Epistemology of contaminants of emerging concern and literature meta-analysis

- Meta-analysis of 143,000 papers reveals common pattern of emergence of contaminants.
- CECs emerge from obscurity to height of concern over a period of 14.1 ± 3.6 years.
- It typically takes 14.5 ± 4.5 years for a CEC to descend from the peak of concern to a new, lower baseline level.
- Regulatory actions are shown to play an important role in managing concern over contaminants.