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Environment

Be Careful Of ‘Green’

March 12, 2012 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 90, Issue 11

Feb. 13, page 26: Quest Diagnostics says its Stratify JCV test kits will be available in the second quarter of 2012, not next year.

I get nervous when I see the oft-used term “green” in technical news stories. A photo caption in the article about fermentative rubber substrates reads, “Green Wheels” (C&EN, Dec. 12, 2011, page 18).

However, at no point within the story is the relevant green argument made. Presumably, it is that pound for pound, isoprene’s fermentative CO2 material balance is favorable compared with nature’s and ethylene’s. Yet in another part of the story, the author hints that such a claim is improbable.

C&EN is a scientific publication. I expect a higher standard of reporting than generously sprinkling the term green about like so much seasoning.

By William A. Larsen
Southington, Conn

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