Toxic Chemicals, environmental science homework help

Needs to be 1-2 paragraphs and need at least one link with sources. Question at the bottom
Topic: In the USA, we as a population enjoy a lifestyle of disposable convenience and commercial goods fairly unequaled around the world. This availability and the choices to which it can lead also leads to quite a bit of disposable waste.
While many items can be recycled or reused, a sizable bulk of chemicals is unleashed into the environment (i.e., into the groundwater, into the air, into surface waters) from the manufacture of a number of these items.
While we might mitigate the effects of some of these chemicals, more of them show effects emerging into the population.
Question: Besides the use of the precautionary principle, how far do we go in limiting (in a practical sense, since we can’t avoid all “chemicals” of every sort) our exposure to potentially toxic chemicals?