Plastics and Human Health | Plastics and the Environment Series (2024)

Table of Contents
World Health Assembly and Plastics Plastics and Health at a Glance Exposure to Plastics Health Risks of Microplastics Toxic Chemicals in Plastic International Cooperation on Plastics and Health GEN Events The Plastics Crisis as a Health Crisis: How Can the International Health Community Support the Global Response to Plastic Pollution & the Plastics Treaty? Plastic Chemical Threats to Children’s Health & Development: Opportunities to Protect Children’s Health and their Future in the Plastics Treaty Chemicals in the Plastics Treaty: Perspectives on Protecting Human Health Launch and Panel Discussion | State of the Science on Plastic Chemicals: Identifying and Addressing Chemicals and Polymers of Concern The Impact of Chemicals, Waste, and Pollution on Human Health Health, Chemicals, Plastics & a Non-Toxic Circular Economy | Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogues & BRS COPs Side Event Geneva Beat Plastic Pollution Dialogues | Plastics and Health More on the Plastics Crisis FAQs

The world is facing a plastics crisis. Plastic pollution is found all around the globe. Plastics are negatively affecting people and the environment at each stage of their lifecycle – extraction of fossil fuel, production, manufacturing, use, recycling, and disposal. The impacts are felt in a wide range of areas, including on biodiversity, climate change, human health and human rights. This page focuses on the impacts of plastics and the chemicals they contain on human health.

World Health Assembly and Plastics

At the Seventy-sixth World Health Assembly (WHA76) that took place in Geneva in May2023, a resolution onthe impact of chemicals, waste, and pollution on human health initially tabled by Peru, Canada, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Monaco, Switzerland, Uruguay, and the European Union and its Member States was adopted. The resolution, available on the WHA76 portal, includes notes and references to various ongoing negotiations as well as UN Environment Assembly and Human Rights Council resolutions. Among these, Plastic pollution and theIntergovernmental Negotiating Committee in charge of developing a legallybinding instrument onplasticpollution. The resolutions requests to scaling-up work on plastics and health.

Read more on international collaboration on plastics and health:

Plastics and Health at a Glance

Humans are exposed to a large variety of toxic chemicals and microplastics through inhalation, ingestion, and direct skin contact, all along the plastic lifecycle. According to WWF, an average person could be ingesting approximately 5 grams of plastic every week. While the health impacts of plastics is still a rather new research area, scientific results to-date do indicate plastic causes diseases, disability and premature death at very stage of its life cycle. The toxic chemical additives and pollutants found in plastics threaten human health on a global scale. Scientifically-proven health effects include causing cancer or changing hormone activity (known as endocrine disruption), which can lead to reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment. Many of the toxic chemical additives have several other known health impacts, persist in the environment, and bioaccumulate in exposed organisms. Research also revealed that microplastics can harm our health, and act as vessels for pathogens to enter our system, increasing the spread of diseases.

Health impacts are also observed all along the plastic value chain. Examples include pollution at extraction sites, workers exposure to chemicals, air pollution from waste incineration, and water and soil contamination. Vulnerable groups, including children, women, workers in the informal waste sector and marginalized communities are particularly exposed, thus raising concerns of human rights and environmental injustice. The adverse effects of plastic are particularly acute children in the womb and young ones, with increased risks of prematurity, stillbirth, birth defects of the reproductive organs, neurodevelopmental impairment, impaired lung growth, and childhood cancer (Minderoo-Monaco Commission on Plastics and Health, 2023). Finally, plastics contribute to the numerous health risks associated with warming temperatures and extreme weather events due to climate change. The effects of plastic production on human health also have important monetary costs, recently estimated to more than $250 billion in 2015 globally and more than $920 billions in the USA alone for diseases and disability caused by the plastic-associated chemicals PBDE, BPA and DEHP.

