Scientists categorise Earth as a 'toxic planet'

We emit more than 250 billion tonnes of chemical substances ever year, us humans, according to a new book - and it's really harming us.

The earth, and its inhabitants, are being “saturated” with man-made chemicals on an unprecedented scale, according to Julian Cribb, author of Surviving the 21^st Century.

He writes that we’re being exposed to thousands of these chemicals when we breathe, eat, drink, travel, get dressed and, well, live, basically.

Cribb warns that this is having a massive impact on humans, but is barely regulated or understood.

He writes that roughly 2,000 new chemicals are released every year, and most have never been tested for how safe they are for humans.

It’s less surprising, then, that one in four people die from diseases caused by air, water and soil pollution, chemical exposures, climate change and ultra-violet radiation.

The one common factor here?

They all result from human activity.

Cribb writes:

Each moment of our lives, from conception unto death, we are exposed to thousands of substances, some deadly in even tiny doses and most of them unknown in their effects on our health and wellbeing or upon the natural world.

Cribb warns that industrial toxins are found in new-born babies, in mother’s milk and in the food chain and drinking water around the world.

Terrifying.

HT phys.org

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