Acid!, you say, V8man. Wow! What a nasty word, evoking all those images from late-night horror movies on TV. Let's go past the silly hysteria, and look at the facts.
Did you enjoy your orange juice this morning? It contained citric acid.
Did your car start this morning? It depends on sulphuric acid in the battery.
How was that salad with dinner last night? Probably contained vinegar in the dressing - acetic acid.
There are hundreds of similar examples. We all use acids, of various kinds, every day. More critically, the industries which make the products on which we depend virtually all use acids.
V8man, it looks as if you do not understand the difference between acid rain (usually attributed primarily to high-sulfur fuels), and acid used in industry. It may come as a shock to learn that many kinds of acids are used routinely, and safely in a wide range of industries, all over the world - and notably, in the US.
The suggestion that an industrialised society could abandon acid use is laughable.
Equally ridiculous is the implication that the same industrialised society is unable to manage its use of acids in a safe and effective way. Yes, there have been many cases of unscrupulous manufacturers damaging the environment by wrongly discharging untreated waste, but that is now rare in our modern society. The Yarra River, in Melbourne, was a smelly, poisonous drain when I went to school, nearby. Not any more.
The chemical industry is fundamental to our way of life, here, in the US, and in all major countries. Isn't it time to replace irrational scaremongering with logical discussion about our lives?
Cheers,
Prime1
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