There are over 163 million unique chemical compounds registered in the Chemical Abstract Service (CAS) database and over 147,000 of these are routinely used for industrial applications in modern society. For many we have no information on their persistence, environmental behaviour and/or toxicology. Current global approaches to chemical management involve the constant introduction of new chemicals with little thought for their potential impact on society and the environment. In fact, we are now engaged in an experiment involving all of humanity, where we are exposed to a mixture of thousands of chemicals in our daily life. The application of state-of-the-art measurement techniques allow us to monitor and detect ‘emerging contaminants’ before they become problems in the environment.