There is a great dispar.ity between the ability of the major industrial nations to produce and distribute chemicals and our ability to comprehend the nature and potential severity of unintended consequences for man, his life support systems and the environment generally. Furthermore, the gap between our ability to produce and distribute myriad chemicals and our ability to identify, understand or predict unfavorable environmental impacts may widen. As environmental scientists we are conscious of the interrelatedness, not only of environmental systems, but of nations as well. Materials are...

There is a great dispar.ity between the ability of the major industrial nations to produce and distribute chemicals and our ability to comprehend the nature and potential severity of unintended consequences for man, his life support systems and the environment generally. Furthermore, the gap between our ability to produce and distribute myriad chemicals and our ability to identify, understand or predict unfavorable environmental impacts may widen. As environmental scientists we are conscious of the interrelatedness, not only of environmental systems, but of nations as well. Materials are...

High-throughput screening and combinatorial chemistry are two of the most potent weapons ever to have been used in the discovery of new drugs. At a stroke, it seems to be possible to synthesise more molecules in a month than have previously been made in the whole of the distinguished history of organic chemistry, Furthermore, all the molecules can be screened in the same short period. However, like any weapons of immense power, these techniques must be used with care, to achieve maximum impact. The costs of implementing and running high-throughput screening and combinatorial chemistry are...