preface

Chapter 1: Understanding Materials

1.
Substances that were known but not properly known
2.
A modern-day alchemist who forgot ethics
3.
Discussing the toxicity of chemicals
4.
Atoms and elements
5.
Chemistry is the story of electrons
6.
A world made with just over 100 ingredients
7.
Coexistence of zinc and mercury

Chapter 2: Understanding Matter

1.
Why are substances created?
2.
Matter only changes shape; the material does not disappear.
3.
A substance that has had a great influence on human civilization
4.
Molecular architecture of arrangement and combination
5.
Chemistry that resembles human desire
6.
Take out Earth's time
7.
The emergence of new materials
8.
The nature of matter

Chapter 3: Creating New Materials

1.
Starting with one carbon - methane, chloroform, methanol
2.
Stop Boiling Fire Ants - Formaldehyde and Formic Acid
3.
Two carbons meet - ethane, ethylene, acetylene
4.
God's Drops, Ethanol
5.
Poison and Vinegar - Acetaldehyde and Acetic Acid
6.
When three carbons meet - isopropyl alcohol, acetone, and an aquarium
7.
Drinking and applying car coolant? - Propylene Glycol
8.
Four or more hydrocarbons - Development of the petrochemical industry
9.
The chemical journey to obtain fuel
10.
Molecular architecture where structure creates function

Chapter 4: Materials That Don't Disappear

1.
The history of plastic begins with billiard balls
2.
Polymer that resembles dalgona
3.
Good Plastic vs. Bad Plastic? - Polyethylene
4.
A plastic that is both hard and soft - polyvinyl chloride
5.
A plastic more attractive than metal - polyacetylene
6.
A plastic as transparent as glass - polyethylene terephthalate
7.
Hot is okay - Plastics for various purposes
8.
Plastics on the Frontlines of the Pandemic: The Light and Shadows of Polypropylene
9.
Careful polymer - polystyrene
10.
Plastics and Endocrine Disruptors - Polycarbonate
11.
Silent Counterattack

Chapter 5: Eating is also material

1.
Molecular Biological Considerations on Food
2.
The chemistry of fermentation that moves the world
3.
The irrational confrontation between natural substances and artificial compounds
4.
More fear than necessary, more reassurance than necessary
5.
Protein folding and unfolding
6.
A healthy mind resides in a healthy body.
7.
Medicine and poison are brothers
8.
There is no miracle drug.

Chapter 6: Chemistry of Almost All Matter

1.
Chemistry is affinity
2.
Development of the inorganic chemical industry
3.
Experience heaven and hell
4.
Chemistry is the study of reactions
5.
Explaining chemistry and biology
6.
Mimic nature
7.
Starting with dyes and synthesizing drugs
8.
Another material that mankind is obsessed with: rubber
9.
The Two Faces of Humanity Disguised as 'Sustainability'

Chapter 7: New Materials, New Civilizations

1.
Drawing with the sun
2.
Dominance in the graphene market
3.
China, resembling Thanos, and the throne of display technology
4.
Hydrogen, an extension of fossil fuels
5.
Finding answers from nature

In closing
References
Search

Humidifier disinfectant incident and pesticide-laced egg incident

In the relatively recent past 30 years of our modern history, there have been incidents that took numerous lives at once.
The collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in 1995, the Daegu subway fire in 2003, and the sinking of the Sewol ferry in 2014 were disasters that resulted in hundreds of deaths.
But there is an incident that has claimed more lives than the combined number of deaths from the accidents just mentioned.
The 'humidifier disinfectant incident' has had victims since 1995, but the damage was only recognized in 2011.


According to the results of a precise estimate of the scale of damage caused by humidifier disinfectants by the Special Investigation Committee on Social Disasters (hereinafter referred to as the Special Committee) in July 2020, the number of users of the product at the time reached 6.27 million (at least 5.74 million considering the margin of error).
Of these, approximately 670,000 people were affected (at least 610,000 considering the margin of error), and approximately 520,000 people are reported to have developed new symptoms or diseases due to the humidifier disinfectant.
Among the 520,000 people, it is estimated that about 150,000 people had their pre-existing conditions worsen, and about 14,000 people died after receiving hospital treatment.
Despite these astonishing figures, only 6,817 people reported damage, which is only 1 percent of the number of victims estimated by the special committee.
These figures indicate that many victims of humidifier disinfectant are not fully aware of their damage, and that many are still suffering from illnesses without even knowing the cause.
As of 2020, there were 4,114 officially confirmed victims and 995 deaths.


