In Recognition of National Chemistry Week

by Timothy John Roemer

In Recognition of National Chemistry Week

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HON. TIM ROEMER

OF INDIANA
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Friday, November 7, 1997

Mr. ROEMER. Mr. Speaker, November 2 to 8, 1997 is the 10th celebration of National Chemistry Week. I rise, today, in recognition of the members of the American Chemical Society who are volunteering their time this week to increase the public's understanding about the important role chemistry plays in the success of this Nation and in our everyday lives. Through hands-on activities, chemical demonstration programs, and a variety of other events, kids of all ages will learn and do chemistry.

The feature activity of the week is a national effort to test water hardness in local neighborhoods. Children are receiving copies of a Planet Chemistry activities booklet through their schools that allows them to be part of the national effort. They then go out and get a water sample from their local stream, lake, or well and use the test strip included in the booklet to determine the hardness of the water, and report their results through the ACS site on the Web. The test strips were produced by a company in my district, Environmental Test Systems of Elkhardt, IN. I am proud to tell you that 2.6 million of these strips distributed in 650,000 copies of the booklet allowed this project to get children all over the country involved.

Volunteer chemists and chemical engineers of the ACS St. Joseph Valley Section in my home district also scheduled events, such as panel discussions and hand-on educational demonstrations, to highlight chemistry for their neighbors. Efforts like these are planned in almost every congressional district throughout the Nation.

Our ability to improve the living standards of citizens in America and around the globe depends upon our understanding of sciences like chemistry. Our food, clothing, houses, cars, medicines, defense--all the things we can see, taste, touch, or smell--depend on modern chemistry. Additionally, those involved in the chemistry field represent the type of skilled, high quality workers that are essential to this Nation's competitiveness.

So please join me, and the 152,000 chemists and chemical engineers of the American Chemical Society, in highlighting the fact that every single thing in our lives is in some way a result of chemistry in action.