Patent data has been used to prioritize compounds in non-target environmental studies in a complementary manner to literature counts, aiding in the identification of potential contaminants with known commercial uses . A recent viewpoint highlighted a concerning upward trend in chemical numbers across databases over time frames much shorter than the typical time for regulatory actions . The chemical stripes visualisation included in that viewpoint 4 sparked extensive debate, drawing significant attention, feedback and questions from various audiences. The subsequent sonification and accompanying video 6 by J. Perera further intensified the discussion, leaving viewers in a state of shock or deep contemplation. Combining international legislation, patent filing dates and region information could potentially reveal various trends in patent numbers, as well as the effectiveness of regulatory measures and the necessity for timely interventions. However, beyond the general upward trend in chemical and patent numbers, deviating patterns in the stripes visualisation were observed for various chemicals, while several potential artefacts and limitations became apparent. This feedback motivated this article, which presents the data, code and methods behind the chemical stripes visualisation and corresponding chemicalStripes R package and performs a more detailed analysis of the patent data in PubChem for this particular context, closing with a discussion on the potential and limitations of this data.