The Safe and Sustainable by Design (SSbD) criteria could be the engine to move the whole economy away from hazardous chemicals and towards a more sustainable future. But it is important that it is just that and not simply a paper exercise – or worse: a tool for greenwashing. More:

• The Big Five that can accelerate The Safe and Sustainable by Design criteria  –  ChemSec
• Our view on Safe and Sustainable by Design criteria  –  ChemSec

According to the European Environmental Agency, we only have thorough information on the properties of 500 chemicals out of the 100,000 chemicals on the market. Meanwhile, industrial chemicals are omnipresent in the food we eat, the water we drink and the products we use daily at home and at work. This consistent exposure to the complex, potentially toxic mix of chemicals is linked to fuelling growing rates of cancer, reproductive disorders, and other modern-age metabolic diseases. More:

• Walking the EU’s talk on a toxic-free environment – PART 1  –  META

• Chemical Cocktails – The neglected threat of toxic mixtures and how to fix it  –  ChemTrust
• The Lancet Commission on pollution and health (Executive summary)  –  The Lancet

• Warning of 'ecological Armageddon' after dramatic plunge in insect numbers  –  The Guardian
• Orca 'apocalypse': half of killer whales doomed to die from pollution  –  The Guardian

• Understanding REACH  –  ECHA
• The EU’s chemicals strategy for sustainability towards a toxic-free environment  –  European Commision

Higher levels of exposure to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” may increase the likelihood of Covid-19 infection, more serious symptoms and death, a group of recent studies have found. Public health advocates and researchers have feared since the coronavirus pandemic’s onset that PFAS, which are known to be immunotoxic, could hinder the body’s ability to fight Covid-19. More:

• Higher levels of PFAS exposure may increase chance of Covid, studies say  –  The Guardian

• Does PFAS exposure affect COVID-19 illness and vaccine effectiveness? Researchers want to know  –  WHYY
• Severity of COVID-19 at elevated exposure to perfluorinated alkylates (Research article)
• Susceptibility to COVID-19 after High Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances from Contaminated Drinking Water: An Ecological Study from Ronneby, Sweden (Research article)
• Association between urinary per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances and COVID-19 susceptibility (Research article)
• Exposure to Perfluoroalkyl Substances and Mortality for COVID-19: A Spatial Ecological Analysis in the Veneto Region (Italy) (Research article)

• Perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and Water (Factsheet)  –  Minnesota Department of Health

• ‘Forever chemicals’: what are PFAS and what risk do they pose?  –  The Guardian
• What are the health effects of PFAS?  –  US ATSDR

A UN expert has warned of the creation of pollution “sacrifice zones” across the world, where tens of millions of people are suffering strokes, cancers, respiratory problems and heart disease as a result of toxic contamination of the environment. More:

• Millions suffering in deadly pollution ‘sacrifice zones’, warns UN expert  –  The Guardian

• Access to a healthy environment, declared a human right by UN rights council  –  UN News
• The right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment  –  UN Human Rights

Agricultural pesticides were among the toxic pollutants found in the study, including the herbicide glyphosate and endocrine disruptors. Both these substances damage the environment, animals and plants, and have adverse effects on human health, with links to cancers and developmental disorders. More:

• Toxic Rivers and the EU's Pesticide Problem  –  META

• EU Commission must extend water pollution regulation to include pharmaceuticals, PFAS and (more) pesticides  –  META
• EU Wastewater laws need a brush-up  –  META
• Joint Statement on the Revision of the Sustainable Use of Pesticides Directive  –  EEB

• Ríos Tóxicos (Informe)  –  Ecologistas en acción

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — U.S. wildlife officials reversed their previous finding that a widely used and highly toxic pesticide could jeopardize dozens of plants and animals with extinction, after receiving pledges from chemical manufacturers that they will change product labels for malathion so that it’s used more carefully by gardeners, farmers and other consumers. More:

• US officials reverse course on pesticide’s harm to wildlife  –  AP News

Scientists in Kenya have discovered an organic way of protecting potatoes from the invasive and highly destructive potato cyst nematodes that attack planted seed causing major yield and financial losses. More:

• Banana waste wrap could help save potatoes  –  The East African

On 2 March, world leaders and environment ministers agreed to start negotiations on the world’s first legally binding international treaty to eliminate one of humanity’s most devastating sources of pollution: plastics. This hugely positive step has the power to attack the problem as never before. But to achieve this goal, science needs to be front and centre in the negotiations. More:

• Landmark treaty on plastic pollution must put scientific evidence front and centre  –  Nature
• UNEA Resolution - ‘End Plastic Pollution’ - and IUCN role in implementation of the Treaty  –  IUCN
• The world says yes to a cradle to grave plastics treaty: Now the work begins  –  Mongabay

Toxic PFAS are often added into consumer products to make items stain- or water-resistant. But mounting evidence indicates that many products made without the intentional addition of PFAS are also contaminated. More:

• Unintentional PFAS in products: A “jungle” of contamination  –  EHN
• What are PFAS?  –  EHN
• Fluorinated Compounds in North American Cosmetics (Research article)
• Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities (Research article)

• Fluorinated Compounds in U.S. Fast Food Packaging (Research article)
• Significance of Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Food Packaging (Research abstract)

A tiny, poppy seed-sized particle of plastic might seem innocuous on its own. But when a speck of plastic is coupled with organic pollutants, the chemical makeup of that plastic can swell with toxicity. More:

