You knew it had to happen.

You knew it was too good to be true.

You know those nifty flat screens giving you crystal sharp images of Chase Utley stealing second?

You know the handy, slim flat computer screen you're using to read this fine example of blogging; the one that replaced that giant, clunky, space stealing behemoth of a screen that looked like a deformed white watermelon?

Well guess what.

It's killing the planet.

At least that's what this July 8 article in the Los Angeles Times is telling us.

But first, a digression.

A few months ago I brought my 9-year-old to the Pottstown Wastewater Treatment Plant for a private tour kindly provided by chief operator Brent Wagner.

(Come on, who's a better dad than me? You're jealous right?)

While he was showing my nose-holding son how we try to clean up what we flush down so we can put clean water back into the Schuylkill, Brent, who is a pretty smart guy, said something profound.

He was talking about how sewage sludge is made and what its composed of (now you're seeing where a 9-year-old boy who gets hysterical at the very mention of the word "poop" might find this interesting).

I don't remember the words exactly, but in essence he said whenever we try to fix an environmental problem we've caused, we tend to cause another one.

In Brent's case, he was talking about how in our laudable efforts to prevent raw sewage from flowing into the Schuylkill, which also happens to be a drinking water source for millions of people, Pottstown included, we had solved that problem only to create another -- sewage sludge.

And so, while it might seem like a big leap, what's true about what we flush is also true about what we watch on the flat screen.

The story, according to the LA Times, goes like this: A company right here in PA -- Air Products of Allentown -- came up with a solution to an existing environmental problem.

Remember back when the Kyoto Protocols were negotiated? (Ah the good old days, when we were going to actually DO something about global warming.)

Back then, in the stone age before flat screens: "computer chip manufacturers used perfluorocarbons to clean the vacuum chambers where integrated circuits were made. But about two-thirds of the PFCs escaped into the atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect."

So Air Products, which appropriately won a Climate Protection Award in 2001 from the EPA for its efforts, found a substitute, nitrogen triflouride.

At the time, only a tiny amount was used for this purpose, which made it an acceptable trade-off. Because it turns out NF3, as it's called, has 17,000 times the global warming effect as the much-maligned carbon dioxide.

And with the explosion in flat screens, comes a corresponding explosion in NF3 production. Air Products, the nation's largest producer, recently announced expansion plans in the U.S. and Korea.

According to a company spokesman, world production of NF3 is likely to reach 8,000 tons by 2010. That's the equivalent of 130 metric tons of carbon dioxide, more than would be produced by five, major 3,600 mega-watt coal-fired power plants.

To make matters worse, this chemical is not even among the greenhouse gases identified at Kyoto and, as a result, not only does it remain unregulated, we don't even measure it in the atmosphere yet -- which in typical American fashion, has not kept us from manufacturing it like we were printing money.

Which brings us back to Brent Wagner, whose observation that whenever we try to solve one problem we create another, proves prophetically true again and again.

However there is another constant which calls for comment.

That is the American chemical industry which operates under a rubric that works for their bottom line, but does little to safeguard our health.

Within the past few years, the European Union adopted chemical regulations based on something as simple and common-sense sounding as "the precautionary principle."

It's an easy idea. Before you can release something into the environment, or use it in a product available to the general public, it must be proven safe.

But in America, we operate under a different principle. Use what you want until its proven dangerous.

Then, corporate America uses "science for sale" to create doubt about what is dangerous, prolonging indefinitely any regulation that might save lives, but could depress profits.

So if we follow the usual pattern, it will take years, probably decades to make any sort of regulation to control the release of NF3.

Industry and independent estimates of how much NF3 is released ranges between 2 and 3 percent, but since it has a life of 550 years in the atmosphere, the release will be cumulative at the same time we're increasing its release.

Because guess what? Those estimates may be severe underestimates.

Michael T. Prather is a University of California scientist who co-authored a recent paper on the chemical and is a leading author of the influential reports of the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

According to the LA Times, he cited a study showing that even "under ideal conditions," more than 3% may be emitted. And, he added, "a slippery gas" such as NF3 could easily leak out undetected during manufacture, transport, application or disposal."We don't know if 1% is getting out or 20% is getting out. . . . But once you let the genie out of the bottle, you can't get it back in."

But not to worry. As we continue to degrade the air we breath and make our planet less habitable by the day, we'll be able to see it with crystal clear clarity on our flat screen TV.

Enjoy the view -- while it lasts.