To detoxify the economy, design solutions also take top priority, since end-ofpipe clean-up strategies are not just logistically complex and expensive, but also inadequate. The spirit of a more workable preventative strategy is succinctly expressed by a paraphrase of ecologist Barry Commoners (1990, p. 43) maxim: The best way to reduce exposure to toxic chemicals is to not produce them in the first place. Not using toxic chemicals presumes that there are realistic alternatives to them, and in fact there are. The use of these alternatives can become increasingly practical if a transition strategy is based on the specific character of groups of industrial chemicals. The key characteristics emphasized by Ken Geiser (2001), Director of Massachusetts Toxics Use Reduction Institute, are degradability and toxicity. The spectrum along each axis produces four general categories. Each of these categories warrants a different