Population exposure to the synthetic chemical Bisphenol A (BPA), which is used in everything from plastic and metal food containers to reusable water bottles and drinking water pipes in Europe is well above acceptable health safety levels, according to updated research data by the European Environment Agency (EEA).
Research has suggested it is linked to a range of health disorders linked to hormone disruption, such as breast cancer and infertility. France is the only country to have entirely banned BPA.
Oh absolutely, in the grand scheme of how fucked humanity is, most chemicals are barely a blip compared to ecosystem collapse and global warming.
They do play a major role in that collapse though. While most single compounds would play a role that seems like a blip, the effects of thousands and thousands of different compunds are cumulating into huge problems. In particular the loss of insects and biodiversity due to herbicides and pesticides, as well as the deterioation of surface and ground water bodies due to toxic chemicals and nutrients like Nitrate and Phosphates reduced the ability of these biotopes to recover and provide ecological “services”. It is getting worse because of climate change, but the abundant use of problematic chemical compounds is just as harmful.