Scientists have recently warned that roughly 350,000 synthetic chemicals that have been contaminated the Earth's systems have already pushed this planet's integrity over the brink.
To date, according to a ScienceAlert report, there are hundreds of thousands of these human-made chemicals on the market and they include plastics, cosmetic chemicals, pesticides, antibiotics, industrial chemicals, and other drugs.
The fact that the figure continues to rise at an unusual rate market it is nearly impossible for any authority to keep track of their possible effects on the environment.
A new analysis of the current condition suggests that humans have firmly gone beyond a planetary limit into a so-called "unsafe space."
Chemical Products Through the Years
Since the 1950s, the production of chemical products has increased by 50-fold. And, by 2050, it is on track to triple once more.
According to Bethanie Carney Almroth, an ecotoxicologist from the University of Gothenburg, the rate at which such pollutants appear in the environment far goes beyond the governments' capacity to analyze both global and regional risks, let alone, control any probable problems.
Even if chemical production can be slowed down in the future, novel entities of humans' own making have already penetrated the atmosphere, the cryosphere, the hydrosphere, the biosphere, and the geosphere.
Given that a lot of these chemical products can live permanently in the environment, any probable threat they posture can be the foundation for existing problems far into the future.
In 2009, an international research group put together a list of nine boundaries that kept the Earth stable for the existence of humans, which includes greenhouse gas emissions, forests, the ozone layer, and freshwater.
Then, later, in 2015, a Science report said, researchers concluded that humans had broken for of the said boundaries including greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, extinction rate, and the land-system change. To date, chemical pollution, or the so-called "novel entities," had never been measured.
Thousands of Chemicals on the Market Remain Untested
Similar to a cap on greenhouse gas, scientists have said there is a need for countries to limit the quick production of synthetic chemicals while analyzing the ones that they have already got.
At present, tens of thousands of chemicals available on the market have remained untested, and even those that have been analyzed for health and safety still hold many unidentified risks.
Whereas some chemicals might be considered safe on their own, for example, studies have shown they can grow poisonous or hazardous when breaking down or in the presence of other chemical elements and products.
If an adequate amount of these byproducts mount up in the environment, it could possibly have long-lasting, not to mention damaging effects.
Much of the study published in Environmental Science & Technology so far, has focused on the effect of chemicals on the health of humans, although this species on Earth cannot live minus the world around it.
Essentially, entities such as the United States Food and Drug Administration are required to analyze the environmental effect of new pharmaceuticals for approval, although, despite the best intentions, it can frequently take time for more delicate influences to turn apparent.
Changing Materials and Products to Make Them Reusable
For instance, the chemicals that exist in sunscreens, have become toxic to coral. In previous years, antidepressants have also been discovered building up in water sources, where they seem to affect how some fish hunt for food.
Avoiding the same mistakes in the future will be all yet impossible if humans do not drastically slow the worldwide production of novel things, and soon.
According to Sarah Cornell, who is involved in a sustainability study at the Stockholm Resilience Centre in Sweden, switching to a circular economy is definitely essential.
Meaning, changing materials and products for them to be reused, instead of wasted, developing chemicals and products for reusing, and much better screening of chemicals for both their sustainability and safety, along with their "impact pathway in the Earth system."
Related information about planetary boundaries is shown on Mongabay's YouTube video below:
RELATED ARTICLE : Exposure to Chemicals in Cosmetics, Plastic Food Containers Can Lead to Premature Death, Study Says
Check out more news and information on Environment & Climate in Science Times.
