Turning Green; November 1993; Scientific American Magazine; by Gary Stix; 3 Page(s)

Life for the synthetic chemist used to be simple. He (or very occasionally she) simply had to know how to mix inexpensive chemical feedstocks to achieve high yields of one of the thousands of industrial ingredients that make up the accoutrements of modern living, from Tupperware and roller- blade wheels to Valium. Now the industrial chemist's world has been complicated, even darkened, by the fact that many of the ingredients in time-honored recipes are featured on the mostwanted lists of the ecological watchdogs at the Environmental Protection Agency.

For its part, the EPA has done more than just growl. A year ago the agency began a small grants program to encourage the discovery of environmentally kind alternatives for the billions of pounds of toxic substances that are released into the environment every year.