How many pounds of organic chemicals do we produce yearly in the U.S.? The answer is 250 billion pounds per year-more than 1000 pounds for every person in the U.S. It is hard for even a chemist to visualize how each of us in this country uses a half-ton of chemicals yearly. We'd certainly be overwhelmed if someone dumped our share on our front lawn.In fact, of course, those chemicals do not appear on our front lawn except perhaps as fertilizer and weed killers. But they do appear in the clothes we wear, the homes we live in, the furnishings in those homes, the offices and plants we work in, the food we eat, our automobiles and airplanes, the medical equipment that is used to make us well, the sports equipment that gives us recreational pleasure, and, of course, in the vehicles that go to the moon and that monitor the planets. In other words, the more than 1000 pounds of organic chemicals produced for each of us yearly provides the basis for modern technology.