Within a remarkably short timespan the world population doubled and transitioned from an agrarian to an urban-industrial society. The transition was accompanied by the major expansion of industries that releases enormous amounts of toxicants into the air, water, and soil. Naturally occurring and synthetic chemicals compounds utilized the same signaling system as vertebrate internal cell signaling systems. The concept of environmental signals provides insights to address the impact of biochemically active toxicants on humans and the ecosystems that they share with other species. Disruption of the broad signaling systems has the potential for global change that transcends the biological systems of all organisms, including humans.

在非常短的时间内，世界人口翻了一番，从农业社会转变为城市工业社会。这一转变伴随着工业的大规模发展，该工业向空气，水和土壤中释放出大量有毒物质。天然存在的合成化学化合物利用了与脊椎动物内部细胞信号传导系统相同的信号传导系统。环境信号的概念为解决生物化学活性有毒物质对人类及其与其他物种共有的生态系统的影响提供了见识。广泛的信号系统的破坏具有超越包括人类在内的所有生物的生物系统的全球变化的潜力。