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Most studies of potentially hazardous substances focus on aspects of their occurrence and fate in the environment (monitoring and modelling studies) to estimate the environmental impact and the potential exposure of humans. In order to evaluate emission sources, to recognise environmental impacts at an early stage, and to take efficient legislative or technical measures, it is essential to know their behaviour in the anthroposphere as a function of time. So far, only very few investigations of this type exist for chemicals. In regular risk assessments, only rather limited knowledge is available concerning the behaviour of chemicals in the anthroposphere (production data, substance quantities in products, recycling rates, emissions occurring during use, etc.) or their lifecycle, and no information at all about their behaviour as a function of time. For this reason, it is these aspects that were investigated in a case study within the framework of the national research programme NRP50 for selected brominated flame retardants with endocrine-disrupting potential (pentabromodiphenyl ether, hexabromocyclododecane) or the potential to degrade to such substances (decabromodiphenyl ether). A dynamic substance flow analysis (SFA) model was performed for Switzerland for the time period 1980–2020. In this review paper (a) we present a summary of typical results (system overview, consumption trends/application patterns, anthropogenic stocks and their changes, emission trends including major sources and environmental fate), (b) we summarize the effectiveness of recent risk-reduction measures in Switzerland and (c) we indicate serious remaining data gaps and recommend further important measures for risk reduction. For the future, we suggest improving the knowledge of the lifecycle of chemicals such as brominated flame retardants by applying SFA as a suitable tool to weight the effect of substance flows with respect to environmental emissions, and to serve as the basis for planning actions and measures to reduce such emissions. This is in line with one major conclusion of the NRP50 consensus platform 'Brominated Flame Retardants'.

Environmental problems do have a universal dimension: they concern entire humanity as well as each human being individually, therefore, a new ecology needs to be developed in which man will play a principal role being a focal point of the study, its creator and executor of its assumptions, the discipline thus understood is one of the aspects of general ecology for it studies relationships between man as a species and its environment, the author believes that, regardless of the standpoint that representatives of various sciences may take, the future of our species depends on the interdisciplinary approach toward the questions that are subject to human ecology studies.

Este artículo es una revisión de los antecedentes históricos y la evolución del concepto de metabolismo de los sistemas humanos, hasta el metabolismo de la antropósfera y su descripción en términos del Análisis de Flujo de Materiales (AFM). Se presentan diferentes experiencias a nivel internacional y nacional que evidencian la aplicabilidad del método. Se muestra cómo el AFM es un método flexible adecuado para la gestión ambiental en diferentes sectores, el cual puede ser empleado para el análisis integral de los problemas ambientales generados por la actividad del hombre y para detectar o estimar los flujos y los stocks de materiales que pueden ser indeseables o potencialmente peligrosos. Esto permite el establecimiento de estrategias eficientes de gestión de flujos de materiales desde el punto de vista de la sostenibilidad, realizando una estimación de los flujos actuales de materiales para anticipar problemas ambientales y emprender acciones tempranas.