Plastics cause wide-ranging health issues from cancer to birth defects, landmark study finds

Plastics cause health issues - First analysis of plastics’ hazards over the life cycle – from extraction to disposal – also shows ‘deep societal injustices’ of impact

According to the first analysis of the health hazards of plastics across their entire life cycle—from extraction for manufacturing to dumping into landfills and oceans—plastics are responsible for wide-ranging health impacts, including cancers, lung disease, and birth defects.

Led by the Boston College Global Observatory on Planetary Health in partnership with Australia’s Minderoo Foundation and the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, the review found that “current patterns of plastic production, use, and disposal are not sustainable and are responsible for significant harms to human health … as well as for deep societal injustices”.

A delegate in Kenya looks at a 30-ft art installation urging people to ‘turn off the plastic tap.’

“The main driver of these worsening harms is an almost exponential and still accelerating increase in global plastic production,” the analysis, published in the medical journal Annals of Global Health, found. “Plastics’ harms are further magnified by low rates of recovery and recycling and by the long persistence of plastic waste in the environment.”

The report found that coal miners, oil workers, and gas field workers who extract fossil carbon feedstocks for plastic production, along with plastic production workers, were at particular risk of harm.

These workers “suffer increased mortality from traumatic injury … silicosis, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer,” the report said.

“Plastic production workers are at increased risk of leukaemia, lymphoma … brain cancer, breast cancer, mesothelioma … and decreased fertility. Plastic recycling workers have increased rates of cardiovascular disease, toxic metal poisoning, neuropathy, and lung cancer.”

Meanwhile, residents of communities adjacent to plastic production and waste disposal sites experience increased risks of premature birth, low birth weight, asthma, childhood leukaemia, cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lung cancer. The report referred to evidence that infants in the womb and young children were at exceptionally high risk.

The article recommends a global plastics treaty to control the manufacture and use of plastics and to reduce the disproportionate health and environmental impacts of plastics on coastal and ocean-dependent communities and those working in high-risk industries. The authors wrote that any treaty should meet the mandate set in March 2022 at the UN Environment Assembly.

Frank Seebacher, a professor of biology at the University of Sydney’s School of Life and Environmental Sciences, agreed that a binding treaty was needed.

“Plastics are on par with climate change in their harmful effects globally and drive climate change with their need for fossil fuels,” he said.

“The call for better management of plastics is an often-repeated refrain in the literature, particularly because most plastic use is unnecessary – for example, single-use plastic and packaging – and can be easily replaced. This new paper looks like it is making a valuable contribution by synthesising the available literature into a set of concrete recommendations.”

Prof Andreas Suhrbier, leader of the inflammation biology group at the QIMR Berghofer in Brisbane, said nearly all humans now consume “a fair amount of plastic,” and it was crucial that more research funding be dedicated to examining its impact.

“This is estimated at a credit card’s worth of plastic per week, usually in microplastics,” Suhrbier said.

“Sadly, the amount of sound medical research in this space is minimal. What are the direct detrimental effects of such plastic consumption on human health? What diseases are exacerbated by such plastic consumption? Who in our population would be most vulnerable?

“Questions regarding the health impacts of microplastic consumption are hard to answer without dedicated research funding and some well-constituted studies that establish a causal relationship between microplastic consumption and a disease or disorder.”