Environmental Health
How toxins (can)
ruin your life
Industrial chemicals are linked to damage across nearly every domain of a life — from the intelligence we are born with to the length of life itself.
At the broadest level, environmental pollution is linked to shortened lifespan and increased chronic disease, alongside neurodevelopmental problems, neurotoxicity and higher dementia risk (Fahey et al., 2025) see here — and virtually every organ and organic system can be affected see here (Blanuša et al., 2005). Because these compounds touch so many systems at once, they can erode the specific capacities a person’s life is built on. Below is how — capacity by capacity.
Intelligence and the ability to learn
The most consistent damage is to the brain, especially early. Lead at remarkably low concentrations can cause a decrement in IQ and behavioural problems in children exposed prenatally and in early life, and low exposure at 18–30 months has produced a persistent drop in IQ lasting to four-to-six years of age.
This is not marginal. Prenatal organophosphate exposure alone was estimated to cost Europe 13.0 million IQ points a year, plus 59,300 additional intellectual-disability cases (Trasande et al., 2015). Children whose mothers were exposed to indoor mold scored, on average, 10 IQ points lower (Jedrychowski et al., 2011). Pesticide-exposed children showed altered short-term memory, poor hand-eye coordination and lower IQ than unexposed peers (Guillette et al., 1998). Crucially, damage at a critical developmental window is likely to have long-lasting, often irreversible consequences — an early hit to intelligence is not something a person simply grows out of.
Stability and inner life
Toxins are linked to the conditions that most disrupt inner life. Higher arsenic in schoolchildren has been associated with anxiety and depression, somatic and attention problems, and rule-breaking behaviour, with lead and arsenic together amplifying the risk even at low levels (Renzetti et al., 2021). Air pollution is significantly associated with major depressive disorder and is detrimental to mental health generally (Borroni et al., 2024).
Early-life lead exposure can predispose individuals to psychiatric conditions such as schizophrenia later in life (Ahmad, Liu et al., 2025). And chronic mercury exposure produces low-grade effects — fatigue, memory loss, poor concentration and mood disturbance — that are commonly missed in diagnosis (Bernhoft, 2012), meaning a person’s wellbeing can be quietly degraded without an obvious cause.
Behaviour and social trajectory
Beyond mood, exposure is tied to outcomes that can derail a whole life course. Increased risk of ADHD is one of the most consistently observed effects of phthalate exposure (Chang et al., 2021), and low-level childhood lead exposure is associated with ADHD-type behaviour. This matters because such attributes are considered major risk factors for delinquency and later substance abuse, and childhood lead exposure has itself been associated with adolescent substance abuse and with aggression in arrested juveniles (Ahmad, Liu et al., 2025).
Lead is also linked to difficulty in emotional regulation and in reading emotional cues — the very faculties relationships depend on. Autism spectrum disorder, meanwhile, has been associated with early-life lead, with cadmium, with aluminium found elevated in affected brain tissue, and — with the strongest evidence of the group — with organophosphate pesticides (Kahn et al., 2020).
Fertility and the next generation
Toxins can foreclose the possibility of having children. Male infertility is the primary factor in about half of infertile couples (Kumar & Singh, 2022), against a backdrop of an approximately 50% decline in sperm concentration in industrialised regions between 1973 and 2011 (Levine et al., 2017).
The chemistry behind the trend is well mapped. BPA correlates with reduced sperm count and motility and with DNA damage (Matuszczak et al., 2019); phthalates lower semen quality and testosterone; and cadmium, lead and mercury all impair sperm. In women, endocrine disruptors are tied to reduced oocyte quality, implantation failure, PCOS and recurrent miscarriage — serum BPA was roughly three times higher in women with recurrent first-trimester miscarriage (Peretz et al., 2014).
And the harm can reach the children who are born. Close to 300 chemicals have been found in newborns’ cord blood (Environmental Working Group, 2005), and some effects can persist across multiple generations through epigenetic change (Han & Jin, 2025).
The immune system
Toxins can weaken the very system that protects a life from everything else. Broadly, heavy-metal exposure is linked to immune suppression (Milanković et al., 2024), and children are described as increasingly under assault before birth, with immune and neurological functioning among the major targets (Crinnon, 2009).