The humidifier disinfectant incident is a well-known incident, but the extent of the damage and its cause are not clearly known, and as time passes, it is fading from our memories.
Although no direct damage was incurred at the time, it caused fear and aversion to chemicals (aka chemophobia) in most consumers who used the same product.
There is another incident that has brought about chemophobia in succession.
This is the pesticide-laced egg incident of 2017.
At the time, the government implemented drastic distribution controls, which caused eggs to disappear from supermarkets all at once, making it difficult to find eggs on the table for a while.


At the heart of both incidents are chemicals.
These are fungicide and insecticide substances called polyhexamethylene guanidine (PHMG) and fipronil.
Disinfectants are substances designed to eliminate microorganisms such as bacteria, and pesticides are substances designed to kill and eliminate pests.
Although the object and purpose are clear, a substance that deviates from its established use and usage takes on a different face.

Other chemicals found in humidifiers, including PHMG, chloromethylisothiazolinone (CMIT) and methylisothiazolinone (MIT), are recommended for use in trace amounts to kill or prevent the growth of bacteria in manufactured products such as detergents and beauty products, and then be thoroughly removed.
The problem is that these substances are being used in a product called a humidifier, outside of their intended use and usage.
A humidifier is a product that sprays lumps of water molecules called water vapor into an indoor space to control humidity.
Disinfectant substances can enter the human body through the respiratory system via water molecules and air.
Ultimately, inhalation toxicity could be sufficiently predicted.
However, companies manufactured the products without sufficient consideration of the inhalation toxicity of disinfectants, the government approved them, and consumers used them without knowing the ingredients, which led to the disaster.


As a result of the learning effect from the humidifier disinfectant incident, everyone had no choice but to react sensitively to the pesticide-contaminated egg incident.
The government, the poultry industry, and even consumers were thrown into confusion.
The acceptable level of fipronil residue in eggs is 0.02 ppm.
However, 0.0363 ppm was detected at the problematic farm.
So, what was the problem with the detection of fipronil in eggs and its concentration? To cut to the chase, pesticides are inherently harmful, but consuming one or two eggs a day doesn't pose a significant risk to the human body.


An interesting fact is that this fipronil is a substance that already exists and is permitted in other foods.
It's not like a substance that shouldn't be used suddenly appeared around us one day.
Ironically, the acceptable levels of fipronil in other foods are often higher than in eggs, which has been the subject of controversy.
Pipronyl was a substance that was already well known to mankind, but was not well known to consumers.
However, a substance that was thought not to exist in eggs was discovered.
Epidemiological investigation results showed that pesticides sprayed on poultry farms to maintain a clean breeding environment were transferred to eggs through the chickens' bodies.
But if we look at the detection volume alone, there was no need to be so noisy and scary.
Of course, the government should have quickly implemented appropriate disposal of distributed eggs and follow-up measures for poultry farms, regardless of the level of risk.


However, the government and the media drove the entire nation into chemical fear by listing difficult-to-understand figures and units as if eating eggs would cause serious harm.
The fear was entirely on the consumer's side.
The two cases mentioned above are similar but subtly different.
One is something that happened without you knowing, while the other is something that happened knowingly.
But as a consumer, it was something that I couldn't know anything about.

A time when questions are needed

The ingredient lists on various products that surround us are filled with the names of unknown chemicals.
It is definitely not an unknown substance.
It is a substance that companies that produce products know all too well.
As a scientist who studies chemistry, I don't know everything about every substance, but I know their general functions.
However, the general consumer is unaware of the identity and function of these chemicals.
Anxiety comes from not knowing.
So perhaps it's natural to feel anxious, and the accidents we face in reality turn that anxiety into fear and disgust.


When this happens, consumers feel helpless. Feeling helpless in the face of terms like PHMG and fipronil is understandable.
However, we do not want to know the chemical composition and properties of chemicals or the allowable levels in detail.
Even if I hear various figures, I can't figure it out.
Above all, what consumers want to know most is, 'Is that substance really safe?'
The sad part is that no one asked themselves this simple question.


We live in an age where questions have been lost.
The question may seem awkward when faced with the words growth and efficiency.
But now, we have to ask ourselves, 'Will this be like the humidifier disinfectant incident?', 'Is it safe to spray it like this?'
It is a puzzle that requires us to retrieve the fragments of events that are fading from our memories, reassemble them, and match them to the scene unfolding before our eyes.
This is the lesson learned from past experience.