Scientists tracked down a mass killer of salmon
Our whole understanding and approach with regards to risks from industrial chemicals is so completely off...We keep churning out new compounds (~2000 every year??!) or new use cases for existing ones at insane scale or speed because "most of them are safe". Except the ones that aren't cause a wide range of damage, take 15 years to identify as causes, 15 more years to ban, 15 more to leave the ecosystem if they do at all, and are often replaced by minor variations that haven't been yet proven dangerous.It seems to me these things should be considered unsafe by default, tested at small scale for years, proven to be bio-degradable and if used at scale introduced very slowly... which in many cases won't be possible, which will readjust our stance so we only use them when absolutely critical and necessary vs. eg. putting teflon or PFAS in literally everything because why not.The other thing is individual accountability: chemical engineers who facilitate this insanity should be held responsible. Putting lead in gasoline and CFCs in the atmosphere used to get you medals, now similar "inventions" should get you a jail term proportionate to the damage caused.