The clearest signal comes from PFAS. Their immunotoxicity is well documented, and higher exposure to PFOA and PFOS is associated with susceptibility to infection, immunosuppression, allergies and autoimmune disease (Thoerig et al., 2025). One concrete downstream consequence: PFAS exposure has been linked to a reduced antibody response to vaccination — the immune system mounts a poorer defence even when primed. Cadmium shows how this can turn deadly, having been associated with increased mortality from influenza (Fuller et al., 2022) — a direct link between a weakened defence and a fatal outcome.
A unifying mechanism is that many of these compounds act through oxidative stress and chronic inflammation (Chung, 2015), dysregulating immune function — leaving a person simultaneously more vulnerable to infection and more prone to the immune system turning on the body itself.
Physical health across a lifetime
Toxins are connected to the major chronic diseases that curtail an active life see here. Almost every organ system can be affected (Carpenter et al., 1998), with links running to cardiovascular disease, cancer, kidney and liver disease, diabetes and obesity, and respiratory disease (Milanković et al., 2024). Cadmium’s primary target is the kidney, where chronic low exposure leads to chronic kidney disease and end-stage renal failure (Thévenod & Lee, 2024).
In later life the accumulated burden expresses itself as cognitive decline and dementia — lead, cadmium and aluminium are each independently associated with Alzheimer’s disease, and air pollution accelerates both obesity and Alzheimer’s (Campolim et al., 2024). Plastic, the Minderoo-Monaco Commission concluded, causes disease, disability and premature death at every stage of its life cycle — and particulate matter alone accounts for roughly 103.1 million disability-adjusted life-years (Lang et al., 2025): years of healthy, independent living lost.
The economic weight
The damage carries a measurable cost that falls on individuals and societies alike. A diminished mind and a sick body become a diminished capacity to work and earn — and lost IQ points translate directly into foregone lifetime earnings.
Length of life
At the far end, these exposures shorten life. Roughly half of the ~2 million deaths attributable to chemical exposures in 2019 were linked to lead alone, developing countries carrying the majority of the burden (Gorini & Tonacci, 2024), cadmium is associated with increased cardiovascular and all-cause mortality (Scimeca et al., 2024), and the total reaches into the millions.
1 in 6 deaths worldwide
linked to pollution — about 9 million people every year
And the reach extends past death itself: a mother’s accumulated load becomes the next generation’s starting point, so the harm can echo into lives not yet begun (Hu et al., 2021).
The same story across one lifetime
Each of the harms above lands at a particular moment — and, stage by stage, they compose a single arc. Exposure begins before conception and never fully clears, accumulating from the womb to the grave and seeding the beginning that follows.
Why this adds up to “ruining a life” — and its honest limits
Taken together, the findings describe damage to nearly every pillar a life rests on: the intellect a person is born with, their emotional stability, their behaviour and relationships, their ability to build a family, their long-term health and independence, their earning capacity, and their lifespan. The mechanisms are shared and cumulative — inflammation, oxidative stress, endocrine disruption and epigenetic change — which is why a single class of exposures can plausibly undermine so many domains at once.
Two limits should stay in view. First, “can ruin” is the right verb: most of these findings are associations and population-level risks, not certainties for any one person — the size of the effect depends heavily on dose, timing, genetics and life circumstances, and much of the mental-health and behavioural evidence is ecological or correlational. Second, the gravest, most life-altering harms cluster in a few well-established places — early-life lead and methylmercury neurotoxicity, phthalate and BPA reproductive effects, and particulate-matter mortality — while others, such as the autism links and transgenerational effects, remain genuinely contested.
So the accurate reading is that toxins can plausibly damage the foundations of a life, most severely when exposure lands early and accumulates — rather than that they inevitably do so in every case.
A summary of findings from the referenced scientific literature. Not medical advice.
Sources
Ahmad, Liu, 2020 — Faraz Ahmad, Ping Liu: (Ascorb)ing Pb Neurotoxicity in the Developing Brain, Antioxidants 2020, 9; DOI: 10.3390/antiox9121311. Cited in text as “Ahmad, Liu et al., 2025”; the “2025” appears to be a citation-year slip for this source.
