Over 7,000 times more powerful at warming the Earth than carbon dioxide, PFTBA is also dangerously long-lived in the atmosphere - with a life cycle of roughly 500 years. Additionally worrisome is the fact that this manmade chemical, originating from the electrical industry of the 20th century, cannot be naturally absorbed into sinks such as oceans and forests.

"We claim that PFTBA has the highest radiative efficiency of any molecule detected in the atmosphere to date", claims Angela Hong, one of the U of T chemists and authors of the new scientific publication that brought PFTBA to the public eye.

Although concentration is currently low enough that it is not noticeably affecting climate change, Hong has her reservations when looking to the future.

"It is so much less than carbon dioxide, but the important thing is on a per molecule basis, it is very very effective in interacting with heat from the Earth. Individually each molecule is able to affect the climate potentially and because its lifetime is so long it also has a long-lasting effect."