1. Introduction
“We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise”. This text from the Earth Charter can be fully applied to management of chemicals. These words are supported by the text from Agenda 21 that was adopted during the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in 1992, and reaffirmed in 2012 by the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. Section 19 of Agenda 21 states that “a substantial use of chemicals is essential to meet the social and economic goals of the world community and today’s best practice demonstrates that they can be used widely in a cost-effective manner and with a high degree of safety”. But at the same time, Agenda 21 notes that chemicals can be (and in some areas have become) the cause of adverse effects on human health and nature.
In 2009, in «Nature», the article was published that described estimations of the main anthropogenic pressures [1]. “Planetary boundaries” have been identified in nine key parameters: climate change, ocean acidification, ozone depletion, nitrogen and phosphorus cycles, global freshwater use, change in terrestrial ecosystems, the level of biodiversity loss, the concentration of emissions of aerosols and chemical pollution. For seven of the nine parameters boundary values were defined. Going beyond the boundary values can lead to irreversible changes in the biosphere. But the boundaries have not been determined for aerosols and chemical contamination due to their complexity. Lack of boundaries for chemicals leads to a lack of knowledge about the global risk and to a lack of ability to manage risk. But today, chemical pollution is a serious concern in the world. Planetary boundaries are one of the foundations of the sustainable development goals [2] of environmental protection and the criteria for their achievements. However, the absence of planetary boundaries for chemical pollution actuators leads to a lack of goals and criteria in this field.
