The welfare of the western industrialized countries is based on technologies which require chemicals both in the working environment and in the home. While these chemicals are extremely valuable and useful, their production, use and disposal can be hazardous to human health and the environment.
The term chemical is used to refer to substances (elements and compounds) and preparations (mixtures of substances). Some 5,000 different substances are produced in very large volumes. There are tens of thousands of chemical products on the market, each of them usually containing a number of different substances. About 3,000 substances are classified as hazardous due to their adverse effects on human health and the environment or because they are flammable and/or explosive.
Modified 18.10.2010 Lipponen Mari