Burning Issues in Chemistry

Global warming, waste management, and recycling are all issues we are familiar with. Chemistry is key in changing our past mistakes into cures for our Earth. The ICCA (International Council of Chemical Associations) Their pressing issues involve "green chemistry" specially designed not to emit hazardous waste. The American Chemistry Society is using cigarette butts to protect oil tankers against rust. This normally costs the companies millions but with cigarettes dissolved in water they can cut the cost by nearly 100%. 9 chemicals including nicotine are responsible for this value. Nearly 4.5 million cigarettes are dumped a year onto the ground. Besides looking horrible they poison fish because when it rains the runoff goes into the water. I believe another issue could be added to the mix, nuclear waste and plant management. It is more efficient to process energy from these plants. If scientists could find a way to make them more reliable and safe then we would reduce our carbon output.  Currently, working in a nuclear plant is shown to cause cancer from breathing in the fumes. One must mine the heavy elements, also causing lung damage. Nuclear waste has no safe way of being contained. In the U.S. all they do is bury it under ground. For 60 years the amount of waste has been building up. The waste is unsafe to be released into the world. Chemists should come up with a way of neutralizing the effects of the waste. 

http://www.icca-chem.org/

http://portal.acs.org/portal/acs/corg/content?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=ACSPILOT4HOME&node_id=84&use_sec=false&sec_url_var=region1&__uuid=476f1937-36a4-4880-a429-fa3f70bd1e05