Chemicals are everywhere – they keep our clocks ticking and our car engines running. It is also found in the medicines we buy, the foods we eat, and the clothes we wear.

In one way or another, chemicals are tangible manifestations of human progress, human development, and scientific, technological and agricultural innovation. Using nitrogen in fertilizers allows farmers to grow larger quantities of food crops. With chemical pollutants prevalent in many aspects of our daily lives, we have reached a point where the limits of our planet’s tolerance are being tested, with the overuse of some chemicals causing far more harm than good. When toxic chemicals are mismanaged, they cause an alarming number of premature deaths and cause serious harm to both human and planetary health. Exposure to toxic chemicals impairs life expectancy and affects human well-being. Pollution, along with climate change and nature loss, is a major obstacle to ending poverty on a habitable planet.

“Pollution, along with climate change and nature loss, is a major obstacle to ending poverty on a habitable planet.”
New research points to the seriousness of the dangers posed by chemical pollution. This evidence indicates that exposure to lead caused the premature death of more than 5.5 million people in 2019. 90% of them died in low- and middle-income countries. Research also found that children under the age of five had their IQs reduced by about 765 million points due to lead poisoning in the same year. This loss of human capital has serious consequences for quality of life, learning and study outcomes, productivity and, ultimately, for economic development and growth. It is estimated that the economic cost of health damage reached $6 trillion in 2019, equivalent to 6.9% of the global gross domestic product.

“It is estimated that the economic cost of health damage reached $6 trillion in 2019, equivalent to 6.9% of global GDP.”
Nitrogen fertilizers, which are often used to enrich agricultural soil nutrients, are another example of chemicals that have a harmful effect on both people and the planet. Crops actually absorb only 40% of the nitrogen, while the remaining 60% goes into the air or is dissolved and leached into the water. This in turn can create large dead zones in water bodies, thus eliminating wildlife. In addition, when nitrogen fertilizers such as ammonia become airborne, they can transform into secondary fine particles and nitrogen oxides, which are partly responsible for millions of premature deaths caused by air pollution. Furthermore, some of the volatile nitrogen in the air turns into nitrogen oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Chemical pollution is linked to the climate crisis, as climate change can in turn increase the amount of unsafe chemicals in the environment.