Chemical pollution: : a growing peril and potential catastrophic risk to humanity

Naidu, Ravi and Biswas, Bhabananda and Willett, Ian and Cribb, Julian and Kumar Sing, Brajesh and Nathanail, Paul and Coulon, Frederic and Semple, Kirk and Jones, Kevin and Barclay, Adam and Aitken, Robert (2021) Chemical pollution: : a growing peril and potential catastrophic risk to humanity. Environment International, 156: 106616. ISSN 0160-4120

Text (Manuscript_R2_accepted)
Manuscript_R2_accepted.pdf - Accepted Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution.
Download (1MB)

Abstract

Anthropogenic chemical pollution has the potential to pose one of the largest environmental threats to humanity, but global understanding of the issue remains fragmented. This article presents a comprehensive perspective of the threat of chemical pollution to humanity, emphasising male fertility, cognitive health and food security. There are serious gaps in our understanding of the scale of the threat and the risks posed by the dispersal, mixture and recombination of chemicals in the wider environment. Although some pollution control measures exist they are often not being adopted at the rate needed to avoid chronic and acute effects on human health now and in coming decades. There is an urgent need for enhanced global awareness and scientific scrutiny of the overall scale of risk posed by chemical usage, dispersal and disposal.