General resources on the impacts of plastics on human health:

Exposure to Plastics

While scientific gaps remain on exact numbers, there is no doubt that humans are exposed to plastics through daily life products, plastic-based medical supplies, as well as through the food chain and airborne plastic pollution. Workers in the extraction, manufacture, transportation and waste sector and local communities where these activities are conducted are further exposed. Through these various pathways, we are exposed to microplastics and the chemical additives they contain. Recent studies have found microplastics in human blood, lungs, and placenta. As 99% of plastics are created from chemicals of fossil origin, oil-associated toxicological short and long term health hazards from respiratory symptomps to adverse neurological effects, including stress and generalized anxiety disorder are part of the plastic value-chain.

Plastics and Human Health | Plastics and the Environment Series (1)

Exposure pathways to plastics. Source: CIEL, 2019. Click to enlarge.

Further resources on exposure to plastics

Health Risks of Microplastics

Micro- and nanoplastics in the human body may have harmful effects on health. The main microplastics exposure route for humans is ingestion, followed by inhalation and dermal exposure. Although there is no scientific certainty of the amount of plastics humans ingests, estimation guesses around 0.1–5 g/week, while inhalation can amount between 26 and 170 airborne MNPs of per day and up to 22,000,000 micro- and nanoplastics inhaled by humans annually. Studies on animals indicate that plastic particles can cross the gut barrier and travel through the body. While this field of study is rather recent, recent studies have found a correlation between ppresence of microplastics in the human body and inflammatory bowel disease symptoms, respiratory complications among others which still require further study. Additionally, plastics increase disease risk by acting as a vessel for human pathogens which have a particularly strong bind to plastic waste.

See Also
plastics summaryPlastic Pollution Essay | Essay on Plastic Pollution for KidsLong and Short (Essay on Plastic Bags) in English, Harmful effects, causesPlastic Pollution Essay for Students and Children | 500+ Words Essay

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Source: Breathing Plastic: The Health Impacts of Invisible Plastics in the Air | CIEL | 27 March 2023

Further resources on the health risks of microplastics

Toxic Chemicals in Plastic

To date, it has been estimated that more than 16,000 chemicals are used to make plastic, of which at least4200 are chemicals of concern. This number shows a both a growth in the number of used chemicals and an improvement in their identification, as it departures from the 13,000 chemicals found by UNEP and BRS in 2023.

A growing body of evidence points to the health risks posed are not only caused by plastic additives, as humans are also directly exposed to plastic materials in the form of microplastics and nano-plastics (Project TENDR, 2024). Exposure to plastics and chemicals can happen through ingestion through food and waste, chemicals leaching and accumulation in air and dust. These act as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are linked to infertility, obesity, diabetes, prostate or breast cancer, thyroid problems and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, among others. Other health conditions linked to additives include reproductive, growth, and cognitive impairment and neurodevelopment disorders. The technical report Chemicals in Plastics released by UNEP and the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions Secretariat in May 2023, highlights how women and children are particularly susceptible to these toxic chemicals. Exposures can have severe or long-lasting adverse effects on several key periods of a woman’s life and may impact the next generations.

Plastics and Human Health | Plastics and the Environment Series (3)Plastics and Human Health | Plastics and the Environment Series (4)

As hazardous chemicals can be released from plastics along the entire lifecycle, solutions must address all phases.

Plastics and Human Health | Plastics and the Environment Series (5)

Further resources on chemical additives in plastics

International Cooperation on Plastics and Health

Addressing plastic pollution is not only a environmental matter, but also about protecting human health from pollutants. Following the adoption of a landmark resolution to end plastic pollution at the UN Environment Assembly in March 2022, the process to develop a new treaty on the matter kicked off in 2022. The treaty could be an opportunity to better protect human health from the risks associated with plastics. The resources below present various initiatives in Geneva and beyond aimed at strengthening the links between plastics and health, and addressing the plastic crisis to protect human health.

Further resources
See Also
Why ban single use plastic bottles? - Greenpeace Aotearoa

GEN Events

More on the Plastics Crisis

Our special series “Plastics and the Environment” provides resources on the status of the global plastic pollution, its impact on people and the environment, and international cooperation to address the plastics crisis.

