Experts warn against health risks of plastic pollution

The UN Environment Programme is meeting in Geneva in August to finalise the first legally binding treaty on plastics. A leading health expert on plastic pollution and microplastics is calling on the UN to end the use of toxic chemicals in all plastics; and cap and reduce plastic production. He also argues against a treaty focused on waste management and recycling.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately one-quarter of all global deaths are attributable to environmental harm including chemicals, pollution and waste.  Much of this pollution is linked to plastic production, use and disposal, and mainly affects low- to middle-income countries. Plastic production is predicted to grow 300% by 2060.

Dr Nicholas Chartres, Senior Research Fellow in the University of Sydney School of Pharmacy, has joined with other leading health experts, authoring an editorial for the WHO which outlines eight considerations the UN Environment Programme should consider when its members meet in August.

“Plastics are a health hazard around the globe, affecting numerous bodily systems and increasing rates of chronic diseases, cancers and infertility,” Chartres said. “The United Nations Environment Assembly resolved in March 2022 to negotiate a plastics treaty that would obligate member states to end plastic production because of its danger to human health.

“Yet, despite the importance of health in driving efforts to manage plastics pollution, the current proposed treaty text has major gaps that put human health at risk from hazardous chemicals and plastics.”

Chartres and his co-authors argue the UN Plastics Treaty needs to:

• protect health and the environment as core treaty objectives;
• mandate consideration of health risks and impacts in all relevant treaty obligations and decisions;
• focus on capping and reducing plastic production and incentivise alternatives;
• end production and use of toxic chemicals in all plastics and ensure safe, toxin-free alternatives while preventing substitution of similar hazardous chemicals;
• remove toxic releases and emissions at all stages of the lifecycle of plastics, including banning recycling of plastics that contain toxic chemicals;
• require reporting, transparency and accountability on plastic production and wastes, imports and exports (including their associated chemicals);
• use all financing mechanisms to implement the treaty, including extended producer responsibility and the ‘polluter pays’ principle;
• reject blanket exemptions, including plastics in health care — a major generator of plastic waste — while ensuring essential medicines and health products remain accessible and affordable to those who need them.
   

“Plastics are made of more than 16,000 chemicals, mostly derived from oil and gas. Over 4200 are known to be hazardous, while the toxicity of the majority of the remaining is unknown,” Chartres said.

This includes per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (known as ‘forever chemicals’), phthalates and bisphenols (the ‘everywhere and everyone chemicals’), and other endocrine-disrupting chemicals, which can interfere with our bodies’ natural hormone systems and lead to harmful health effects. Exposure to these and many other chemicals used in plastics has been identified as increasing rates of chronic disease, including cancer, neurodevelopmental harm and infertility.

The authors also note the growing evidence that microplastics increase the risk of respiratory, reproductive and gastrointestinal harm, and have been linked to some forms of cancer based on their review led by Chartres.

Meanwhile, the healthcare industry has become increasingly reliant on single-use plastics, especially following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Much of this plastic has gone to waste with little evidence of benefit from the shift. A plastics treaty should incentivise the health sector to promote environmental sustainability and innovations for safer materials,” Chartres said.

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