Department of Earth Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada.
School of the Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 3B1, Canada.
Environ Sci Technol. 2022 Apr 5;56(7):3863-3870. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.1c06615. Epub 2022 Mar 19.
Despite enormous national, regional, and global efforts on chemical management, the widespread use of hazardous chemicals continues in many parts of the world even after decades of there being well-known risks to public and/or ecosystem health. This continued supply and use, despite strong evidence of negative impacts, is not unique to chemicals management. In the field of climate change, the concept of "lock-in" has been used to explain the complex interactions among economic, social, technological, and political dynamics that reinforce global reliance on the extraction and use of fossil fuels. Learning from carbon "lock-in" phenomena, this Perspective explores the challenges of chemicals management from the perspective of lock-in through three case studies: paraquat, perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and asbestos. These case studies illustrate that most current chemicals management frameworks fail to address the concerns arising from this complex interplay by not involving all relevant stakeholder groups that are part of lock-in, from producers to consumers. This results in a relatively narrow consideration (e.g., only demand but not supply) of the effectiveness and consequences of regulations. We submit that to break lock-in and address the global threat of chemical pollution, current approaches to managing hazardous chemicals should be broadened to take a comprehensive approach to understanding and managing factors contributing to lock-in, notably both supply and demand on national and international scales.
尽管在化学品管理方面做出了巨大的国家、地区和全球努力，但在世界许多地区，危险化学品的广泛使用仍在继续，尽管已经有几十年的时间人们已经知道这些化学品会对公共和/或生态系统健康造成风险。这种持续的供应和使用，尽管有强烈的负面影响证据，在化学品管理领域并不是独一无二的。在气候变化领域，“锁定”的概念被用来解释经济、社会、技术和政治动态之间的复杂相互作用，这些相互作用强化了全球对化石燃料的开采和使用的依赖。本观点从锁定的角度出发，通过三个案例研究：百草枯、全氟辛烷磺酸 (PFOS) 和石棉，借鉴碳“锁定”现象，探讨了化学品管理的挑战。这些案例研究表明，大多数现有的化学品管理框架未能解决由于锁定而产生的问题，因为它们没有涉及到生产者到消费者等所有相关利益相关者群体。这导致对法规的有效性和后果的考虑相对狭窄（例如，只考虑需求而不考虑供应）。我们认为，为了打破锁定并解决化学污染的全球威胁，管理危险化学品的现行方法应该扩大范围，采取综合方法来理解和管理导致锁定的因素，特别是在国家和国际层面上的供应和需求。
