Chlorine
can be unpleasantly detected by your nose at concentrations as low as 3 ppm.
It's toxic to humans in its elemental form. It can react explosively with
turpentine, ether, ammonia, hydrocarbons, hydrogen, sawdust, and phosphorus. Most
grocers have to store the chlorine containing bleach far from the ammonia (check it out at
the grocery store). Chlorine derivatives can generate poisons and can deplete the
precious ozone layer. These are the usual facts that we hear about chlorine.
Consider the millions of lives that automobile accidents claim every
year. Yet automobiles make our lives very convenient by allowing travel.
Automobiles, like chlorine, are very beneficial when used properly. In fact,
chlorine is much more important to our lives than automobiles.
Chlorine, in the form of hydrochloric acid, digests the food in our
stomachs. Our immune systems use chlorine to help fight disease. Chlorine
disinfects our water, protects our crops, and serves as a vital building block for many
important chemicals. In fact, by disinfecting our water alone, chlorine has
increased world life expectancy by 50% and has dramatically decreased infant mortality
rates. 85% of all pharmaceuticals contain or are manufactured with chlorine!
To summarize, just like many things in our lives we must use chlorine
properly. CFC's and other harmful chlorine derivatives are now being phased out.
So please go easy on chlorine....your life depends on it!
References:
Singh, Y.R. and K.K. Roy Showdhury, "Chlorine in the Service of Society",
Chemical Engineering World, March 1998, Vol. XXXIII, No. 3.
