ReviewEnvironmental science & technology2022
Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities.
Review in Environmental science & technology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 199 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
199 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,224 citations in OpenAlex.
- Private, public, and bottled drinking water: Shared contaminant-mixture exposures and effects challenge.Environment international · 2025Pooled it
- Autoimmune diseases and adverse pregnancy outcomes: an umbrella review.BMC medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Article
- Estimating the total mortality of seabirds following a marine heat wave.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2026Article
- Comparative Reduction of Pharmaceutical Hazards in Wastewater among Pilot-Scale Quaternary Treatment Technologies across Seasons.ACS environmental Au · 2026Article
- Greener active pharmaceutical ingredients: perspectives of European healthcare professionals.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- From laboratory to field: a critical review of multi-modal sensing frameworks for emerging contaminant monitoring.Mikrochimica acta · 2026Review
- Unraveling the coastal marine plastisphere archaeome.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities: Time for a Reboot.Environmental science & technology · 2026Review
- Embedding Chemistry and Pharmacy Into Sustainability.Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English) · 2026Review
- The Role of ES&T in Advancing Environmental Toxicology and Chemical Risk Assessment: Past, Present, and Future.Environmental science & technology · 2026Review
- Thermochemical Treatment of Wastewater Residual Solids for Global Mitigation of Emerging Contaminants.Nature communications · 2026Article
- A concept for the molecular design of readily treatable chemicals.RSC sustainability · 2026Review
- Empowering Youth to Participate in Chemicals Management: A Youth Perspective.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Environmentally Safe and Just Pharmacy: A Framework and Action Plan for Operating within the Earth System Boundary for Novel Entities.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Will Chemical Exposomics Be Ready for a Human Exposome Project?Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Twenty-Five Years of Research and Monitoring Using PUF Disk Passive Air Samplers.Environmental science & technology · 2026Review
- Challenges and Initiatives to Operationalize the Planetary Boundaries for Novel Entities.Environmental science & technology · 2026Article
- Toward "Safe" Chemicals and Materials on Mars: Knowledge Gaps for Expanding Planetary Protection Requirements.Environmental science & technology · 2026Review
- Prioritising research on endocrine disruption in the marine environment: a global perspective.Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 2026Review
139 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
14 authors at 9 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
We submit that the safe operating space of the planetary boundary of novel entities is exceeded since annual production and releases are increasing at a pace that outstrips the global capacity for assessment and monitoring. The novel entities boundary in the planetary boundaries framework refers to entities that are novel in a geological sense and that could have large-scale impacts that threaten the integrity of Earth system processes. We review the scientific literature relevant to quantifying the boundary for novel entities and highlight plastic pollution as a particular aspect of high concern. An impact pathway from production of novel entities to impacts on Earth system processes is presented. We define and apply three criteria for assessment of the suitability of control variables for the boundary: feasibility, relevance, and comprehensiveness. We propose several complementary control variables to capture the complexity of this boundary, while acknowledging major data limitations. We conclude that humanity is currently operating outside the planetary boundary based on the weight-of-evidence for several of these control variables. The increasing rate of production and releases of larger volumes and higher numbers of novel entities with diverse risk potentials exceed societies' ability to conduct safety related assessments and monitoring. We recommend taking urgent action to reduce the harm associated with exceeding the boundary by reducing the production and releases of novel entities, noting that even so, the persistence of many novel entities and/or their associated effects will continue to pose a threat.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.