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	Ocean issues are human rights issues by UN News, Nature, IPCC, OHCHR, agencies   13 June 2025   The third United Nations Ocean Conference (UNOC3) concluded today in Nice with an urgent call for governments to translate bold words into concrete action to protect the world’s oceans.   Co-hosted by France and Costa Rica, the summit brought together more than 15,000 participants, including 50 heads of state and government, civil society leaders, scientists, youth, and Indigenous communities to the 11-day event.   The Ocean Conference adopted a political declaration titled “Our ocean, our future: united for urgent action”, stressing that the ocean plays an essential role in mitigating the adverse effects of climate change.   “The ocean is fundamental to life on our planet and to our future, and we remain deeply alarmed by the global emergency it faces”, the Conference’s outcome document said, adding “Action is not advancing at the speed or scale required to meet Sustainable Development Goal 14: To Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development".   Underlining the importance of interlinkages between the ocean, climate and biodiversity, the declaration calls for greater global action to minimize the impact of climate change, expressing deep concern that the ability of the ocean and its ecosystems to act as a climate regulator and to support adaptation has been “weakened”.   It emphasized the importance of implementing UN agreements and frameworks, to reduce the risks and impacts of climate change and help to ensure the health, sustainable use and resilience of the ocean.   The declaration also affirms the importance of the full and effective implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity and its Protocols, as well as the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (adopted in 2022, committing nations to halt and reverse nature loss by 2030 through ambitious conservation targets and sustainable biodiversity management). The high and rapidly increasing levels of plastic pollution and its negative impacts on the environment raised ongoing alarm.   Ocean action must be based on the best available science and knowledge, including, where available, traditional knowledge, knowledge of Indigenous Peoples and local knowledge systems, while recognizing and respecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, in conserving, restoring and sustainably using the ocean, seas and marine resources for sustainable development states the declaration.   Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 is one of the least funded Goals and accelerating ocean action globally requires significant additional and accessible finance.   “The signs of the ocean in distress are all around us”, said Peter Thomson, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations for the Ocean. “The time of debating with the denialists is over”.   One key aim of the conference was to achieve progress on the High Seas Treaty—officially known as the Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ) Agreement.   With 51 ratifications confirmed (and dozens more countries promising to ratify by the end of the year) to reach the 60 needed for entry into force, the treaty promises to enable the creation of marine protected areas in international waters, a crucial tool to achieving the goal of protecting 30% of the world’s ocean by 2030.   At the conference, French Polynesia pledged to create the world’s largest marine protected area, encompassing its entire exclusive economic zone – about five million square kilometers.   Former US special climate envoy John Kerry who was present in Nice, welcomed the developments saying: “We have a wide ranging group of countries that have come together to improve the marine protected areas”. The announcements this week, however, are “just building blocks,” he said. “We are not moving fast enough or at scale.”   Mr. Kerry said that it was impossible to "protect the ocean without confronting the biggest root cause bringing it to the breaking point: the pollution from fossil fuels pumped into the atmosphere".   2,000 scientists recommended to governments that all deep sea mining exploration be stopped whilst further research is carried out; with just 0.001% of the seabed being mapped.   The conference saw mounting support for a moratorium on deep-sea mining, with four more nations joining the call, bringing the total to 37 – a step not included in the final declaration.   Environmental groups expressed frustration that the conference stopped short of stronger legally binding decisions, especially on deep-sea mining.   “We’ve heard lots of fine words here in Nice, but these need to turn into tangible action,” said Megan Randles, head of Greenpeace’s delegation. “Countries must be brave and make history by committing to a moratorium on deep-sea mining at next month’s International Seabed Authority (ISA) meeting.”   Randles welcomed the ratification progress of the High Seas Treaty but said governments “missed the moment” to take firmer steps against industries threatening marine ecosystems.   Activists also stressed the importance of upcoming negotiations for a Global Plastics Treaty, resuming in Geneva this August. Ninety-five governments signed the “Nice Call for an Ambitious Plastics Treaty,” but concerns remain that lobbying from oil and petrochemical interests could water down the deal.   “The world cannot afford a weak treaty dictated by fossil fuel obstructionists,” said John Hocevar, Oceans Campaign Director at Greenpeace USA. “Governments need to show that multilateralism still works for people and the planet, not the profits of a greedy few.”   The issue of plastic pollution is one that is particularly profound for the oceans, but in December talks on reducing the levels of production broke down. There are nearly 200 trillion pieces in the ocean and this is expected to triple by 2040 if no action is taken.   Both the physical plastic and the chemicals within them is life-threatening to marine animals, said Bethany Carney Almroth, Professor of Ecotoxicology at the University of Gothenburg.   "There are more than 16,000 chemicals that are present in plastics, and we know that more than 4,000 of those have hazardous properties, so they might be carcinogenic, or mutagenic, or reproductively toxic," she said.   Reducing fossil fuel production is also crucial if countries want to see a drop in planet-warming emissions and limit the worst impacts of climate change. The oceans are at the forefront of this - 90% of the additional heat put into the atmosphere by humans has been absorbed by the oceans, leading to increasingly destructive impacts. However, the conference did not see any new commitments on reducing emissions.   Small Island Developing States pushed for stronger language on loss and damage – harms inflicted by climate change that go beyond what people can adapt to, but were left disappointed.   Laurence Tubiana, CEO at the European Climate Foundation, said Nice showed global co-operation was still possible "but let's not confuse signatures with solutions". "No communique ever cooled a marine heatwave," she said.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164381 http://press.un.org/en/2025/sea2231.doc.htm http://highseasalliance.org/2025/06/13/international-ocean-conference-ends-with-high-seas-treaty-on-verge-of-entry-into-force/ http://ejfoundation.org/news-media/press-release-unilateral-deep-sea-mining-rejected-at-un-ocean-conference http://deep-sea-conservation.org/un-ocean-conference-shines-a-light-on-the-deep-sea-now-time-for-action/   http://www.ciel.org/news/at-un-ocean-conference-world-leaders-fail-to-protect-the-ocean-from-fossil-fuels/ http://www.oceancare.org/en/stories_and_news/oceancare-at-unoc3-offshore-fossil-fuel-exploration-must-stop-now/ http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?14212941/un-ocean-conference-puts-wind-in-the-sails-of-ocean-action http://iucn.org/news/202506/iucn-welcomes-renewed-global-resolve-ocean-action-third-un-ocean-conference-closes http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/06/un-ocean-conference-closes-historic-commitments-activists-demand-action-beyond-words/ http://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cq69e4j6jz8o http://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250613-un-summit-celebrates-ocean-protections-but-drops-fossil-fuels   http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/06/a-wake-up-call-from-the-womb-indigenous-people-rally-for-a-binding-plastics-treaty/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/06/pacific-states-territories-gift-the-world-its-largest-conservation-project/ http://www.ipsnews.net/2025/06/oceans-at-risk-report-warns-global-fossil-fuel-expansion-threatens-marine-biodiversity/ http://www.clientearth.org/latest/press-office/press-releases/environment-lawyers-heartened-by-yet-another-eu-ruling-on-bottom-trawling/ http://wmo.int/news/media-centre/global-climate-predictions-show-temperatures-expected-remain-or-near-record-levels-coming-5-years   9 June 2025   UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres opened the Third United Nations Ocean Conference on Monday, delivering a blunt indictment of humanity’s fractured relationship with the sea.   “The ocean is the ultimate shared resource,” he told delegates gathered at the port of Nice. “But we are failing it.”   Oceans, he warned, are absorbing 90 per cent of the excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions and buckling under the strain: overfishing, rising temperatures, plastic pollution, acidification.   