Harmful substances like PFAS are tip of the iceberg: “Only 2% of chemicals is known”
Only two percent of the chemicals people are exposed to every day are known, UvA researchers estimate. “That lack of knowledge is a public health hazard.”
In recent years, humans have both intentionally and unintentionally produced thousands of synthetic substances. Examples include food, cosmetics, medicines, plastics, fuels, and the air we breathe. There are now so many chemicals that we don’t even know about the existence of the vast majority of them.
That is a big problem, say UvA researchers Saer Samanipour and Viktoriia Turkina (HIMS) who conducted a study together with researchers from the University of Queensland, Australia. We are currently only aware of the dangers of known synthetic substances such as PFAS, but that group represents only two percent compared to the total number of synthetic substances.
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Bias
“In total, there are some 300,000 to 800,000 synthetic or manmade substances. Every year another 1,200 new fabrics are added,” Turkina says. “The rate of production is much higher than the rate of identification of those substances. And that is very worrying,” Samanipour emphasizes. “The pharmaceutical industry is focused on quality assurance. As a result, the identification of random substances takes a back seat, resulting in a lack of understanding. This lack of knowledge is a danger to public health,” Turkina says.
Around 15 to 20 years ago, the so-called “non-targeted analysis” method was introduced: an indiscriminate method that measured all substances in a sample. But that turned out to be very labor-intensive. Says Samanipour: “A water sample contains some three to four thousand potential substances. It took months to find out what one such substance is. So analyzing the whole sample then took the entire career of one scientist.” Turkina adds: “To make the analysis simpler and faster, scientists search more specifically for a certain set of substances. This creates a bias in the research, and thus only two percent of substances are known.”
Public health risks
This is problematic, according to the researchers. There is increasing scientific evidence that there is a strong correlation between exposure to synthetic substances and chronic diseases. Exposure to PFAS has been linked to the reduced efficacy of diphtheria and tetanus vaccines in children. The immune response is directly negatively affected as a result. In addition, there is said to be an association between drug use and organ-specific autoimmunity, resulting in organ damage. Mental health issues are also associated with toxic exposure in the absence of patients' genetic predisposition. Who knows what other potential negative impact all these other unknown substances may have on public health, the researchers warn.
That is why they are once again highlighting the relevance of indiscriminate analysis: the all-encompassing analytical method of investigating chemical exposure. This method must then be further developed to be faster and more effective than it was two decades ago.
According to Samanipour and Turkina, there is much to be gained in the speed at which substances can currently be identified by investing in better measuring equipment. There is currently no additional subsidy for research on chemicals. “In this respect, the Dutch government is adopting a passive attitude. By doing nothing about this problem, the government is imposing a health risk on society,” Samanipour said. “We are therefore asking the Dutch government for more funding for the research and identification of chemicals.”