• Microplastics plus organic pollutants equals 10 times the toxicity, study finds  –  Mongabay
• Interactions of microplastics and organic compounds in aquatic environments: A case study of augmented joint toxicity (Research abstract)
• Toward a Global Understanding of Chemical Pollution: A First Comprehensive Analysis of National and Regional Chemical Inventories (Research article)
• Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities (Research article)

In front of the United Nations African headquarters in Nairobi, a 30-foot-high artwork featuring a faucet “spewing” a long stream of plastic waste dramatically illustrates the worsening flow of plastic fouling the world. Inside the main hall, 175 UN delegates took the first formal steps to turn off the tap. They agreed to negotiate the first comprehensive global treaty to curb plastic pollution—a move hailed as the most significant environmental agreement since the Paris climate accord in 2015. More:

• The world’s nations agree to fix the plastic waste crisis  –  National Geographic
• Plastic: World agrees to tackle the crisis  –  DW
• UN agrees to create world's first-ever plastics pollution treaty in a blow to big oil –  CNN

Five decades ago in an opera house in Stockholm Sweden, world leaders opened discussions that would lead to the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). Since that meeting on 5 June 1972, UNEP has become the world's leading advocate for nature, using science, diplomacy and public outreach to counter a range of threats, from pollution to climate change. Here's a closer look at UNEP's work over the last 50 years and how it's helping to make the planet a more sustainable, equitable place. More:

• 50 years of environmental milestones  –  UNEP
• Looking back at 50 years of UNEP  –  UNEP
• UNEP combats pollution, restores ozone and protects seas, UN chief tells 50th anniversary session –  UN News
• OPINION: The state of the planet Earth since the 1972 Stockholm Conference –  SaltWire

Plastic is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, and the additives used to enhance this deceptively versatile material are often hazardous to human health. All the while, the plastics industry makes sure the demand – that they invented in the first place – keeps growing. Calling plastic the super-villain of chemical products is no exaggeration. But how did we end up in this dystopian tale? And what heroic measures can get us out of it? More:

• Will plastic – the super-villain of chemical products – cause the climate and human health to snap?  –  ChemSec
• Enabling a circular economy for chemicals in plastics (Research article)
• Overview of known plastic packaging-associated chemicals and their hazards (Research article)

For the first time, the international community has agreed on a framework to curb the world’s growing plastic problem. A resolution adopted Wednesday by the United Nations lays out an ambitious plan for developing a legally binding treaty to “end plastic pollution.” More:

• U.N. adopts historic resolution aimed at ending plastic pollution  –  The Washington Post
• World leaders agree to draw up ‘historic’ treaty on plastic waste  –  The Guardian
• Countries Pave the Way to End Plastic Pollution  –  Scientific American

Why a new treaty? The world produces 400 million tonnes of plastic every year. Less than 10 per cent is being recycled and the rest ends up incinerated, dumped in a landfill or in the ocean and other ecosystems. With plastic production expected to double in the next 20 years, plastic pollution is also set to worsen. More:

• A new global treaty to tackle plastic pollution?  –  Geneva Solutions
• Historic day in the campaign to beat plastic pollution: Nations commit to develop a legally binding agreement  –  UNEP
• What you need to know about the plastic pollution resolution  –  UNEP

Chemists and chemical engineers could certainly do more to align their molecular machinery with sustainable development. An obvious place to begin is in the classroom by transforming the way chemistry is taught. An international network of motivated teachers and educators are looking to do just that through promoting a concept deemed green and sustainable chemistry education. More:

• Chemistry has much to learn from indigenous insights on sustainability  –  Sustainability Times
• Ethnochemistry of maguindanaons’ on the usage of household chemicals: Implications to chemistry education (Research article)

Once called “the world’s parliament on the environment,” the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA) has a unique role in global environmental governance. UNEA is an initiator or catalyst. It identifies emerging issues and (hopefully) agrees to the next steps for learning about and addressing these issues. More:

• The United Nations Environment Assembly’s Role as a Governance Architect  –  International Institute for Sustainable Development

PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a family of man-made chemicals used for their water- and stain-resistant qualities in products like clothing and carpet, nonstick cookware, packaging and firefighting foam. The family includes 5,000 compounds, which are persistent, remaining both in the environment and human body over time. More:

• Here's what you should know about how to remove 'forever chemicals' from your drinking water  –  Milwaukee Journal sentilnel
• Reducing PFAS in Your Drinking Water (Factsheet)  –  Wisconsin Department of Health Services
• Drinking Water Treatment Units  –  US National Sanitary Foundation
• PFAS Lab Analysis in Wisconsin  –  Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

We’ve reached a tipping point – there are too many toxic chemicals in circulation for the world to handle! That’s the main conclusion from a recent study by some of the world’s foremost chemical scientists. Interview with one of the authors, Professor Bethanie Carney Almroth, to talk about the study and what we can do to turn this situation around. More:

• A ChemSec Conversation – The planet can't handle any more toxic chemicals (Youtube)  –  ChemSec
• Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities (Research article)

The U.S. Geological Survey has detected the toxic “forever chemicals” known as PFAS in public and private drinking water wells in 16 Eastern states. PFAS were detected in public and private drinking water wells in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. More:

• USGS detects ‘forever chemicals’ in 16 states’ water wells  –  EWG
• Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in Groundwater Used as a Source of Drinking Water in the Eastern United States (Research article)