Coral reefs are dying. Fish stocks are collapsing. Rising seas, he said, could soon “submerge deltas, destroy crops, and swallow coastlines — threatening many islands’ survival.”   Over 120 countries are participating in the five-day gathering in France, known by the shorthand UNOC3, signaling a growing recognition that ocean health is inseparable from climate stability, food security, and global equity.   French President Emmanuel Macron, whose country is co-hosting the summit alongside Costa Rica, appealled for regard for science, law, and multilateral resolve.   “The abyss is not for sale, any more than Greenland is for sale, any more than Antarctica or the high seas are for sale,” he declared. “If the Earth is warming, the ocean is boiling.”   He insisted the fate of the seas could not be left to markets or opinion. “The first response is therefore multilateralism,” Mr. Macron said. “The climate, like biodiversity, is not a matter of opinion; it is a matter of scientifically established facts.”   Costa Rican President Rodrigo Chaves Robles issued a stark warning. “The ocean is speaking to us — with bleached coral reefs, with storms, with wounded mangroves,” he said. “There’s no time left for rhetoric. Now is the time to act.” Condemning decades of treating the ocean as a “global waste dump,” Mr. Chaves urged a shift from exploitation to stewardship.   The Costa Rican leader called for a moratorium on deep-sea mining in international waters until science can adequately assess the risks — a position already backed by 33 countries, he noted.   “The ocean is facing an unprecedented crisis due to climate change, plastic pollution, ecosystem loss, and the overuse of marine resources,” Li Junhua, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, who is also serving as Secretary-General of the event, told UN News.   The crisis isn’t a distant threat: it’s happening now. In April, global sea surface temperatures hit their second-highest levels ever for that month, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. Meanwhile, the most extensive coral bleaching event in recorded history is underway — sweeping across the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Pacific. More than a single event, it’s a planetary unraveling.   Coral reefs, which sustain a quarter of all marine species and underpin billions in tourism and fisheries, are vanishing before our eyes. Their collapse could unleash cascading effects on biodiversity, food security, and climate resilience.   And the damage runs deeper still. The ocean continues to absorb more than 90 per cent of excess heat from greenhouse gas emissions — a worldwide service that may be nearing its limits. “Challenges like plastic pollution, overfishing, biodiversity loss, ocean acidification, and warming are all linked to climate change,” Mr. Li warned.   Despite its vital role in regulating life on Earth — producing half of our oxygen and buffering against climate extremes — the ocean remains chronically underfunded. Sustainable Development Goal 14 , on ‘Life Below Water’, receives the least resources of the 17 global UN goals Member States agreed to meet by 2030.   The estimated cost to protect and restore marine ecosystems over the next five years is $175 billion annually. “But less than $10 billion was allocated between 2015 and 2019,” Mr. Li noted, signaling the need to move on ocean funding.   Up to 12 million metric tons of plastic enter the ocean every year — the equivalent of a garbage truck every minute. Over 60 per cent of marine ecosystems are degraded or unsustainably used. Global fish stocks within safe biological limits have plunged from 90 per cent in the 1970s to just 62 per cent in 2021.   More than 3 billion people rely on marine biodiversity to survive. The summit aims to bolster efforts toward protecting 30 per cent of the ocean by 2030.   Minna Epps, who runs the Ocean Program at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), spoke to UN News ahead of the Conference: How serious is the marine biodiversity crisis?   Minna Epps: We’re in really dire straits. If we don't protect and restore the Ocean this is going to have devastating consequences for all those services that we are dependent on. The entire climate is dependent on the Ocean as a climate regulator. However, we don't want the Ocean to absorb more carbon dioxide, because that's what makes it acidic, so we need to start by cutting emissions.   If you are in an airplane and you fly over a forest, you can see deforestation, that a habitat has been lost. The same thing is happening in the Ocean, but we can't really see it.   