Synthetic chemicals understudied drivers of environmental change
Wednesday, January 25, 2017 - 11:01
in Earth & Climate
The growing use of synthetic chemicals, including pesticides and pharmaceuticals to attack unwanted organisms, has outpaced rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations and other agents of global change in the last 45 years, a new analysis reveals. Despite this trend, US ecological journals, meetings and funding sources still devote less than 2 percent of their pages, talks and dollars to studies on these chemicals, creating a disconnect between real-world needs and scientific focus.