Alum et al., 2025b — Esther Ugo Alum, Henry Egi Aloh, David Chukwu Obasi, Prince Nkemakolam Okoroh, Ugonna Cassandra Aniokete, Akunna Perpetua Emeruwa: Maternal Nutrition, Toxicants, and Epigenetic Programming of Obesity Across Generations, Diabetes, Metabolic Syndrome and Obesity, 2025:18.
Amadi et al., 2022 — Cecilia N. Amadi, Chinna N. Orish, Chiara Frazzoli, Orish E. Orisakwe: Association of autism with toxic metals: A systematic review of case-control studies, Pharmacol Biochem Behav, 212, 2022; DOI: 10.1016/j.pbb.2021.173313.
Ashraf et al., 2021 — Asma Ashraf, Shumaila Kiran, Saima Muzammil, Sumreen Hayat, Muhammad Umar Ijaz, Aqsa Muzammil: Phthalates and Neurological Disorders. From Exposure to Preventive Interventions, in: Environmental Contaminants and Neurological Disorders (Eds: Muhammad Sajid Hamid, Akash Kanwal Rehman), Springer, 2021.
Attina et al., 2016 — Teresa M. Attina, Russ Hauser, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Patricia A. Hunt, Jean-Pierre Bourguignon, John Peterson Myers, Joseph DiGangi, R. Thomas Zoeller, Leonardo Trasande: Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in the USA: a population-based disease burden and cost analysis, Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, 2016; DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(16)30275-3.
Bernhoft, 2012 — Robin A. Bernhoft: Mercury Toxicity and Treatment: A Review of the Literature, Journal of Environmental and Public Health, Vol. 2012; DOI: 10.1155/2012/460508.
Bhui et al., 2024 — Kamaldeep Bhui, Marcella Ucci, Prashant Kumar, Simon K. Jackson, Corinne Whitby, Ian Colbeck, Christian Pfrang, Zaheer A. Nasir, Frederic Coulon: Air quality and mental illness: role of bioaerosols, causal mechanisms and research priorities, BJPsych Open, 2024, 10; DOI: 10.1192/bjo.2024.724.
Blanuša et al., 2005 — Maja Blanuša, Veda M. Varnai, Martina Piasek, Krista Kostial: Chelators as Antidotes of Metal Toxicity: Therapeutic and Experimental Aspects, Current Medicinal Chemistry, 12, 2005.
Borroni et al., 2024 — E. Borroni, M. Buoli, G. Nosari, A. Ceresa, L. Fedrizzi, L. M. Antonangeli, P. Monti, V. Bollati, A. C. Pesatori, M. Carugno: Impact of air pollution exposure on the severity of major depressive disorder: Results from the DeprAir study, European Psychiatry, 67(1); DOI: 10.1192/j.eurpsy.2024.1767.
Campolim et al., 2024 — C. M. Campolim, B. C. Schimenes, M. M. Veras, Y.-B. Kim, P. O. Prada: Air pollution accelerates the development of obesity and Alzheimer’s disease: the role of leptin and inflammation – a mini-review, Front. Immunol., 15; DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1401800.
Carpenter et al., 1998 — David O. Carpenter, Kathleen F. Arcaro, Brian Bush, William D. Niemi, Shaokun Pang, Dilip D. Vakharia: Human Health and Chemical Mixtures. An Overview, Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 106, Supp. 6, 1998.
Chang et al., 2021 — Wei-Hsiang Chang, Samuel Herianto, Ching-Chang Lee, Hsin Hung, Hsiu-Ling Chen: The effects of phthalate ester exposure on human health: A review, Science of the Total Environment, 786, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147371.
Chung, 2015 — Raymond Tsz Man Chung: Detoxification effects of phytonutrients against environmental toxicants and sharing of clinical experience on practical applications, Environ Sci Pollut Res, 2015; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-015-5263-3.
Crinnion, 2009 — Walter J. Crinnion: Maternal Levels of Xenobiotics that Affect Fetal Development and Childhood Health, Altern Med Rev, 2009, 14(3). Also spelled “Crinnon” in the source text.
Environmental Working Group, 2005 — Environmental Working Group: Body Burden: The Pollution in Newborns. A benchmark investigative study of industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides in umbilical cord blood, 2005.
