Advertisement
Grab your lab coat. Let's get started
Welcome!
Welcome!
Create an account below to get 6 C&EN articles per month, receive newsletters and more - all free.
It seems this is your first time logging in online. Please enter the following information to continue.
As an ACS member you automatically get access to this site. All we need is few more details to create your reading experience.
Not you? Sign in with a different account.
Not you? Sign in with a different account.
ERROR 1
ERROR 1
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
ERROR 2
Password and Confirm password must match.
If you have an ACS member number, please enter it here so we can link this account to your membership. (optional)
ERROR 2
ACS values your privacy. By submitting your information, you are gaining access to C&EN and subscribing to our weekly newsletter. We use the information you provide to make your reading experience better, and we will never sell your data to third party members.
Letters to the editor
Pesticide poetry
In the wake of a federal court’s ruling to uphold the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision not to ban chlorpyrifos (C&EN, July 24, page 15), a reader wrote a poem.
Song of Chlorpyrifos
Let us now sing of chlorpyrifos, downbeat on py, /
a complex organophosphate, accent on phos— /
insecticide, acaricide, miticide.
Decidedly, the musical, topical chlorpyrifos /
is a killer. It so targets mites, ticks, and the like /
it moved Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris /
to urge EPA head Scott Pruitt to reverse /
an Obama Administration ban on its use.
So, soon after a little tête-à-tête /
as an aside at an annual industry conference, /
good friend Scott, for a great many years dead set /
against the agency and now out to spite /
Obama, complied, opening up the floodgate.
But wait, there’s a second verse, stress on perverse, /
in our song on this multi-cide, not just greed, worse— /
the killing of facts, insights, and children. Scientific studies show that chlorpyrifos /
can damage development in children’s brains, /
a consequence these men seem to disdain. /
Liveris, doing his job with unsubtle legerdemain, /
is simply trying to boost his bottom line, but Pruitt, privateer wafted into public service /
on the wave of the wand of Donald the Barbarian, /
in dismissing the science and the scientists /
who made it, dismisses multiple bests /
of adult minds, and in children, so many promises.
Llyn Clague
Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.
From the web
Re: Writing the human genome
A reader proposes an idea for genome writing.
cenm.ag/writinggenome
Nice review of plans and progress in a challenging and controversial set of projects. It does seem that starting with the mouse genome instead of human would yield many of the same insights and tools, and an easy test-bed for assessing genome-level changes w/o provoking a predictable ethical backlash; but perhaps the latter response was part of these creators’ plan to stimulate an open discussion?
Gordon Robinson
Advertisement
Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2024 American Chemical Society
You might also like...
The power is now in your (nitrile gloved) hands
Sign up for a free account to get more articles. Or choose the ACS option that’s right for you.
Already have an ACS ID? Log in
Join the conversation
Contact the reporter
Submit a Letter to the Editor for publication
Engage with us on Twitter