Making chemicals greener and safer.

Chemicals are raw materials, active ingredients, and products that improve our living conditions. However, they can also place a heavy burden on people and environmental systems. At UFZ, we investigate the effects of chemicals on ecosystems and on our health. This requires that we consider all chemicals and environmental influences to which individuals are exposed throughout their lives – in the air, water, or food – as well as other substances that are produced in organisms in response to stress. We are developing a wide range of methods to detect chemicals and anticipate their effects in the environment, not only by using mere laboratory models and mesocosms but also by studying living organisms and communities in their real environment, for example in water bodies.

Image: UFZ/André Künzelmann