Over the past century, humanity has invented a dizzying array of novel chemicals for industrial, commercial and domestic use. These synthetic chemicals have been manufactured and released into the world with little caution for the harm they might cause to human health or to ecosystems that we depend on for life as we know it. An estimated 350,000 synthetic chemicals had been registered for production as of 2020, and for the vast majority, we know next to nothing about their health effects. Even their chemical compositions are often hidden as proprietary trade secrets. “The world today is full of manufactured chemicals,” says Philip Landrigan, public health physician and director of the Program for Global Public Health and the Common Good at Boston College in the U.S., who spoke to Mongabay via video call. But “we have really good data on the health effects for only 30 or 40 of these chemicals,” he warns. Only a handful of chemicals have been banned or restricted in U.S. markets in the last 50 years. The evidence base for some classes of chemicals is more developed than others, but what we know so far gives serious cause for concern, experts say. From thalidomide-induced birth defects to the pesticide DDT’s ecological impacts and cancers linked to polychlorinated biphenyls, the chemical industry has a long history of rushing new synthetics to market while largely asking questions about toxicity later. “I would think of it as an iceberg — there’s a little bit of ice visible above…This article was originally published on Mongabay

Plastic pollution has rapidly escalated into a global environmental crisis that threatens ecosystem function and human health at an epic scale. Solutions are urgently needed, but while scientists, conservationists and more than 75 nations have called for binding limits on fossil fuel-driven plastic production, the plastics industry is opposed to all limits and is instead pushing a collection of technologies known as ‘chemical recycling.’ Critics say the industry is utilizing deceptive accounting practices and marketing jargon to rebrand polluting plastic incineration disposal methods. To date, chemical recycling facilities have created a relatively miniscule amount of recycled plastic, according to industry critics. But consumer product labels claiming “20% recycled plastic” have become an increasingly common sight on single-use plastic items. Reading such labels, consumers might logically assume that the product contains 20% recycled material, but that might not be the case. In addition, that potentially misleading label could be greenwashing environmentally damaging plastic incineration. Chemical recycling: Cutting-edge solution or sleight of hand? Chemical recycling, also dubbed ‘advanced recycling’ by the industry, uses chemicals, intense heat and/or pressure to break down plastic waste into its molecular building blocks. This contrasts with traditional ‘mechanical’ recycling methods which shred plastic waste into tiny flakes that can be melted and re-molded into new products. The most common form of chemical recycling, called ‘pyrolysis,’ uses high temperatures and pressure to convert waste plastic into an oil, which can be further processed into a variety of chemicals, some of which can be used to create new plastics.…This article was originally published on Mongabay