Chlorine Chemistry

Helping Scientists, Doctors, and Patients Improve Public Health

Chlorine chemistry is critical to manufacturing many of the medicines we depend on, including some that help lower patient cholesterol levels, control arthritis pain and relieve allergy symptoms.

Resources and Links:

• Chlorine Chemistry Helps People See Clearly
• Chlorine Chemistry Helps Manage Asthma Symptoms
• Chlorine Chemistry: Providing Pharmaceuticals That Keep You and Your Family Healthy
• Chlorine: On the "Front Line" in Hospitals®
• Chlorine Chemistry Is a Key to Better Health in the Developing World
• The Disinfecting Power of an Old Stand-by: Chlorine Bleach
• Beautiful Hands or Bacterial Bouquet?
• Hands That Heal, or Hands That Harm?
• Chlorine and Healthcare Practices
• Chlorine and Medicine
• Chlorine and Infectious Disease
• Chlorine Chemistry in Hospitals

Keeping Food Safe and Plentiful

Although the U.S. food supply is among the safest in the world, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tells us foodborne diseases affect millions of Americans every year, resulting in thousands of deaths. Media coverage of food contamination incidents raises consumer awareness of the risks of microbial contamination of foods. Consumers want to know how they can reduce their chances of contracting foodborne illnesses.

Chlorine disinfectants are readily available, inexpensive weapons in the battle to control foodborne illness. Applied to food preparation surfaces, chlorine disinfectants can be highly effective in controlling many disease-causing microbes, including bacteria such as Salmonella and E. coli and viruses such as hepatitis A.

Resources and Links:

• Safe Food Depends on a Clean Kitchen
• Chlorine and Food Safety White Paper
• Chlorine Chemistry Helps Feed the World
• Protecting the Food We Grow
• Food Safety and Surface Disinfection
• Food Safety Begins At Home

For Kids

The Chlorine Science Center—Chlorine means more than clean swimming pool water and the proof is on this website. The Chlorine Science Center provides science activities for a wide range of ages, including monthly chemistry articles and downloadable coloring and activity books.

• Water Germs Busted by Chlorine—Along with superheroes The Chlorin8tor and Little Hector, the Disinfector, explore the biology of four common waterborne pathogens through the lens of a microscope.
• Swimming Pool Germs Busted by Chlorine—The Chlorin8tor, armed with his Electron Grabber tool and his trusty sidekick, Little Hector, The Disinfector, battle harmful germs that invade pool water and make swimmers sick.
• Flu Germs Busted by Chlorine—In their third adventure, the Chlorin8tor and Little Hector battle the viruses that cause flu. The Disinfecting Duo teach kids the “sneaky way” that viruses spread and how they can use that knowledge to avoid flu.