gesundheitsschädlichen

Gesundheitsschädlichen is the attributive inflected form of the German adjective gesundheitsschädlich, used to describe something that can harm human health. The compound gesundheitsschädlich comes from gesundheit (health) and schädlich (harmful). As an attributive adjective, it takes different endings depending on case, number, and article; the form gesundheitsschädlichen appears before plural nouns in several cases, as in gesundheitsschädliche Stoffe (nominative plural), die gesundheitsschädlichen Stoffe (nominative plural with definite article), or den gesundheitsschädlichen Stoffen (dative plural).

The term is common in health, environmental, and safety language. It describes chemicals, emissions, or practices that may threaten health, for example gesundheitsschädliche Substanzen, gesundheitsschädliche Emissionen, or gesundheitsschädliche Lebensumstände. In usage, gesundheitsschädlich and gesundheitsschädigend are related, with gesundheitsschädlich often emphasizing the potential to cause harm and gesundheitsschädigend stressing actual damage.

In regulatory and public discourse, gesundheitsschädlich is frequently encountered in safety communications, labeling, and risk assessments. While both gesundheitsschädlich and gesundheitsschädigend are understood, the choice of form often depends on the syntactic position before a noun and the level of formality. The concept remains a general descriptor for any factor or agent that poses risks to human health.

See also: health hazards, gesundheitsschädlich, gesundheitsschädigend.