350,000 Chemicals Are Registered For Production; Not Even 5% Have Been Tested For Safety; PolyBFRs Especially Worrying

Five years ago, an international team of scientists compiled the first global inventory of commercially available chemicals with sobering results: they identified three times as many chemicals on the market than previously estimated, driven by the explosive growth of petrochemical production over the past several decades.

Less than 5 percent of the 350,000 chemicals and mixtures registered for production and use has been tested for safety. And with scant information about the environmental behavior or toxicity of most compounds, it takes academic scientists years to identify their potential risks. Now, a new peer-reviewed study adds to a growing body of evidence showing the failure of current regulatory approaches to protect environmental and human health.

The researchers focused on polymers, very large molecules made of long chains of smaller molecules, which scientists considered too big to leach from products or enter the body’s cells and cause harm. Polymers are exempt from U.S. and European toxics regulations to encourage production of alternatives to chemicals shown to cause harm. In the new study, published Monday in the journal Nature Sustainability, the team found that polymers can not only break down in the environment but also become “substantially more toxic” when they do.

The team focused on polymeric brominated flame retardants, or polyBFRs, which are widely used in electronics to reduce fire risk. They have been marketed as safer alternatives to flame retardants found to pose environmental and health risks.

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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/05032025/polymeric-brominated-flame-retardants-toxic-chemicals/