Plastics and Human Health | Plastics and the Environment Series (2024)

FAQs

What are 5 harmful effects of plastic to humans? ›

Plastic causes harm globally through five dominant effects. It fills the environment with debris, contaminates critical ingredients for survival, causes a wide range of known and unknown illnesses, bolsters the most destructive industries on Earth, and it just won't go away.

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What is the executive order for plastics? ›

Executive Order (E.O.) 14057, Catalyzing Clean Energy Industries and Jobs Through Federal Sustainability, Section 207, specifically addresses plastic pollution by referencing the Save Our Seas Act, Public Law 116-224, and promoting a circular economy.

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What does plastic do to your body? ›

Different chemicals can leach from our plastic water bottles, knives and dermatologic products to enter our bodies. These compounds are linked to serious health issues such as endocrine disruption, weight gain, insulin resistance, decreased reproductive health, and cancer.

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What year will there be more plastic than fish? ›

If we don't do anything about the plastic soup, oceans will carry more plastic than fish (by weight) by 2050. The United Nations warns that marine life will be irreparably destroyed. Coral reefs appear to be particularly vulnerable to plastic pollution.

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Do microplastics stay in your body? ›

Ingested or inhaled microplastics may accumulate in the body and trigger an immune response or cause local particle toxicity. In addition, chronic exposure may cause more problems through accumulation in the body.

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What is the EPA doing about plastic? ›

EPA is working on a strategy for how we can work collaboratively with interested parties to prevent plastic pollution and reduce, reuse, recycle, collect, and capture plastic and other materials.

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What is the US doing to reduce plastic? ›

Issued on June 8, 2022, Secretary's Order 3407 (SO 3407) aims to reduce the procurement, sale and distribution of single-use plastic products and packaging with a goal of phasing out all single-use plastic products on Department-managed lands by 2032.

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Does the FDA regulate plastic? ›

FDA-compliant plastics are those that meet the strict safety standards set by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for materials used in direct contact with food or medical products.

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Does bottled water contain plastic? ›

The researchers found that, on average, a liter of bottled water included about 240,000 tiny pieces of plastic. About 90% of these plastic fragments were nanoplastics. This total was 10 to 100 times more plastic particles than seen in earlier studies, which mostly focused on larger microplastics.

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Which foods have microplastics? ›

Apples and carrots were the most contaminated fruit and vegetable, respectively, with over 100,000 microplastics per gram. The smallest particles were found in carrots, while the largest pieces of plastic were found in lettuce, which was also the least contaminated vegetable.

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Which two cities have the most microplastics in their atmosphere? ›

In both London and Beijing, there are several thousand plastic particles per cubic meter, meaning these cities hold the largest concentrations of microplastics in their atmosphere.

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Does tap water contain microplastics? ›

Are we consuming microplastics? Yes. Microplastics are present in both tap water and bottled water. A study showed that an average of 325 plastic particles were found in a liter of bottled water as compared to 5.5 plastic particles per liter of tap water, according to Sherri Mason, a Penn State researcher.

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Which ocean has the most plastic? ›

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a gyre of plastic debris in the north-central Pacific Ocean. It's the largest accumulation of plastic in the world.

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What will happen by 2050 if we don't recycle? ›

There are increasing high levels of man-made pollution in many of the world's seas and little actually disappears. By 2050 there will be more plastic than fish in the world's oceans. We live on a blue planet; the world's oceans cover three quarters of the Earth.

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What does plastic harm the most? ›

Unlike other materials, plastic does not biodegrade. It can take up to 1,000 years to break down, so when it is discarded, it builds up in the environment until it reaches a crisis point. This pollution chokes marine wildlife, damages soil and poisons groundwater, and can cause serious health impacts.

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What is harmful of plastic 10 points? ›

Harmful Effects of Plastics

Plastics do not undergo degradation, thus, stay in the soil for many years, which affects soil fertility and degrades the soil quality. When plastic artefacts enter the drainage and sewerage system, they block the pipes and the drains causing waterlogging.

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What are the diseases caused by plastic? ›

These act as endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), which are linked to infertility, obesity, diabetes, prostate or breast cancer, thyroid problems and increased risk of cardiovascular disease and stroke, among others.

See Details ›
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