Anticipating Technological Change: Combinatorial Chemistry and the Environment
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to speculate, or suggest, how combinatorial chemistry may influence the environment and environmental policy. Technological change is frequently identified as a primary determinant of how human activities affect the environment and human health. Yet policy makers often have little opportunity to posit how technology development may change or affect current policies in the future. This paper is an attempt to look at one technology, combinatorial chemistry, and to suggest how it may or may not affect our current system. The genesis for this paper was a talk given by Dr. Paul Anderson, Vice President of Chemical and Physical Sciences, DuPont-Merck at a RAND Critical Technologies Seminar (The Critical Technologies Institute at RAND has since been renamed the Science and Technology Policy Institute). In his presentation he suggested that combinatorial chemistry would enable the simultaneous synthesis of significantly greater numbers of compounds than are routinely synthesized today.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Apr 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA393075
Entities
People
- Elisa Eiseman
- Susan Resetar
Organizations
- RAND Corporation