Framing
Chemical pollutants pose a significant threat to human health and ecosystem function. In humans, chemicals can cause cancer, reproductive harm, and neurodevelopmental effects. Ecologically they can impact pollinators, contribute to dead zones, compromise coral reefs, and more. Globally, the planetary boundary for the release of novel entities, including known and unknown chemical and plastic pollution, is hard to quantify due to lack of data in a fast-evolving space, but it is believed to be transgressed. Chemical pollution released into the air, land, or water comes from the production and use of consumer and commercial products, manufacturing processes, and waste disposal. At the global scale, it is difficult to identify quantifiable indicators for California that address the full scope of chemical pollution and its impacts. For example, an unknown amount of chemical pollution occurs through accidental or illegal disposal in the state. We highlight two sources of data that provide a snapshot of chemical pollution in California.
Policy spotlight
* The Pesticide Contamination Prevention Act of 1985 (PCPA) established requirements for identifying and regulating potential groundwater contaminants and their fate in the environment. * The California Green Chemistry Law of 2008 established the nation's first of its kind Safer Consumer Products (SCP) program to reduce the use of hazardous chemicals in consumer products and encourage safe alternatives. * The US Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act of 1986 (EPCRA) established the EPA TRI program to provide the public with information about chemical releases. It has since been updated to include new chemicals and industry sectors. * The California Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986 (known as Prop 65) requires businesses to warn the public about exposure to a list of over 900 chemicals that cause cancer, birth defects, or other reproductive harm. It also prohibits businesses from releasing listed chemicals into sources of drinking water.
Justice lens
* The physical location of waste and chemical production, processing, and disposal facilities determines where their pollution will have the greatest impact. The California EPA and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) actively track the California communities that are most affected by pollution in the CalEnviroScreen tool. These disadvantaged communities experience the highest rates of pollution overall. The California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) found that out of 140 facilities that received universal waste in the state, 83 facilities (59%) were within disadvantaged communities as determined by the CalEnviroScreen study. * Workers in chemical-intensive sectors (janitorial, beauty, construction, agriculture, electronics, transportation, energy, textiles) are subject to disproportionately high exposure to hazardous chemicals, which can lead to chronic illness or death. Certain populations including infants, children, pregnant women, the elderly, and the poor are among the most vulnerable.
Source & citation
Content on this page draws from The California Doughnut Snapshot and Report, used under CC-BY 4.0.
Aritza, A. and Kraus-Polk, J. et al. (2025). The California Doughnut Snapshot and Report. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17540639