Scientists warn that the integrity of our planet has already been pushed over the edge due to the contaminated systems on Earth.
There are 350,000 human-made chemicals on the market today.
It is virtually impossible for any authority to keep track of their potential impacts on the environment due to the fact that this number continues to rise at an extraordinary rate.
There is no keeping up. A new analysis suggests that we have crossed a planetary boundary into an unsafe space.
Chemical production has increased 50-fold since the 1950s. It is on track to triple again by the year 2050.
"The rate at which these pollutants are appearing in the environment far exceeds the capacity of governments to assess global and regional risks, let alone control any potential problems," says ecotoxicologist Bethanie Carney Almroth from the University of Gothenburg.
Novel entities of our own making have already entered the atmosphere, cryosphere, and the biosphere, even if we can slow chemical production in the future.
Many of these chemicals can live forever in the environment, so any potential threat they pose could be the foundation for ongoing problems far into the future.
Ignoring the problem is foolish, but it is largely what humanity has done.
In 2009, an international team of researchers put together a list of boundaries that kept our planet stable for human existence.
Climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, land-system change, and the extinction rate were all found to have been violated by humanity in 2015.
Chemical pollution, or 'novel entities', had never been quantified.
Researchers say nations need to limit the rapid production of synthetic chemicals while assessing the ones they already have.
Many chemicals that have been assessed for health and safety still have unknown risks.
Studies have shown that some chemicals can become toxic when broken down or in the presence of other chemicals. If too much of these byproducts accumulate in the environment, it could have long- lasting and detrimental impacts.
Our species can't live without the environment around us, so much of the research has focused on the impact of chemicals on human health.
The US Food and Drug Administration is required to assess the environmental impact of new pharmaceuticals for approval, though in spite of the best intentions, it can often take time for more subtle influences to become apparent.
Some sunscreens have been found to be toxic to coral. In the past few years, antidepressants have been found in water sources that impact how fish hunt for food.
If we don't dramatically slow the global production of novel entities, it will be impossible to avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Sarah Cornell is a researcher at the Stockholm Resilience Centre and she says shifting to a circular economy is important.
Changing materials and products, designing chemicals and products for recycling, and better screening of chemicals for their safety andsustainability are some of the things that need to be done.
It's a huge task, but it has consequences.
The study was published in a journal.
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