Over 100,000 chemicals are currently registered for sale in the European Union. The human health and environmental impacts of only a small percentage are known. However past experiences suggest a significant potential of danger. In addition, most of our synthetic products do not fit into the natural material cycles and thus could not be neutralized by nature.

Previous attempts to deal with that have been inadequate. A new orientation is necessary: green chemistry, which is oriented to the principles and materials of nature and creates products which fit into the natural carbon cycle.