Another effect of climate change is marine heat waves, when water temperature increases over an extended period. A marine heat wave in Panama wiped out around 75 per cent of coral diversity. Coral reefs make up less than one per cent of the Ocean, but almost 25 per cent of marine species depend on them..   http://news.un.org/en/tags/un-ocean-conference http://sdgs.un.org/conferences/ocean2025 http://iucn.org/events/external-event/un-oceans-conference-2025 http://iucn.org/resources/policy-brief/iucns-messages-10-ocean-action-panels-unoc3 http://one-ocean-science-2025.org/oos2025-recommendations-en.pdf http://for-the-ocean.org/news/ocean-protection-gap-report/ http://www.fauna-flora.org/news/a-global-movement-to-protection-our-ocean/ http://seas-at-risk.org/press-releases/protect-the-ocean-protect-life-ocean-advocates-make-global-call-for-action-before-un-ocean-conference/   http://www.pew.org/en/research-and-analysis/fact-sheets/2025/06/why-deep-seabed-mining-needs-a-moratorium http://e360.yale.edu/features/jeff-watters-interview http://wwf.panda.org/wwf_news/press_releases/?14136941/WWF-UN-Ocean-Conference-must-chart-a-course-to-deliver-on-2030-goals http://for-the-ocean.org/news/destructive-fishing-in-protected-areas-and-bottom-trawlings-economic-toll/ http://for-the-ocean.org/resources http://www.fauna-flora.org/explained/bottom-trawling-impact/ http://www.oceancare.org/en/stories_and_news/report-trawling/ http://insideclimatenews.org/news/09062025/un-deep-sea-mining-bottom-trawling-moratorium/ http://stateoftheocean.org/seamountsproclamation/   http://www.oceancare.org/en/stories_and_news/over-200-ngos-call-for-urgent-action-on-offshore-fossil-fuel-exploration-ahead-of-un-conference-in-nice/ http://www.ciel.org/news/ciel-experts-at-unoc3/ http://www.ciel.org/unoc3-time-for-a-fossil-free-ocean/ http://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2025/04/01/offshore-oil-gas-policies-threaten-ocean/ http://www.clientearth.org/latest/news/what-s-the-relationship-between-climate-change-and-the-ocean/   http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/jun/09/sea-acidity-ecosystems-ocean-acidification-planetary-health-scientists http://insideclimatenews.org/news/09062025/ocean-acidification-crosses-planetary-boundaries/ http://www.ipcc.ch/report/sixth-assessment-report-cycle/ http://sdgs.un.org/publications/launch-second-world-ocean-assessment-woa-ii-volume-i-32884 http://stateoftheocean.org/theforgottenocean/#more-1680 http://stateoftheocean.org/new-report/ http://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/chapter/chapter-5/ http://www.ipcc.ch/srocc/ http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01665-0 http://council.science/news/science-based-priorities-for-the-ocean-we-need/   http://news.mongabay.com/2025/06/when-our-oceans-cant-breathe-a-sea-change-is-needed-commentary/ http://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2025/04/23/addressing-triple-planetary-crisis-ocean-2025/ http://riseupfortheocean.org/finance-for-ocean-resilience-bridging-the-gap-for-coastal-communities/ http://www.nature.com/immersive/d42859-025-00024-3/index.html http://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01726-4 http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308597X25001885 http://www.carbonbrief.org/guest-post-how-marine-life-provides-climate-benefits-worth-billions-of-dollars/ http://seas-at-risk.org/blue-manifesto/ http://riseupfortheocean.org/cop29-ocean-climate-action-at-a-crossroads/ http://www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/answering-10-pressing-questions-about-plastic-pollution   Mar. 2025   Ocean issues are human rights issues, says UN expert   Ocean degradation threatens communities and affects human rights worldwide, including the right to a healthy environment, a UN independent expert said today.   “The protection of marine ecosystems is part of States’ obligations to protect human rights,” said Astrid Puentes Riaño, Special Rapporteur on the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.   In her report to the UN Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur stressed that the degradation of the ocean threatens humanity and exacerbates inequalities and disproportionately affects marginalised populations.   “Knowing the interdependence and interconnectedness of humans and ecosystems with the ocean is essential to understanding the current impacts on this delicate balance, even for those living inland,” Puentes Riano said. She noted that these linkages include food systems, healthy ecosystems, a safe climate and the work of ocean defenders.   “The ocean is the largest biome on Earth, covering 70 per cent of its surface. One third of the human population (2.4 billion people) live within 100 km of an ocean coast,” she said.   “Despite over 600 agreements, marine ecosystems face pressing threats including climate change, overfishing, extractivism, pollution, and deep-sea mining,” the expert said. Weak governance and enforcement gaps; disproportionate impacts on Indigenous Peoples, small-scale fishers, and coastal communities; escalating violence against ocean defenders, and insufficient accountability exacerbate these issues.   Puentes Riano called for a holistic, comprehensive, integrated and gender-responsive human rights and ecosystem-based approach to ocean governance. She said the inclusion of ancestral knowledge, the rights of present and future generations, and a long-term vision were crucial to solving the current triple planetary crises and addressing ocean challenges.   “We must mainstream the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment into ocean policies, strengthen international cooperation, and ensure that those most affected lead conservation efforts,” the Special Rapporteur said.   In her report, the expert outlined key recommendations for States, businesses and international organisations, including: strengthening legal protections for marine biodiversity and coastal communities; implementing stricter regulations on overfishing, pollution and offshore extractive industries; enforcing the precautionary principle, all while recognising the role of ocean defenders and indigenous knowledge in marine governance. The report also recommends for States to support developing countries in marine conservation.   “Without immediate action, we risk losing marine biodiversity, which in turn will impact the lives and human rights of millions of people who depend on the ocean,” Puentes Riano said. “We need a clear understanding that ocean issues are human rights issues, and we need to apply this to all ocean-related efforts.”   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2025/03/ocean-issues-are-human-rights-issues-says-un-expert http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5543-business-planetary-boundaries-and-right-clean-healthy-and http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-environment Visit the related web page
	Chemical pollution is all-pervasive on our planet by Down to Earth, OHCHR, NEJM, agencies   27 Feb. 2025   No place is safe from chemical pollution in today’s world, says State of India’s Environment 2025. (Centre for Science & Environment)   Chemical pollution is all-pervasive on our planet, with no place on Earth remaining safe from it, according to the State of India’s Environment 2025 released at the Anil Agarwal Dialogue on February 26, 2025.   “In the Anthropocene age, human-made chemicals are not only “forever”, but have also become “everywhere” pollutants. From high in the atmosphere to deep inside oceans, from soils and trees to uninhabited regions — they are everywhere,” stated the report, released by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) director general Sunita Narain, India’s G20 Sherpa Amitabh Kant; former deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia; and management and financial guru Raj Liberhan.   Down To Earth correspondent Rohini Krishnamurthy, who anchored a special session on ‘chemicals in the environment’ at the Dialogue on February 26, said: “In 2019, chemicals in the environment reportedly accounted for two million deaths worldwide. New chemicals are often released into the market before we have fully understood their impacts. As a result, there are gaps in our understanding of the scale and threat of the risks posed by them in our environment.”   According to the World Health Organization, some 160 million chemicals are known to humans. Data from the Chemicals Abstracts Service, a global inventory of these substances, indicates that countries across the world are making, using and importing some 60,000 chemicals that are not well understood and regulated.   The State of India’s Environment 2025 report says humans have “synthesised some 140,000 chemicals and mixtures of chemicals”. These are chemicals that did not exist till a few decades ago. New chemicals are being invented and developed at an unprecedented rate. As per 2019 data, the US produces an average of 1,500 new substances a year.   Said Krishnamurthy: “Naturally, the rate at which chemicals are released into the environment is also very high. Annually, some 220 billion tonne of chemicals are released. In fact, humans are responsible for pumping in 65 kg of cancer-causing chemicals every second into the atmosphere.”   Speaking at the Dialogue, Donthi N Reddy, visiting senior fellow, Impact and Policy Research Institute, New Delhi, said: “We are indiscriminately using pesticides in our rural regions — 255,000 tonne every year — when even a single gramme is lethal.”   