Randy Jones, age 11, of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, for his question:

What is the nitrylotriacetate story?

Sometimes a suggested cure is worse than the complaint    as in the nitrylotriacetate story. This new chemical was introduced to reduce a pollution problem    and promptly added some serious pollutions of its own. Most scientists now agree that we needed to know much more about the new chemical before it was released. Belated tests are exposing its long range effects on the environment and manufacturers agreed to stop using it.

This dirty laundry story started when detergents replaced old fashioned soap. These less costly synthetic chemicals are good cleaners and also useful in many industries. But their wastes polluted our waterways. What's more, they were poor biodegradables, slow to break down into safe chemicals that can be recycled through nature. As they accumulated, they added countless tons of phosphates to the environment.

Phosphates trigger plant growth, especially among the scummy algae of quiet waters. Algae populations exploded and crowded out other life forms. When masses of these algae decay, they take oxygen from the water and their slimy, foul smelling scum may be toxic. Fishes were suffocated, lakes died and our water supplies were contaminated. Detergent manufacturers frantically sought a substitute for the pollution causing phosphates in their recipes. Nitrylotriacetate seemed a likely replacement and in 1970 this NTA ingredient was substituted for part of the phosphates in detergents.

NTA washes the laundry, is cheap to make and is more biodegradable than phosphates. But too little was known about its long range effect on the environment. Some scientists cautioned that its unknown chemical behavior might cause trouble. They soon were proved right on at least three counts. NTA is a chemical base capable of forming salts with acids. Belated tests indicate that in large doses some of these compounds are hazardous to animal life, and perhaps fatal.

NTA also is a chelating agent that sticks to metals. It may clog copper pipes and washing machines. In nature, it chelates with waste mercury and lab tests indicate that large doses of these compounds are fatal to rats and harmful to rat embryos. A third factor was even more disappointing. As it degrades, NTA creates nitrates and some plants use 30 times more nitrates than phosphates. The NTA used to replace the detergent phosphates actually contributed to the algae pollution in our water supplies. Fortunately, nowadays everybody is alert to pollution hazards. The risky NTA was discarded before much harm was done. The disappointed detergent manufacturers are back with their search for a safe and suitable replacement for their phosphate ingredients.

Old fashioned soap is not a pollutant., but our exploding population needs tons of cheaper.; synthetic detergents. Some experts suggest that the hazardous phosphates can and should be reduced by sewage systems. But the additional process costs money. In the meantime, the discarded NTA is soon degraded by oxygen and sewage bacteria. However, it lingers in stagnant, oxygen poor water, such as that in swamps and septic tanks.