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5.1 Introduction
It is well known that tens of thousands of man-made chemical substances are used
by industries in the making of various products in the Baltic Sea area. Hundreds of
these, known to have inherent hazardous properties, are emitted and present in the
marine environment, both in the sea and in living organisms in and around the sea,
including in humans (HELCOM 2010a ; Lyons 1999 ). The negative consequences
of these substances on various species have been well documented in the case of the
Baltic Sea, including reproductive disorders in marine mammals (Bergman 2007 )
and imposex in snails (Santillo et al. 2001 ). In other cases, the long-term consequences are more diffi cult to interpret, for example, the fact that newborns of mothers on the East Coast of Sweden , who consume a relatively high amount of
contaminated fi sh, weigh signifi cantly less than newborns on the West Coast
(Rylander et al. 2000 ). Most likely, the full picture of consequences of hazardous
substances in the marine environment is still emerging.
In fact, when it comes to understanding the total risks of real life exposure to the
very complex mixture of hundreds or more industrial chemicals in the Baltic Sea,
there are huge information gaps. This is basically due to lack of knowledge and data
on properties and exposure conditions for the vast majority of substances (Allanou
et al. 1999 ; Gilbert 2011 ; Rudén and Hansson 2010 ) and in particular the adverse
consequences of combinations of these substances (Kortenkamp et al. 2009 ). On
top of this complex pollution situation with extreme levels of scientifi c uncertainty ,
a complex and fragmented governance system consisting of multi-level, multisector and multi-actor interactions escalates the challenges associated with environmental policy objectives. That the Baltic Sea ecosystem in addition is more
vulnerable to pollution than most other sea areas (Magnusson and Norén 2012 ) is
not making the task easier.
To cope with the problems and risks of chemical pollution , a number of governance structures and strategies have been put in place, aimed at what has been
termed a “Baltic Sea with life undisturbed by hazardous substances” (HELCOM
2007 ). However, in spite of quite successful mitigation efforts in relation to some
pollutants, overall goals are far from being realised (HELCOM 2010a ; MMB 2012 )
and the resulting costs of chemical contamination can be very high (KEMI 2013a ;
NCM 2004 ; UNEP 2013 ). At the EU level, for example, it has been roughly estimated in one study that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals costs 13–31
billion Euros annually (Jensen 2014 ), whereas the costs today of impaired male
reproduction have been calculated in another study to reach above 1.2 billion Euros,
with variations up and down depending on the assumptions made (NCM 2014 ).
Over time, the political landscape, mitigating measures and environmental governance approaches in place have all evolved. In the 1960s, “polluter-oriented”
approaches emerged, commonly focusing on national command and control of
point sources , which gradually were complemented with “environment-oriented”
approaches , based on broader and ecologically more holistic perspectives (Karlsson
et al. 2011 ). Under the former approach, in the “sphere” of, for instance, chemicals
policy, preventive measures were often balanced by compromises based on
M. Karlsson and M. Gilek
5.1 Introduction
It is well known that tens of thousands of man-made chemical substances are used
by industries in the making of various products in the Baltic Sea area. Hundreds of
these, known to have inherent hazardous properties, are emitted and present in the
marine environment, both in the sea and in living organisms in and around the sea,
including in humans (HELCOM 2010a ; Lyons 1999 ). The negative consequences
of these substances on various species have been well documented in the case of the
Baltic Sea, including reproductive disorders in marine mammals (Bergman 2007 )
and imposex in snails (Santillo et al. 2001 ). In other cases, the long-term consequences are more diffi cult to interpret, for example, the fact that newborns of mothers on the East Coast of Sweden , who consume a relatively high amount of
contaminated fi sh, weigh signifi cantly less than newborns on the West Coast
(Rylander et al. 2000 ). Most likely, the full picture of consequences of hazardous
substances in the marine environment is still emerging.
In fact, when it comes to understanding the total risks of real life exposure to the
very complex mixture of hundreds or more industrial chemicals in the Baltic Sea,
there are huge information gaps. This is basically due to lack of knowledge and data
on properties and exposure conditions for the vast majority of substances (Allanou
et al. 1999 ; Gilbert 2011 ; Rudén and Hansson 2010 ) and in particular the adverse
consequences of combinations of these substances (Kortenkamp et al. 2009 ). On
top of this complex pollution situation with extreme levels of scientifi c uncertainty ,
a complex and fragmented governance system consisting of multi-level, multisector and multi-actor interactions escalates the challenges associated with environmental policy objectives. That the Baltic Sea ecosystem in addition is more
vulnerable to pollution than most other sea areas (Magnusson and Norén 2012 ) is
not making the task easier.
To cope with the problems and risks of chemical pollution , a number of governance structures and strategies have been put in place, aimed at what has been
termed a “Baltic Sea with life undisturbed by hazardous substances” (HELCOM
2007 ). However, in spite of quite successful mitigation efforts in relation to some
pollutants, overall goals are far from being realised (HELCOM 2010a ; MMB 2012 )
and the resulting costs of chemical contamination can be very high (KEMI 2013a ;
NCM 2004 ; UNEP 2013 ). At the EU level, for example, it has been roughly estimated in one study that exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals costs 13–31
billion Euros annually (Jensen 2014 ), whereas the costs today of impaired male
reproduction have been calculated in another study to reach above 1.2 billion Euros,
with variations up and down depending on the assumptions made (NCM 2014 ).
Over time, the political landscape, mitigating measures and environmental governance approaches in place have all evolved. In the 1960s, “polluter-oriented”
approaches emerged, commonly focusing on national command and control of
point sources , which gradually were complemented with “environment-oriented”
approaches , based on broader and ecologically more holistic perspectives (Karlsson
et al. 2011 ). Under the former approach, in the “sphere” of, for instance, chemicals
policy, preventive measures were often balanced by compromises based on
M. Karlsson and M. Gilek