Fahey et al., 2025 — Jed W. Fahey, Hua Liu, Holly Batt, Anita A. Panjwani, Petra Tsuji: Sulforaphane and Brain Health: From Pathways of Action to Effects on Specific Disorders, Nutrients, 2025, 17; DOI: 10.3390/nu17081353.
Fuller et al., 2022 — Richard Fuller, Philip J. Landrigan, Kalpana Balakrishnan, Glynda Bathan, Stephan Bose-O’Reilly, Michael Brauer, Jack Caravanos, Tom Chiles, Aaron Cohen, Lilian Corra, Maureen Cropper, Greg Ferraro, Jill Hanna, David Hanrahan, Howard Hu, David Hunter, Gloria Janata, Rachael Kupka, Bruce Lanphear, Maureen Lichtveld, Keith Martin, Adetoun Mustapha, Ernesto Sanchez-Triana, Karti Sandilya, Laura Schaefli, Joseph Shaw, Jessica Seddon, William Suk, Martha María Téllez-Rojo, Chonghuai Yan: Pollution and health: a progress update, Lancet Planet Health, 2022, 6; DOI: 10.1016/S2542-5196(22)00090-0.
Genuis, 2006 — Stephen J. Genuis: The chemical erosion of human health. Adverse environmental exposure and in-utero pollution – determinants of congenital disorders and chronic disease, J. Perinat. Med., 34, 2006; DOI: 10.1515/JPM.2006.033.
Gorini, Tonacci, 2024 — Francesca Gorini, Alessandro Tonacci: Metal Toxicity and Dementia Including Frontotemporal Dementia: Current State of Knowledge, Antioxidants, 2024, 13; DOI: 10.3390/antiox13080938.
Han, Jin, 2025 — Xiaoyan Han, Xiaolong Jin: The impact, mechanisms and prevention strategies of environmental endocrine disruptors on male reproductive health, Front. Endocrinol., 16, 2025; DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1573526.
Henriques et al., 2019 — Magda Carvalho Henriques, Susana Loureiro, Margarida Fardilha, Maria Teresa Herdeiro: Exposure to mercury and human reproductive health. A systematic review, Reproductive Toxicology, 85, 2019; DOI: 10.1016/j.reprotox.2019.02.012.
Hu et al., 2021 — Liqin Hu, Dan Luo, Limei Wang, Meng Yu, Shizhen Zhao, Youjie Wang, Surong Mei, Gan Zhang: Levels and profiles of persistent organic pollutants in breast milk in China and their potential health risks to breastfed infants. A review, Science of the Total Environment, 753, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142028.
Iqubal et al., 2020 — Ashif Iqubal, Musheer Ahmed, Shahnawaz Ahmad, Chita Ranjan Sahoo, Mohammad Kashif Iqubal, Syed Ehtaishamul Haque: Environmental neurotoxic pollutants. Review, Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 2020; DOI: 10.1007/s11356-020-10539-z.
Jedrychowski et al., 2011 — Wieslaw Jedrychowski, Umberto Maugeri, Frederica Perera, Laura Stigter, Jeffrey Jankowski, Maria Butscher, Elzbieta Mroz, Elzbieta Flak, Anita Skarupa, Agata Sowa: Cognitive function of 6-year old children exposed to mold-contaminated homes in early postnatal period. Prospective birth cohort study in Poland, Physiology & Behavior, 104, 2011; DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2011.06.019.
Kahn et al., 2020 — Linda G. Kahn, Claire Philippat, Shoji F. Nakayama, Rémy Slama, Leonardo Trasande: Endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Implications for human health, Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol., 8(8), 2020; DOI: 10.1016/S2213-8587(20)30129-7.
Koyama, Kamogashira, Yamasoba, 2024 — Hajime Koyama, Teru Kamogashira, Tatsuya Yamasoba: Heavy Metal Exposure: Molecular Pathways, Clinical Implications, and Protective Strategies, Antioxidants, 2024, 13, 76; DOI: 10.3390/antiox13010076.
Kumar, Singh, 2022 — Naina Kumar, Amit Kant Singh: Impact of environmental factors on human semen quality and male fertility: a narrative review, Environmental Sciences Europe, 2022, 34(6); DOI: 10.1186/s12302-021-00585-w.