The disease burden   “Once they get into our bodies, synthetic chemicals first encounter the lungs, skin and gut. They can also travel through the bloodstream to affect other organs like the kidneys or the immune system. They can enter individual cells and affect how instructions in the DNA are converted into protein. Long terms exposure to chemicals leads to a range of health issues such as cancer, organ damage, weakening of the immune system, development of allergies or asthma etc,” Krishnamurthy said.   The State of India’s Environment report asks if the world has reached a critical situation in terms of chemical pollution — aside from it accounting for two million deaths (2019, WHO), 53 million disability-adjusted life years have also been lost due to exposures to certain chemicals.   * The Anil Agarwal Dialogue 2025, an annual conclave of journalists from India who write on environment and development issues.   http://www.downtoearth.org.in/pollution/aad-2025-no-place-is-safe-from-chemical-pollution-in-todays-world-says-state-of-indias-environment-2025   Jan. 2025   Multiple diseases in children have been linked to manufactured synthetic chemicals - Consortium for Children’s Environmental Health   Children are suffering and dying from diseases that scientific research has linked to chemical exposures, findings that require urgent revamping of laws around the world, according to a new paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).   Authored by more than 20 leading public health researchers, including one from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and another from the United Nations, the paper lays out “a large body of evidence” linking multiple childhood diseases to synthetic chemicals and recommends a series of aggressive actions to try to better protect children.   The paper is a “call to arms” to forge an “actual commitment to the health of our children”, said Linda Birnbaum, a former director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a co-author of the paper.   In conjunction with the release of the paper, some of the study authors are helping launch an Institute for Preventive Health to support the recommendations outlined in the paper and to help fund implementation of reforms.   The paper points to data showing global inventories of roughly 350,000 synthetic chemicals, chemical mixtures and plastics, most of which are derived from fossil fuels. Production has expanded 50-fold since 1950, and is currently increasing by about 3% a year – projected to triple by 2050, the paper states.   Meanwhile, noncommunicable diseases, including many that research shows can be caused by synthetic chemicals, are rising in children and have become the principal cause of death and illness for children, the authors write.   Despite the connections, which the authors say “continue to be discovered with distressing frequency”, there are very few restrictions on such chemicals and no post-market surveillance for longer-term adverse health effects.   “The evidence is so overwhelming and the effects of manufactured chemicals are so disruptive for children, that inaction is no longer an option,” said Daniele Mandrioli, a co-author of the paper and director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy. “Our article highlights the necessity for a paradigm shift in chemical testing and regulations to safeguard children’s health.”   Such a shift would require changes in laws, restructuring of the chemical industry and redirection of financial investments similar to what has been undertaken with efforts to transition to clean energy, the paper states.   The paper identifies several disturbing data points for trend lines over the last 50 years. They include incidence of childhood cancers up 35%, male reproductive birth defects have doubled in frequency and neurodevelopmental disorders are affecting one child in six. Autism spectrum disorder is diagnosed in one in 36 children, pediatric asthma has tripled in prevalence and pediatric obesity prevalence has nearly quadrupled, driving a “sharp increase in Type 2 diabetes among children and adolescents”.   “Children’s health has been slipping away as a priority focus,” said Tracey Woodruff, a co-author of the paper and director of the University of California San Francisco’s (UCSF) program on reproductive health and the environment. “We’ve slowly just been neglecting this. The clinical and public health community and the government has failed them.”   The authors cite research documenting how “even brief, low-level exposures to toxic chemicals during early vulnerable periods” in a child’s development can cause disease and disability. Prenatal exposures are particularly hazardous, the paper states.   “Diseases caused by toxic chemical exposures in childhood can lead to massive economic losses, including health care expenditures and productivity losses resulting from reduced cognitive function, physical disabilities, and premature death,” the paper notes. “The chemical industry largely externalizes these costs and imposes them on governments and taxpayers.”   