Why Chemistry Matters

Chemists touch every aspect of life. From clean drinking water to managing train derailments, dealing with chemical and biological weapons, clandestine laboratories and prosecution of crimes, chemists play a key role in the protection of public safety. Chemists formulate fertilizer, prevent pipeline corrosion, ensure drugs are safe, ensure environmental controls are working, provide insight into policy and innovative ways to reduce waste. Chemists provide a wide and diverse array of services that are directly in the public interest and in the interest of public safety of all Albertans. Because chemistry is a complex science and chemicals can be dangerous, it is important that chemists be qualified, well trained, professional, and ethical.

Albertans have the right to a healthy environment. It is more critical than ever to regulate toxic chemicals and to understand the impact of pollution in the air, the water, the food, the environment, whether people live downwind or downstream. The public needs responsible and competent chemical practitioners who understand how chemicals affect vulnerable populations and who can assess the cumulative impacts of chemicals for cleaning products, cosmetics, furniture products, and food preservatives. The public needs qualified, regulated, trustworthy chemists, who in turn, need the ability to practice and be recognized as professionals who are responsible for their work.

Request to members

Chemists touch and affect everybody. We need to be proud of that and we need to share that. Our work goes well beyond standing at lab bench; it touches people’s lives, it touches people’s health, and it touches people’s safety.

The ACPA would like you, our members, to produce examples illustrating your application/practice of chemistry to publish on the Web (e.g., LinkedIn) or on our newsletter. We would further recognize your employer who is hiring PChems. See some examples below.

Chemists who work in water treatment plants ensure the water we drink is safe. Chemistry matters, chemistry you can trust, chemistry is essential, water you can drink.

Medicines you pick up at your local drug store because of a quality control program in place most often administered by a chemist. Medicine you can trust. Chemistry you can trust.

Why join the ACPA?

ACPA provides a viable framework of credential verification (education & experience), ethical standards of conduct, jurisprudence, professional development, which sets the stage for ‘good practice,’ and we have the mechanisms (committee & legislation) in place to investigate, discipline and hold members accountable for their professional conduct or lack thereof. This framework provides oversight of the chemist and provides the public an assurance of competency within their specific scope of practice. Chemists are important.

And the more we believe we are important, the more we can convince our colleagues who are not a member of the ACPA that it is important to join because chemists provide that framework and protect the public.