Reorienting Environmental Health

Four Rotations for Biotech to Close the Trillion-Dollar Health Gap

Environmental exposures play a significant role in the onset of many health conditions.
Biotech could be harnessed to engineer new interventions prior to the disease state.
Four dials of existing systems must be turned to unlock this opportunity.

0 of 4 axes shifted ✓ Axes AlignedA new era of discovery is unlocked
for earlier interventions to improve human health.
1
From
Measuring
Toxicity
To
Target
Discovery
The Bench
click to shift
From: Measuring Toxicity
Classical toxicology generates data for regulators, cataloging harm without creating solutions.
To: Target Discovery
Transform toxicology into discovery science that identifies molecular targets and designs therapeutic countermeasures.
Read about work at the bench
2
From
Disease
Treatment
To
Early
Intervention
Clinical Translation
click to shift
From: Disease Treatment
Current medicine intervenes after disease manifests, when most damage is already done.
To: Early Intervention
Develop interventions that prevent disease onset and help each person reach their full health potential.
Read about clinical translation
3
From
Reactive
Regulations
To
Proactive
Incentives
Policy
click to shift
From: Reactive Regulations
Environmental policy focuses on cleanup and bans, with no market incentives for preventive therapeutics.
To: Proactive Incentives
Create incentives for preventive interventions that build biological resilience against environmental threats.
Read about policy reform
4
From
Crisis
Response
To
Engineered
Resilience
Chemical Defense
click to shift
From: Crisis Response
Current biodefense stockpiles antidotes for acute threats while ignoring chronic chemical burdens.
To: Engineered Resilience
Build continuous defense systems that detect, neutralize, and remediate environmental toxins in real time.
Read about chemical defense

Quantifying the Opportunity

Environmental exposures contribute to conditions costing the U.S. healthcare system over $1 trillion annually. Aggressive investment in cures—combined with polluter attribution mechanisms—could yield 4-5x returns while improving millions of lives.

Explore how different assumptions about cure development speed, efficacy, and rollout affect the financial projections.

Explore the full model
0M People Cured
$0T Savings (20yr)
$0B Invested

The Evidence Base Exists

Decades of epidemiological research have linked environmental exposures to increased disease risk. Effect sizes of 1.5x to 3x represent substantial attributable fractions—yet translation to therapeutics remains absent.

118 peer-reviewed studies show consistent associations across cancer, neurological, cardiovascular, and autoimmune conditions.

See the full evidence base

Why It's Not Being Addressed

Of $6.6 billion in NIH research funding across 8 major disease areas, only 3.4% goes to environmental factors. Biological mechanisms receive 15x more funding than environmental research.

This funding imbalance means the upstream causes of disease remain understudied—even as evidence of environmental links continues to mount.

Explore the funding landscape

A Two-Way Street

Environmental toxicology and biotech innovation have always been intertwined. Discoveries about how toxins damage cells have repeatedly revealed new therapeutic targets—and biotech tools now accelerate environmental research.

From dioxin's discovery of AhR (now a psoriasis target) to the gila monster toxin that led to GLP-1 drugs, poisons and cures share the same biology.

Read the full essay