The paper takes issue with the US Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1977 and amendments, arguing that even though the law was enacted to protect public health from “unreasonable risks” posed by chemicals, it does not provide the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) with the authorities needed to actually meet that commitment.   Instead, the manner in which the law is implemented assumes that all manufactured chemicals are harmless and beneficial and burdens government regulators with identifying and assessing the chemicals.   “Hazards that have been recognized have typically been ignored or downplayed, and the responsible chemicals allowed to remain in use with no or limited restrictions,” the paper states. “In the nearly 50 years since TSCA’s passage, only a handful of chemicals have been banned or restricted in US markets.”   Chemical oversight is more rigorous in the European Union, the paper says, but still fails to provide adequate protections, relying heavily on testing data provided by the chemical industry and providing multiple exemptions, the paper argues.   The authors of the paper prescribe a new global “precautionary” approach that would only allow chemical products on the market if their manufacturers could establish through independent testing that the chemicals are not toxic at anticipated exposure levels.   “The core of our recommendation is that chemicals should be tested before they come to market, they should not be presumed innocent only to be found to be harmful years and decades later,” said , a co-author who directs the program for global public health and the common good at Boston College. “Each and every chemical should be tested before they come to market.”   Additionally, companies would be required to conduct post-marketing surveillance to look for long-term adverse effects of their products.   That could include bio-monitoring of the most prevalent chemical exposures to the general population, Mandrioli said. Disease registries would play another fundamental role, he said, but those approaches should be integrated with toxicological studies that can “anticipate and rapidly predict effects that might have very long latencies in humans, such as cancer”. Clusters of populations with increased cancer incidences, particularly when they are children, should trigger immediate preventive actions, he said.   Key to it all would be a legally binding global chemicals treaty that would fall under the auspices of the United Nations and would require a “permanent, independent science policy body to provide expert guidance”, the paper suggests.   The paper recommends chemical companies and consumer product companies be required to disclose information about the potential risks of the chemicals in use and report on inventory and usage of chemicals of “high concern”.   “Pollution by synthetic chemicals and plastics is a major planetary challenge that is worsening rapidly,” the paper states. “Continued, unchecked increases in production of fossil-carbon–based chemicals endangers the world’s children and threatens humanity’s capacity for reproduction. Inaction on chemicals is no longer an option.”   http://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/08/health-experts-childrens-health-chemicals-paper http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms2409092 http://toxicfreesolutions.org/international-experts-call-for-urgent-action-to-protect-childrens-health-from-harmful-chemicals/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/strengthen-regulation-hazardous-chemicals-stop-gender-related-health-harms http://www.ohchr.org/en/documents/thematic-reports/ahrc5752-pollution-information-portals-strengthening-access-information http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2023/09/unsound-management-chemicals-and-wastes-fuelling-global-toxic-emergency-un http://www.ohchr.org/en/special-procedures/sr-toxics-and-human-rights/about-toxics-and-human-rights http://www.hrw.org/news/2025/03/11/submission-un-special-rapporteur-toxics-and-human-rights http://ceh.unicef.org/ceh-essentials/overview-risks   * UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Children have the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment. States are responsible not only for protecting children’s rights from immediate harm, but also for foreseeable violations of their rights in the future due to action, or inaction, today. States can be held accountable for environmental harm occurring both within their borders and beyond:   http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/08/urgent-action-states-needed-tackle-climate-change-says-un-committee-guidance Visit the related web page
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