For the first time, a group of international researchers led by the Stockholm Environment Institute have analyzed the effects of all synthetic chemicals that pollute the environment, reaching the conclusion that the limit of waste and pollution that the planet can withstand has been exceeded, including plastics, so this could mean that in the near future we will not live in a safe environment.
The document that collects all the data, signed by 14 scientists, and which has been published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, has indicated that there are about 350,000 different types of chemical products in the world, such as plastics, industrial chemicals or of consumer products, pesticides, antibiotics and other pharmaceuticals. All of them have been created by human beings and massively pollute the environment every year.
“The rate at which societies are producing and releasing new chemicals and other novel entities into the environment is not consistent with staying within the safe operating space for humanity,” said Linn Persson, co-author of the research.
Five planetary limits exceeded out of nine total
Already in 2009, a group of researchers led by Johan Rockström from the Stockholm Resilience Center (Sweden), marked nine planetary boundaries that indicate the level of stability in which the Earth is, taking into account its state for 10,000 years, since the origin of civilization. These limits include greenhouse gas emissions, the ozone layer, forests, fresh water and biodiversity.
The first voice of alarm arose in 2015, where it was warned that four of the limits had been crossed. The last to fall, limit number five, has been chemical contamination, causing a great alteration in living beings, air, water and soil, and of great consequences for health, some of them even fatal.
Plastics have solved some environmental problems, but overuse and misuse are having devastating effects on the planet.
According to research, exposure to a small fraction of the more than 100,000 chemicals currently in use was linked to more than 1.3 million premature deaths in 2017. In addition, the production of environmentally polluting chemicals has multiplied by 50 since 1950, and this figure is projected to triple again by 2050.
“Plastic production, use and waste also affect other planetary boundaries. This includes climate, through the use of fossil fuels, land and freshwater systems through use, pollution, physical changes and the spread of invasive species, antibiotic resistance genes, and pathogenic microbes. in the oceans. Plastics have helped solve some environmental problems due to their light weight and durability, but overuse and misuse are having devastating effects on the health of the planet,” warns Carney Almroth, another co-author of the study.
Difficult to break down contaminants
Pollutants have the fatal characteristic that they can be found all over the planet and are difficult to break down. As they explain, the greatest risks are found in chlorofluorocarbons or CFC gases, which are chemical compounds of the family of saturated hydrocarbons. These products are largely responsible for the destruction of the ozone layer and are found in aerosols and in the refrigeration industry.
The production of polluting chemical substances for the environment has multiplied by 50 since 1950
But these are not the most common, but the most widespread and toxic substances are PCBs or polychlorinated biphenyls, long-lasting chemicals and very harmful to health that can be found in lubricating oils, dielectrics, hydraulic fluids, insulating resins, paints , sealing waxes for concrete joints, according to the Ministry for Ecological Transition.
Most of this pollution is due to human action, so researchers have called on governments to promote and give importance to environmental pollution, establishing limits on the production and release of these products harmful to the environment, and therefore, they could put our health at risk.
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