Living
environment

01.1 The consumer side

UNCONTROLLED BEHAVIOR: SELF-DESTRUCTION

The consumer side: a substantial share of mortality is attributable to voluntary self-destructive behavior. Modeling indicates that eliminating harmful habits alone could radically reduce mortality: unhealthy diets account for approximately 14% of deaths, tobacco use for 15.4%, alcohol consumption for 4.3% [The Lancet, 2020], and insufficient sleep for approximately 8% [JACC, 2023].

Our analysis of this topic is still at an early stage, and the data presented cover only a few of the many destructive habits. It is important to remember that death is the final outcome, while numerous acute and chronic diseases precede it. The actual consequences are therefore substantially broader.

01.2 The producer side

VORRUPTION

Corruption is traditionally defined as the abuse of public power for private gain. Yet there is a terminological gap: no precise word describes a business whose model rests on exploiting or destroying other people’s or shared resources for corporate profit—resources such as the health and well-being of the population, ecosystems, and the environment. To describe this phenomenon, IEvoH introduces a new term: “vorruption.”

COMMERCIAL DETERMINANTS OF DEATH

The economic system incentivizes the production and sale of toxic products. At least 34% of global deaths are linked to the products of just four industries: ultra-processed food, alcohol, tobacco, and air pollution from fossil-fuel combustion [The Lancet, 2023].

Just four industries cause at least 1.5–2 times as many premature deaths each year as the average annual death toll of the Second World War.

Other factors exist as well. In animal experiments, excessive sugar consumption, including sugar-sweetened beverages, produces neuroadaptations in dopaminergic and opioid reward systems and is accompanied by addiction-like behaviors: bingeing, withdrawal, and craving [Avena et al., 2008; Murray et al., 2016].

Adolescent self-control is still developing, so incentives can exert a stronger influence on choice [Steinberg, 2013]. Yet children have unrestricted access to sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), which are sold even in schools. There is “unequivocal evidence” linking the marketing of unhealthy food and SSBs to childhood obesity [UNICEF, 2022].

One 330 ml can of regular cola—the smallest commonly sold serving—contains almost 40% more sugar than the entire recommended daily limit for children, adolescents, and adult women: 35 g versus 25 g [AHA; Vos et al., 2017].

Higher SSB consumption is associated with a greater incidence of type 2 diabetes: +18% for each daily 250 ml serving [Imamura et al., 2015]. Each additional daily serving is associated with an approximately 8% increase in all-cause mortality risk [Zhang et al., 2020]. In 2020, beverages with added sugar were linked to approximately 2.2 million new cases of type 2 diabetes, 1.2 million new cases of cardiovascular disease, and about 340,000 deaths worldwide [Lara-Castor et al., 2025].

02.1 Basic resources

Land

“Almost 40% of all land is used for agriculture. Of that land, 52% is already degraded, threatening food security worldwide. Yet when faced with long-term productivity losses and water scarcity, farmers paradoxically turn to even more aggressive use of harmful agrochemicals and inefficient irrigation systems, further deepening the crisis” [UNCCD, 2022Data from the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification].

Another 100 million hectares of healthy, productive land are lost each year [UNCCD Data Dashboard, 2024].

02.2 Basic resources

Air

More than 90% of the world’s population is exposed to air pollution above WHO guideline levels [Deep Science Ventures, 2025]. Air pollution causes one in every eight deaths worldwide, making it the second-leading risk factor for death globally [State of Global Air, 2024].

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02.3 Basic resources

Water and “forever chemicals”

Synthetic PFAS compounds have been detected worldwide. In many places, their concentrations in rainwater are so high that it cannot be considered safe to drink [Deep Science Ventures, 2025]. At least one type of PFAS is found in 45% of US tap-water samples [USGS, 2023]. PFAS are present in the blood of nearly everyone in the United States [CDC/NHANES, 2024].

More than half of Europe’s rivers and almost all of its coastal marine waters—including bays and estuaries—exceed safety thresholds for “forever chemicals.” In some countries, including France and Belgium, 100% of tested water bodies were contaminated [JRC, 2024]. In the United States, PFAS are found in freshwater fish across all 48 contiguous states: only one of 349 samples had no detectable PFAS, while a separate sample found PFAS in all 152 fish tested [N. Barbo et al., 2023].

PFAS have reached the oceans and are found throughout marine food chains, from coastal dolphins to deep-sea predators. Even the most remote whale populations carry high PFAS concentrations [Pereira et al., 2025]. Both people and animals are therefore exposed to these substances and their associated risks.

“Forever chemicals” do not break down; they accumulate in the environment and the body. No safe threshold below which there is no harm to health has been established. Even the low levels common in the general population already show adverse health associations [Exposure and Health, 2024]. Eating just one serving of locally caught freshwater fish per year can noticeably raise blood levels of PFOS, one type of PFAS. The authors estimate that one such serving is comparable to drinking water with high PFOS levels for approximately one month [Environmental Research, 2023].

03.1 Synthetic polymers

Plastic

The chemical foundation of the modern plastics industry: phthalates make plastics flexible and elastic, as in PVC, food wrap, toys, and intravenous tubing; bisphenols make plastics hard and transparent, as in office water bottles; flame retardants are used in appliances, furniture, and vehicles; and many other substances are involved. They are ubiquitous because they are inexpensive and convenient.

Mortality attributable to these three groups alone is approximately 600,000 people per year across the 38 countries studied [The Lancet, 2025]. A direct extrapolation to the global population would put the figure at roughly 2 million deaths per year, exceeding the annual death toll from road crashes.

Information deficit: this is the demonstrated minimum harm from only three of the best-studied chemical groups—three among many. “Approximately 75% of the chemicals used in plastics have not been assessed for their effects on human health. Of those for which data are available, approximately 75% have been classified as substances of concern because of their toxicity, persistence, bioaccumulation, or mobility. Nearly 1,500 are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction, and more than 1,700 are toxic to specific organs such as the liver. […] For most plastic products encountered in everyday life, little or no information is available about their chemical composition, toxic effects, or potential hazards” [The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics, 2025].

Despite this, water continues to be sold worldwide in plastic bottles and office water containers, while storage and transport practices often ignore factors that increase chemical leaching: heat, sunlight, and container aging. Testing water for PFAS and removing them also remain extremely uncommon.

This means that most people in the United States and Europe—and probably across the planet—regularly consume water exposed simultaneously to toxic leaching from plastic and to PFAS contamination.

04.1 Systems and health

Regulators

“The world is confronting rising cancer incidence, declining fertility, and growing rates of chronic disease… The industrial economy has created more than 100 million new chemical substances… Our understanding of toxicity is outdated because it still relies on the 500-year-old principle that ‘the dose makes the poison.’

Regulators and corporations still rely largely on an outdated toxicological model that overlooks non-monotonic dose-response curves, the combined effects of multiple chemicals, and sex differences. The model uses high doses to establish safe thresholds and therefore often misses the toxic effects of low doses, particularly for endocrine disruptors” [Deep Science Ventures, 2025].