Editing Pollutant (section)

{{short description|Substance or energy damaging to the environment}}
[[File: Runoff of soil & fertilizer.jpg|thumb|[[Surface runoff]], also called [[nonpoint source pollution]], from a farm field in Iowa, the United States during a rainstorm. Topsoil, as well as farm fertilizers and other potential pollutants, runoff unprotected farm fields when heavy rains occur.|400x400px]]
{{Pollution sidebar}}

A '''pollutant''' or '''novel entity'''<ref name="Persson_2022">{{cite journal | vauthors = Persson L, Carney Almroth BM, Collins CD, Cornell S, de Wit CA, Diamond ML, Fantke P, Hassellöv M, MacLeod M, Ryberg MW, Søgaard Jørgensen P, Villarrubia-Gómez P, Wang Z, Hauschild MZ | display-authors = 6 | title = Outside the Safe Operating Space of the Planetary Boundary for Novel Entities | journal = Environmental Science & Technology | volume = 56 | issue = 3 | pages = 1510–1521 | date = February 2022 | pmid = 35038861 | pmc = 8811958 | doi = 10.1021/acs.est.1c04158 | bibcode = 2022EnST...56.1510P }}</ref> is a substance or energy introduced into the environment that has undesired effect, or adversely affects the usefulness of a resource. These can be both naturally forming (i.e. minerals or extracted compounds like [[Extraction of petroleum|oil]]) or [[Anthropogenic hazard|anthropogenic]] in origin  (i.e. manufactured materials or [[By-product|byproducts]]). Pollutants result in [[Pollution|environmental pollution]] or become of public health concern when they reach a [[Pollutant concentration|concentration]] high enough to have significant negative impacts. 

A pollutant may cause long- or short-term damage by changing the growth rate of plant or animal species, or by interfering with resources used by humans, human health or wellbeing, or property values. Some pollutants are [[biodegradable]] and therefore will not persist in the [[environment (biophysical)|environment]] in a long term. However, the degradation products of some pollutants are themselves pollutants such as  [[Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethylene|DDE]] and [[Dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane|DDD]] produced from the degradation of [[Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane|DDT]].

[[Pollution]] has widespread negative impact on the environment.<ref name="Persson_2022" /> When analyzed from a [[planetary boundaries]] perspective, human society has released novel entities that  well exceed safe levels.<ref name="Persson_2022" />