Alistair Steel, the new president of the UK's Chemical Industries Association (CIA), might have been a head teacher by now. After graduating in chemical physics, he did a postgraduate certificate of education, but then abandoned the idea of teaching altogether. 'What can you do to broaden a teenager's life if you've never actually experienced anything yourself?' he asked himself before heading off for a 'proper job with ordinary people' in the chemical industry.

Though he expected to return to teaching fairly swiftly, an industrial salary proved the greater draw. His day job is now UK managing director of Rhodia, a speciality chemical company.

Steel has been heavily involved in the workings of the CIA for some time and, over the past three years, as a member of the CIA's governing council. Issues relating to the European Union's draft regulations for Registration, Evaluation, and Authorisation of Chemicals (Reach) occupy a great deal of his time, and emotion.

He chaired the CIA's Reach steering group at a time when the association was trying to encourage the UK government to fight for more practical proposals. According to Steel, the CIA has been pushing the Commission to adopt a more 'common sense' approach. 'We want it [Reach] to work well,' says Steel, 'but we want to make sure that it's not over-bureaucratic'.

Many green NGOs describe the latest draft Reach legislation as 'watered down', but Steel strongly disagrees. Instead, he is calling for 'legislation at a realistic cost' and wants to see a better business impact assessment of Reach. He describes the Commission's latest assessment as 'flawed'.

The next issue on Steel's agenda is sustainability, which he describes as a three-legged stool, encompassing environmental, economic and social issues.

Steel is the first to admit that 'a lot of us in the chemical industry have a bit of a whinge with each other at times and say things like ''it's not fair - we are giving all these benefits to society and yet all society does is throw these things back in our face''.'

But, notes Steel, people have a right to expect benefits from the chemical industry and, at the same time, to say, 'look, we don't want any of these other horrible things that happen, such as accidents and spillages'. He is 'very conscious of the chemical industry's reputation in society' and thinks that the industry has to take on board society's expectations, particularly on environmental issues.

In the past, the chemical industry has 'not done itself any favours with respect to doing things right for society', says Steel. But it is beginning to tackle these issues: 'It's a great industry, but we've got a lot to make up for.'

Emma Davies