Chemistry Reference
In-Depth Information
due nothing, she thinks. “No more than anyone else with a body. No
more than anyone who will get sick, which is everyone.” Don's insis-
tence comes to look like a part of the culture of compensation, a symp-
tom of the modern need to find someone to blame (and to sue) for our
misfortune.
As Don explains the case for the prosecution, it is apparent that he
has striven manfully to grasp the science behind the issue - he does not
accept this potential danger with the barely comprehending fatalism of
the Gladneys:
The theory is that certain ring-shaped molecules […] ones with chlorine
in them, get taken up into the tissues of women. The body turns them
into something called xenoestogen. Very long-lasting. These fake estro-
gens somehow trick the body, signal the reproductive system to start
massive cell division […] The thing is, these ring-chlorine things are
found in certain pesticides. [Powers 2001, p. 319]
But the truth of the matter never becomes clear. Expert witnesses contra-
dict one another's claims. Clare buys in some of its fertilizer feedstock
from another firm, causing confusion about liability. Laura dies, but
there is never any Hollywood-style payoff whereby the chemicals com-
pany is revealed to be the Machiavellian villain.
And even more pertinently, Laura realizes that establishing some kind
of culpability with Clare would make no difference anyway. For this is
how she and her fellow citizens have chosen to live. They use Clare's
chemical products because they genuinely make life easier. More syn-
thetic, perhaps, more manufactured - but easier. The famous DuPont
slogan - Better Living Through Chemistry - is shown to live up to its
promise. When Powers mimics DuPont by quoting from advertisements
from the Industrial Processes Group of Clare Material Solutions, he is
not indulging in some heavy-handed irony:
Life After Chemistry
No, there's nothing wrong with this picture. There's nothing wrong with
your magazine or printers either. We just thought you'd like to see what
life would look like without those life-threatening chemical processes
you read so much about these days […] Life without chemistry would
look a lot like no life at all.
