Beyond risk: an ecological paradigm to prevent global chemical pollution

Since World War II, synthetic chemical pollutants have accumulated in the environment and food webs on a global basis, have damaged wildlife populations, and may pose large-scale hazards to human health. Despite the global nature of this problem, the vast majority of environmental regulations focus on preventing local risks using risk assessment of individual compounds, discharge permits, and control and disposal technologies. The current approach has failed to prevent global contamination and environmental damage because it underestimates the scale, complexity, and diversity of the hazards of chemical pollution. Fundamental shifts in the mode of chemical assessment and policy are required; a new framework should focus on chemical classes rather than individual substances, convert industrial processes to prevent the production and use of persistent and/or bioaccumulative substances, and shift the default state of pollution policy in the face of uncertainty from permission to restriction.