If not the root of all evil, chemical pollution is surely responsible for a good chunk of it. At least, that’s how it feels sometimes when reading the news and the latest research.
Author
Oliver A.H. Jones
Professor of Chemistry, RMIT University
From and , to and just about everywhere, it seems there’s plenty to worry about.
The list of potential health effects is also scary. Pollution is linked to , , , and more.
So it’s not surprising many people feel chemicals are intrinsically bad, . But how worried should we really be, and can we reduce the risks?
In the air we breathe
Globally, pollution is a serious problem – particularly air pollution.
The estimates pollution is responsible for about and economic losses in the trillions of dollars.
The burden of disease falls heavily on developing countries, but even in Australia air pollution causes significant .
Fortunately, we can , even at home. We know what levels are dangerous, and . But what about things we can’t monitor, or know less about?
The water we drink
In June, the Sydney Morning Herald tap water throughout Australia was contaminated with alarming levels of PFAS. But the levels detected fall within Australia’s drinking water guidelines. They just happen to exceed the United States’ new safety thresholds, which don’t come in for .
PFAS (Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are a group of highly persistent chemicals characterised by carbon-fluorine bonds.
Although PFAS in your water sounds awful, we don’t know if water is the main route of exposure or what the actual risks are.
PFAS is also in , , , , and other .
The presence of PFAS is an emotive subject, thanks to films such as and documentaries like .
Found everywhere from to the , PFAS have been associated with negative health effects including and .
What is generally missing from both research papers and news reports is context – details on the dose and duration of exposure needed to cause such effects.
The levels of PFAS needed to cause health effects tend to be than those typically found in the environment. So while it’s not great that we’ve polluted the entire planet with these compounds, the health risks for most of us are .
New technologies are being developed to in water and .
But given their widespread distribution and , we should perhaps reevaluate PFAS risks and regulations (as the ).
If you want to , you can consider using and avoid non-stick pans and other products that contain PFAS.
Many non-stick pans now boast they are PFAS-free. Sadly this is . Ceramic pans can be a good, PFAS-free option, but these are .
And the food we eat
Everyone knows pesticides right? Well, actually no. This is another area where public perception .
The usual suspect, glyphosate, is usually claimed to cause non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But this is a catch-all term covering more than of lymphoma, which can vary significantly.
Multiple independent regulatory agencies worldwide . A study of more than 54,000 people who applied pesticides for a living found .
Small amounts of pesticide residue are permitted on our food, but concentrations are in the parts per trillion (for reference, a trillion seconds is 31,710 years).
The evidence suggests parts per trillion of pesticides of cancer in people. But if you want to reduce your exposure anyway, and cooking vegetables and washing fruit is a good way to go.
Microplastics are everywhere
Microplastics (plastic particles less than 5mm in diameter) are now found everywhere from the to the of the planet.
They have been reported in food and drink, including , , various , as well as and .
Again, it sounds scary – but several reports of microplastics in food and blood have been by other scientists. The widely (mis)reported claim that we eat a credit card’s worth of microplastic each week was debunked by YouTuber .
The World Health Organization recently concluded evidence of the health effects of microplastics is . However, they also make the point that this is not the same as saying microplastics are safe. We need more data to .
Avoiding plastic bottles and food packaging can reduce exposure, as can having .
We need to reduce plastic waste. Ultimately, we may need to wean ourselves off plastic entirely.
Where to from here?
I am not suggesting we should not worry about pollution – we should. But just because something is present does not automatically mean it is causing harm. To my mind, air pollution is the biggest worry so far, with more proven health effects than microplastics or PFAS.
Scary headlines generate clicks, views and likes but .
We must understand relative exposure and the nuances of risk assessment. We need sensible debate, evidence-based approaches and new techniques for monitoring and assessing the impacts of, low (parts per trillion) pollutant concentrations.
This should help prevent and mitigate potentially harmful exposures in future.
Oliver A.H. Jones receives funding from the Australian Research Council, various water utilities, EPA Victoria and the Defence Science Institute for research into environmental pollution, including PFAS.