Lang, Lipp, Wechselberger, 2025 — Tamara Lang, Anna-Maria Lipp, Christian Wechselberger: Xenobiotic Toxicants and Particulate Matter: Effects, Mechanisms, Impacts on Human Health, and Mitigation Strategies, 2025. Journal/DOI not listed in the source.
Lee, Park, Seo, 2018 — Hyun Jin Lee, Moo Kyun Park, Young Rok Seo: Pathogenic Mechanisms of Heavy Metal Induced-Alzheimer’s Disease, Toxicol. Environ. Health. Sci., Vol. 10, No. 1, 2018.
Levine et al., 2017 — Hagai Levine, Niels Jørgensen, Anderson Martino-Andrade, Jaime Mendiola, Dan Weksler-Derri, Irina Mindlis, Rachel Pinotti, Shanna H. Swan: Temporal trends in sperm count: a systematic review and meta-regression analysis, Human Reproduction Update, Vol. 23, No. 6, 2017; DOI: 10.1093/humupd/dmx022.
Matuszczak et al., 2019 — Ewa Matuszczak, Marta Diana Komarowska, Wojciech Debek, Adam Hermanowicz: The Impact of Bisphenol A on Fertility, Reproductive System, and Development. A Review of the Literature, International Journal of Endocrinology, 2019; DOI: 10.1155/2019/4068717.
Meeker, Sathyanarayana, Swan, 2009 — John D. Meeker, Sheela Sathyanarayana, Shanna H. Swan: Phthalates and other additives in plastics: human exposure and associated health outcomes, Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B, 2009, 364; DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0268.
Milanković et al., 2024 — Vedran Milanković, Tamara Tasić, Andreja Leskovac, Sandra Petrović, Miloš Mitić, Tamara Lazarević-Pašti, Mirjana Novković, Nebojša Potkonjak: Metals on the Menu – Analyzing the Presence, Importance, and Consequences, Foods, 2024, 13; DOI: 10.3390/foods13121890. Also appears as “Milancović” in the source text.
Minderoo-Monaco Commission, 2023 — P. J. Landrigan, H. Raps, M. Cropper, C. Bald, M. Brunner, E. M. Canonizado, D. Charles, T. C. Chiles, M. J. Donohue, J. Enck, P. Fenichel, L. E. Fleming, C. Ferrier-Pages, R. Fordham, A. Gozt, C. Griffin, M. E. Hahn, B. Haryanto, R. Hixson, H. Ianelli, B. D. James, P. Kumar, A. Laborde, K. L. Law, K. Martin, J. Mu, Y. Mulders, A. Mustapha, J. Niu, S. Pahl, Y. Park, M.-L. Pedrotti, J. A. Pitt, M. Ruchirawat, B. J. Seewoo, M. Spring, J. J. Stegeman, W. Suk, C. Symeonides, H. Takada, R. C. Thompson, A. Vicini, Z. Wang, E. Whitman, D. Wirth, M. Wolff, A. K. Yousuf, S. Dunlop: The Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Human Health, Annals of Global Health, 2023, 89(1); DOI: 10.5334/aogh.4056.
Peretz et al., 2014 — Jackye Peretz, Lisa Vrooman, William A. Ricke, Patricia A. Hunt, Shelley Ehrlich, Russ Hauser, Vasantha Padmanabhan, Hugh S. Taylor, Shanna H. Swan, Catherine A. VandeVoort, Jodi A. Flaws: Bisphenol A and Reproductive Health: Update of Experimental and Human Evidence, 2007–2013, Environ Health Perspect, 122, 2013; DOI: 10.1289/ehp.1307728.
Renzetti et al., 2021 — Stefano Renzetti, Giuseppa Cagna, Stefano Calza, Michele Conversano, Chiara Fedrighi, Giovanni Forte, Augusto Giorgino, Stefano Guazzetti, Costanza Majorani, Manuela Oppini, Marco Peli, Francesco Petrucci, Anna Pino, Donatella Placidi, Oreste Senofonte, Silvia Zoni, Alessandro Alimonti, Roberto G. Lucchini: The effects of the exposure to neurotoxic elements on Italian schoolchildren behavior, Nature Scientific Reports, 11, 2021; DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-88969-z.
