Toward a global understanding of chemical pollution: a first comprehensive analysis of national and regional chemical inventories
Open accessAbstract
Chemicals, while bringing benefits to society, may be released during their lifecycles and possibly cause harm to humans and ecosystems. Chemical pollution has been mentioned as one of the planetary boundaries within which humanity can safely operate, but is not comprehensively understood. Here, 22 chemical inventories from 19 countries and regions are analyzed to achieve a first comprehensive overview of chemicals on the market as an essential first step toward a global understanding of chemical pollution. Over 350 000 chemicals and mixtures of chemicals have been registered for production and use, up to three times as many as previously estimated and with substantial differences across countries/regions. A noteworthy finding is that the identities of many chemicals remain publicly unknown because they are claimed as confidential (over 50 000) or ambiguously described (up to 70 000). Coordinated efforts by all stakeholders including scientists from different disciplines are urgently needed, with (new) areas of interest and opportunities highlighted here.
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Many chemicals can be quite regionally produced and used.
“In addition, many chemicals can be quite regionally produced and used (Wang et al., 2020).”
From Pregnancy-related maternal physiological adaptations and fetal chemical exposure (2023) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2020
Section 3.1 finds that almost every country has significant numbers of chemicals registered only in that country, supporting the claim of regional differences. But Section 2.3 says registration may reflect production, import, or use and does not establish that a chemical is currently produced or used there. The evidence therefore does not fully support the claim about regional production and use. (LLM, conf=0.84)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredConsidering that the world market is estimated to encompass approximately 350,000 chemicals, it is highly likely that the true intrinsic exposure of human fetuses to chemical residues is higher than suggested by studies in Table 1.
“Considering that the world market is estimated to encompass approximately 350 000 chemicals (Wang et al., 2020), it is highly likely that the true intrinsic exposure of human fetuses to chemical residues is higher than suggested by studies in Table 1.”
From Pregnancy-related maternal physiological adaptations and fetal chemical exposure (2023) · cites this paper as Wang et al., 2020
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- Authors
- Wang, Z., Walker, G. W., Muir, D. C. G., & Nagatani-Yoshida, K.
- Affiliations
- ETH Zurich (CH)
- Australian Government (AU)
- Environment and Climate Change Canada (CA)
- United Nations Environment Programme (KE)
- Corresponding author
- Wang, Zhanyun
- Venue
- Environmental Science & Technology
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2020-01-22
- Volume
- 54
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 2575-2584
- ISSN
- 0013-936X (ISSN-L)
- 1520-5851
- OpenAlex
- W3000877276
- Cited by
- 1,084
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 198 · 2025: 207 · 2024: 219 · 2023: 203 · 2022: 127 · 2021: 97 · 2020: 33
- FWCI
- 42.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Environmental Science & Technology (publishedVersion, public-domain)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Repository for Publications and Research Data (ETH Zurich) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- ETH Zürich Research Collection
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Chemistry and Chemical Engineering
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Environmental Toxicology and Ecotoxicology
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Toxic Organic Pollutants Impact
- Keywords
- chemical pollution, chemical inventory, chemical registration, chemical mixtures, planetary boundaries
- MeSH terms
- Environmental Pollution, Humans, Ecosystem
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