The rapid expansion of the global chemical industry, fueled by consumerism and economic growth, has created severe environmental and public health challenges. The current chemicals management approach primarily regulates the ''production system'', setting standards and imposing large responsibilities on the chemical industry. However, this approach has been found inadequate as it often neglects the vital role of the ''consumption system'' in driving chemical production and use, and pollution caused by chemicals. To address this imbalance, we propose a systematic integration of behavior-shaping tools into the global and local chemical management strategies, aimed at shifting consumer behavior toward safer and more sustainable chemical consumption. By applying ethical marketing and social-and behavioral-science techniques, consumers, including risk-sensitive groups such as women of childbearing age and children, can be nudged and empowered to make and adopt safer and mindful chemical choices, ultimately reducing their exposure to toxic chemicals. This consumer-oriented approach complements traditional ''industry-focused'' chemical regulations. Such an integrated approach (with management roles spanning across different stakeholders) is particularly required in regions with outdated or weak regulatory enforcement. Furthermore, fostering consumer demand for safer and more sustainable chemicals consumption will incentivize chemical industry innovations and encourage the market to move toward safer alternatives. Ultimately, a comprehensive integrated approach that focuses on both production and consumption systems could better strengthen global chemicals management, leading to improved environmental and public health outcomes and advancing progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals.

While affective expressions on social media have been extensively studied, most research has focused on the Western context. This paper explores cultural differences in affective expressions by comparing valence and arousal on Twitter/X (geolocated to the US) and Sina Weibo (in Mainland China). Using the NRC-VAD lexicon to measure valence and arousal, we identify distinct patterns of emotional expression across both platforms. Our analysis reveals a functional representation between valence and arousal, showing a negative offset in contrast to traditional lab-based findings which suggest a positive offset. Furthermore, we uncover significant cross-cultural differences in arousal, with US users displaying higher emotional intensity than Chinese users, regardless of the valence of the content. Finally, we conduct a comprehensive language analysis correlating n-grams and LDA topics with affective dimensions to deepen our understanding of how language and culture shape emotional expression. These findings contribute to a more nuanced understanding of affective communication across cultural and linguistic contexts on social media.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries implemented restrictions to limit the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus (e.g. travel restrictions and lockdowns). One path to loosening restrictions is to do so selectively only for vaccinated individuals (e.g. by implementing vaccine passports domestically or as a prerequisite for international travel). Setting different rules based on people's vaccination status is however a contentious issue among health policy experts, government officials, and the public. Our analysis focuses on the levels and correlates of public support for the lifting of restrictions for the vaccinated in April 2021, i.e. at a time when restrictions were in place and a selective lifting of these restrictions just for the vaccinated was debated in Europe. We use representative quota samples of the populations of France (N = 1,752), Germany (N = 1,759), and Sweden (N = 1,754). We find that a slight plurality support lifting restrictions for the vaccinated in France and Germany but not in Sweden. Vaccine hesitancy emerges as strong predictor of opposition to such a policy. Additionally, individuals who are already vaccinated (in France and Germany) and who are higher in risk-seeking express more support for the lifting of restrictions for the vaccinated. We discuss implications for the debate on vaccine passports.