanding of chemistry?

Further, is there any requirement that chemists or engineers be appointed to the response and planning commiaees? Not that I can find. Shouldn’t their knowledge be used?

These two examples alone should tell you that we must educate the public about science and technology. If we don’t, our technology-based society will not prosper and perhaps may not even survive.

“lf we don’t have pub& srcpport for the development of technoloa we wiR not be able to cope with the pmblems of feeding, cb&g, and housing the . . . ppuiWon of the wo?lz. . .?’

I am pleased to report that the ACS Board of Directors has decided to take some action on the prohlem of the pub- lic understanding of science. It has launched several new, targeted pro- grams. Critical to implementing these DIO- is the Campaign for Chemis-

gerous enemy of mankind. It invariably spawns fear and superstition and invites the ~ r u p u l o ~ s among us to exploit these weaknesses. Ignorance of chem- istry and chemicals spawns irrational fears that result in legislative and ad- ministrative failures such as the exam- ples I have described.

Everything in the world is made of chemicals. We eat, wear, and use noth- ing else. Synthetic chemicals are rarely more hazardous than the natural ones that common vegetables and other plants generate for self-protection.

The American Chemical Society is dedicated to supporting effective educa- tion programs to help overcome the general scientific ignorance that per- vades the thinking of the U S . popula- tion and its elected representatives.

Another program is the ACS-sup ported exhibition, Science in American Life, planned for opening in 1993 at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC. The Smithsonian is visited by 5 million people of all ages each year.

The campaign also includes major support for the Arnold and Mabel Beckman Center for the History of Chemistry, located at the University of Pennsylvania. The center was estab- lished in 1981 through a joint effort of ACS and the university. The center has great potential for contributing to a bet- ter public understanding of human achievement in science.

Achieving public understanding of science will require the best coopera- tive efforts of all of those interested in Earth Day activities. If we don’t have public support for the development of technology, we will not be able to cope

that the public ;till does not understand that it is the activities of individuals that

&,-an ambitious thke-year, $35-mil- lion fund-raising drive. More than half

with thebroblems of feedimg, clothing, and housing the ever-increasinc! wDula-

create the environmental problems we encounter.

Let me cite another example. One regulation designed to inform the pub- lic is Title III of the Superfund Amend- ments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, often called the right-to-know law. This law requires industries that use and handle chemicals to inform the public of much of their chemical proc- esses and safety procedures. The law also requires every state and thousands of communities to set up emergency re- sponse and planning committees. EPA has estimated that decisions on plan- ning and emergency response will in- volve 3000 local committees and at least 200,000 people across the United states.

EPA also estimated the cost to indus- try at $4 billion over the next decade. These expenses are added on to the manufacturing cost of goods. And we

of the funds =-targeted to provide as- sistance for science education for all age groups.

The leading program is the imple- mentation of an innovative chemistry curriculum for high school students, CHEMCOM (Chemishy in the C o r n - nif)). CHEMCOM is a course for col- lege-bound high school students who do not plan to pursue a science career. The strategy of the course is to identify several societal problems whose. solu- tions require knowledge of some chem- istry and to have students study these problems so they will recognize the need to understand and then want to study the relevant chemistry. The text is now available from a commercial pub- lisher. The successful implementation of this curriculum requires additional training of teachers. Funds raised in the drive will be used for the training of teachers.

tion of the world, nor will we beable to achieve the “sustainable global envi- ronment” sought by the organizers of Earth Day celebrations. I hope these initiatives of the American Chemical Society for improving the public under- standing of science will inspire others to embrace the same goal.

Chyton E Callis is vice-presidenr of the environmental consulting firm Chelan Associates of St. Louis, MO. He has held several positions at Monranto C o m p ~ y in St. Louis, including direc- tor-level positions in environmenial op- erations, technology planning, and R&D. He earned his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Illinois. Callis was elected president-elect of ACS for 1977 and served as president in 1989 and as a member of the h a r d of Directorsfrom I977to 1990.

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