The Chlorine Debate: How White Do You Want It? Chlorine is one of the world's most widely used chemicals, the building element vital to almost every United States industry. We use chlorine and chlorine-based products whenever we drink a glass of water, buy food wrapped in plastic, purchase produce in the supermarket, pour bleach into a washing machine, have a prescription filled, print out a computer document like this one, or even drive a car. (Abelson 94) Chlorine, a member of the halogen (salt-forming) group of metallic elements, was first made by Swedish chemist Carl