Salamanca-Fernández et al., 2025 — Elena Salamanca-Fernández, Francisco M. Peinado, Marta Esteban-López, Vladimira Puklova, Rafael M. Poyatos, Eva Govarts, Michelle Laeremans, Martine Leermakers, Elly den Hond, Greet Schoeters, Aline Murawski, Susana Pedraza-Díaz, Tamás Szigeti, Veerle Verheyen, Nina Vogel, Till Weber, Domenica Hahn, Philipp Zimmermann, Marike Kolossa-Gehring, Mariana F. Fernandez, Juan Pedro Arrebola: Sociodemographic determinants and temporal variability of blood lead levels (2003–2019) in a pooled analysis of nine studies in four European countries, Nature Scientific Reports, 2025, 15; DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-17943-w.
Sargis, Heindel, Padmanabhan, 2019 — Robert M. Sargis, Jerrold J. Heindel, Vasantha Padmanabhan: Interventions to Address Environmental Metabolism-Disrupting Chemicals: Changing the Narrative to Empower Action to Restore Metabolic Health, Front. Endocrinol., 10(33); DOI: 10.3389/fendo.2019.00033.
Scimeca et al., 2024 — Manuel Scimeca, Valeria Palumbo, Erica Giacobbi, Francesca Servadei, Stefano Casciardi, Elena Cornella, Federica Cerbara, Gabriele Rotondaro, Christian Seghetti, Maria Paola Scioli, Manuela Montanaro, Francesco Barillà, Renata Sisto, Gerry Melino, Alessandro Mauriello, Rita Bonfiglio: Impact of the environmental pollution on cardiovascular diseases: From epidemiological to molecular evidence, Heliyon, 10, 2024; DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e38047.
Stavros et al., 2025 — Sofoklis Stavros, Nikolaos Kathopoulis, Efthalia Moustakli, Anastasios Potiris, Ismini Anagnostaki, Spyridon Topis, Nefeli Arkouli, Konstantinos Louis, Charalampos Theofanakis, Themos Grigoriadis, Nikolaos Thomakos, Athanasios Zikopoulos: Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals and Male Infertility: Mechanisms, Risks, and Regulatory Challenges, J. Xenobiot., 2025, 15, 165; DOI: 10.3390/jox15050165. Listed as “Stavroz et al.” in the source text.
Thévenod, Lee, 2024 — Frank Thévenod, Wing-Kee Lee: Cadmium transport by mammalian ATP-binding cassette transporters, Biometals, 2024, 37; DOI: 10.1007/s10534-024-00582-5.
Thoerig et al., 2025 — Rachel C. Thoerig, Lauren E. O’Connor, Maureen K. Spill, Arin A. Balalian, Rupal Trivedi, Shailesh M. Advani, Cassi N. Uffelman, Trish Bosse, Margaret J. Foster, Kyle M. Holland, Kathryn G. Dewey, Mandy M. Fisher, Aubrey L. Galusha, Carin A. Huset, Amanda J. MacFarlane: Assessment of arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury, and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances concentrations in human milk and infant formula in the United States: a systematic review, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 122, 2025; DOI: 10.1016/j.ajcnut.2025.07.039.
Trasande et al., 2015 — Leonardo Trasande, R. Thomas Zoeller, Ulla Hass, Andreas Kortenkamp, Philippe Grandjean, John Peterson Myers, Joseph DiGangi, Martine Bellanger, Russ Hauser, Juliette Legler, Niels E. Skakkebaek, Jerrold J. Heindel: Estimating Burden and Disease Costs of Exposure to Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals in the European Union, J Clin Endocrinol Metab, 2015; DOI: 10.1210/jc.2014-4324.
Zhao et al., 2025 — Xiaoli Zhao, Xiaolei Wang, Jia He, Chenglian Feng, Xiaowei Jin, Kenneth M. Y. Leung, Jian Xu, Chengjun Li, Junyu Wang, Shuangliu Liu, Yan Dou, Beidou Xi, Fengchang Wu: Time to strengthen the governance of new contaminants in the environment, Nature Communications, 2025, 16; DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-63217-4.