Chemical pollution levels now too dangerous for humanity?



L’natural balance that has existed on Earth for 10,000 years is now threatened by chemical pollution. Pesticides, plastics, drugs, synthetic fabrics… no less than 350,000 different types of chemical products are produced worldwide. If all of them do not seem dangerous on an individual basis, the overall level of pollution that their production and distribution generate would now be dangerous for humanity. These are the conclusions of a study by researchers from the Stockholm Resilience Center and the University of Gothenburg, published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology, and relayed, on January 18, by The Guardian.

These volumes of chemical pollution are such that they have crossed a “planetary limit” and threaten the natural balance that prevails on Earth. They disrupt the very ecosystems that underlie the development of life, attacking certain insects in particular, in terms of pesticides. According to one of the researchers who participated in the study, “the production of chemicals has increased fiftyfold since 1950. And it is expected to triple again by 2050”, which does not bode well for survival. of these ecosystems and of man. She points out that “the rate of production and diffusion of these new chemicals in the environment does not ensure a safe space for the development of humanity”.

A fifth “planetary limit” crossed

If the harmful effects of chemical pollution, in particular plastic, are not new, their level on a global scale is what really worries scientists. Another researcher who took part in the study, Professor Bethanie Carney Almroth, told the British daily that several elements indicate that the situation is not improving: “The total mass of plastics is now greater than that of all living mammals. His observation is radical: “A line has been crossed. »

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Is the threat irreversible? According to the researchers, there is still time to act. Switching to a circular economy in particular would help limit the production of pollution, because such a system would make it possible “to change materials and products so that they are reused and not thrown away”, indicates a researcher at the Guardian. The team also specifies that stricter regulations on chemical pollution should be put in place, on the same model as those used to fight against greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide emissions.

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Because there is urgency: several “planetary limits” have already been crossed, such as global warming, the loss of biodiversity or the destruction of part of the wildlife. On January 18, according to the study, chemical pollution thus became the fifth of these limits to have been exceeded.


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