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Environment

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February 12, 2018 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 96, Issue 7

 

Letters to the editor

Company of the Year

I was surprised to read in the C&EN of Jan. 1 that Chemours was selected as C&EN’s Company of the Year (page 20). This suggests that C&EN is not in tune with what is going on in our country, or maybe its focus is mainly on the financial returns. For someone who worked for the chemical/pharmaceutical industry for over 30 years, I recognize that financial returns are important for the success of any company. However, companies need to conduct their businesses properly so as not to pollute the environment.

Chemours has been acting irresponsibly for a long time: It has been adding GenX-related chemicals to the Cape Fear River at Fayetteville, N.C., since 1980. This has led to the pollution of the drinking water of several counties whose water comes from the Cape Fear River.

The StarNews of Wilmington, N.C., reported this news in June 2017. Since that time, I have been making efforts to help remediate the GenX-related contamination. I have been in touch with various people in scientific and legislative fields, including Gov. Cooper’s staff involved with GenX issues, to help them develop a strategy to remedy the contamination problem. Our top priority should be to protect the health of our citizens.

And until we know about the health effects, Chemours must stop discharging the contaminants.

To prevent water quality disasters, I organized a symposium, “Monitoring Water Quality & Infrastructure To Prevent Future Flints,” for the American Chemical Society meeting in Washington, D.C., where I discussed the GenX problem, which included potential solutions. This was followed by a Science Café in our section.

I think C&EN should publish a story to correct the situation. You can count on my help, if necessary.
Satinder (Sut) Ahuja
Calabash, N.C.

Editor’s note: This week’s cover story is about GenX contamination in the Cape Fear River (page 28).


Corrections:

June 12, 2017, page 18: A feature story about commercialization of metal-organic frameworks incorrectly represented the surface area of the materials. The surface area of MOFs can exceed 2,000 m2/g, not 2 km2/g.

Jan. 29, page 9: In the Chemistry in Pictures caption on recrystallizing iodine, the term for the phase transition from gas to solid was incorrect. The opposite of “sublimed” is “deposited,” not “condensed.”

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