A silent global change- Increased use of synthetic chemicals in the society and occurence in the water cycle

Abstract

“A silent global change“ names a situation for what it is: a mostly overlooked environmental development with a worldwide significance. The numbers of synthetic chemical production and use have been rising now over decades, creating one of the biggest environmental hazards of modern times. On top of that, it is assumed that they eventually end up in our water cycle. Yet, a lot is still unknown about the exact dimensions of the growth, the behaviour of substances inside the ecosytem or what precise effects they may have on creatures and the environment. This paper assesses the number of chemicals that have been officially produced since the 1980s until today to evaluate the oder of magnitude we are dealing with and to compare fluctuations between year dates. Finally, there will be an analysis of the development of synthetic chemical production over time. Spatially, there is a differentiation between the European area and the rest of the world, only to compile the results and see that an equal development is happening. The data is drawn from Chemical databases of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) on the one, and the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) on the other hand and consists of substance registrations for each year, made by the producers themselves or researchers. According to these databases we can see that the amount of new substances registered each year is continuously increasing for both regional contexts. Certain years like 2010, 2013 and 2018 were exploding numerically for ECHA and everything from 2014 onwards for CAS, so it is evident that the problem of chemical increase even intensified most recently. This also includes hazardous groups like Biocides, Endocrine Disruptors and PBTs. Accordingly, literature research shows that their occurrence in our waters became an increasing problem. Judicial regulations for this matter were replaced in the 1990s and therefore should additionally be reviewed according to todays circumstances.