Chemical Industry Playing a Critical Role

The chemical industry is playing an important role in these testing times. The industry provides the basic raw materials to the producers of health, hygiene and safety products such as PPE, sanitizers, disinfectants and other cleaning products.

For instance, the industry supplies two active ingredients for hand sanitizers – ethanol (ethyl alcohol) and isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol). According to the Centers for Disease and Control Prevention (CDC), a hand sanitizer with an alcohol concentration between 60-95% is more effective in killing germs.

The chemical industry also provides polypropylene, a polymer used to make PPE, as well as plastic products such as polyethylene that help prevent contamination of food, personal care and medical products. Moreover, it supplies polymethyl methacrylate and polycarbonate for making protective screens that are being installed across supermarkets globally in a bid to safeguard their checkout staff from the virus. A wide range of chemicals are also used to make medicines.

The American Chemistry Council (ACC), a leading chemical industry trade group, last month said that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has identified the U.S. chemical industry as “Essential Critical Infrastructure,” an industry sector critical to public health and safety, economic and national security.