Chemicals in plastics pose a global health threat, the new report says

A new scientific report released on Tuesday concludes that plastics and the chemicals they leave in the environment are major threats to human health. It identifies over 140 chemicals that are easily found in plastic products that can be harmful to our body, especially through interference with the endocrine system.

The· Report This is the result of collaboration between the Endocrine Socrine Society and the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), one of the largest organizations of scientists studying the part of the body that produces hormones, called the endocrine system. Written by US and Swedish scientists, it is intended to review previous studies on plastics and their potential for harm to humans and other animals. They have seen hundreds of studies from around the world. Anyway, the report is a disastrous picture.

The main threat from plastics comes from a group of chemicals that can mimic hormones or otherwise interfere with their role in the body. Hormones are naturally occurring chemicals that help regulate almost every physical function we have, from metabolism to sleep to fertility.

The report identifies 144 of these Endocrine disrupting chemicals, Or EDC is commonly found in everyday plastic products. These chemicals include perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), phthalates, bisphenol A (BPA), and toxic metals such as lead and cadmium. Some are intentionally added to plastics to improve their durability, while others are by-products that are disposed of in landfills or oceans, decomposed into microplastics, and then leached into the environment.

High levels of EDC in the body increase the incidence of metabolic disorders such as infertility and diabetes, and certain cancers in the general population. Other chemicals like lead are not safe even at very low levels of exposure. This threat is elevated when we are young, and fetal exposure to EDC increases the incidence of childhood autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and birth weight loss, among other problems. Is related to.Just this week, a new study found Evidence that microplastics can eventually reach the human placenta further underscores the risk of fetal exposure.

“Exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals is not only a global problem today, but also poses a serious threat to future generations,” said Pauliina Damdimopoulou, a researcher at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden. Stated in a statement. release According to the Endocrine Society and IPEN Tuesday. “When a pregnant woman is exposed, EDC can affect the health of her child and her final grandchildren. According to animal studies, EDC causes DNA modifications that affect multiple generations. There is a possibility.”

Another big problem is that plastic Very ubiquitous, The exposure to EDC is also almost universal. This makes it difficult to understand the exact effect of EDC, as there is no place to hide from them and no actual “control” group of unexposed individuals to use for comparison. Still, according to lead author Jodi Flaws, the harm caused by EDC can be comparable to other common environmental toxins such as cigarette smoke. However, as mentioned earlier, EDC is virtually ubiquitous and more difficult to avoid than pollutants such as smoke.

The ubiquitous nature of EDC means that countries and plastic manufacturers are making global efforts to really change things. So far, that effort has been lacking. For example, a safer alternative to BPA used in recent years is Similarly So-called biodegradable plastics often contain the same chemical additives as traditional plastics, but they are toxic. Meanwhile, overall plastic production continues to increase, further increasing exposure to EDC. The authors acknowledge that plastics are still needed for the foreseeable future, especially in societies such as medical devices, but if you want to reduce the health risks of EDC, you need to start changing the situation now.

On the plus side, many of the same steps to reduce EDC, such as reducing reliance on fossil fuels, the source of most plastics, will also prevent the climate from continuing to change in dangerous ways. .. The report also recommends stricter government regulations regarding the use of EDC in plastics. This includes a total ban, encouraging companies to develop safer alternatives, and improving plastic recycling processes that may introduce other EDCs such as dioxins into the environment.

For example, in a move praised by the author, Switzerland added in May a list of dangerous chemicals maintained by UV stabilizers, a class of EDC that has received less attention than other classes. It became the first country to propose to do. Swiss Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. This is a global UN treaty that seeks to force countries to regulate their use.

There is not much you can do about individual exposure to EDC, but it is helpful to avoid disposable materials in food and beverage containers and not to heat plastic containers in the microwave.

“It is our joint responsibility to develop public policy to address this clear scientific evidence that EDC in plastics is dangerous,” the report author writes. “We hope that science will lead to global policy action to address the pervasive dangers of plastics that threaten our environment, health and the future.”