Signal Over 350,000 chemicals and mixtures registered worldwide

Summary

The report argues that the spread of novel entities must be slowed and gives figures showing its scale. More than 350,000 individual chemicals and mixtures are now registered for large-scale production and use in various parts of the world, and new chemicals and materials keep reaching the market. By contrast, only about 20,000 chemicals have been measured in the environment, and the top 2.5 percent of them account for over half of the studies. The report proposes simplification, meaning achieving the same functions with fewer and less diverse substances, as a response. This would pair the development of substances that are safe and sustainable by design with mechanisms to phase out known problem substances in the same uses. Extending the essential-use concept, which originated with the Montreal Protocol, to PFAS and other hazardous substances is also discussed.