The dangers of plastic are becoming increasingly personal

The battle against plastic began decades ago. In the early days, the focus was on the spread of plastic pollution and its impact on land use. The tide of battle changed in the 1980s, when localized conflicts over single-use plastics sparked campaigns to ban plastics at the state and national levels.

The movement then expanded, fueled by horrific photos of strangled sea turtles and the discovery of ocean garbage patches, the largest of which is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, estimated to be as large as France. Since China and other countries began rejecting waste from developed countries, which consists mostly of various plastics, much of this waste has been deposited in less developed countries that are completely unprepared and unable to handle it. As the myth of plastic recycling is shattered, the public is beginning to understand that this is not just a “waste management” issue.

Now plastic has become personalized.

Although plastics have been known to cause endocrine disruption for decades, the discovery that plastic breaks down into micron and nanoparticles and enters our bodies through air, food, water and clothing has launched millions of dollars in research. Scientists are rushing to determine the role plastic plays in diseases such as Alzheimer’s, depression, autism and cancer.

Photos from a recent study show microplastics getting stuck in artery plaque, causing further blockage in some of the 77% of Americans over 60 who have plaque in their arteries. In another recent study, 100% of the placentas tested contained microplastics. Plastic attaches to our major organs, such as our brains, including two areas of the brain responsible for reasoning and anger management.

Is there evidence plastic is harming us? While scientists hate to promise complete certainty, the answer is probably yes. Plastic is made from petroleum, and all plastics contain many different chemicals and heavy metals. This is why plastic is available. Many of these chemicals—bisphenol A, phthalates, brominated flame retardants—are among the EPA’s “priority pollutants,” but few are outright banned. Some of the chemicals used in plastics are unknown because their manufacturers claim they are “confidential business information.”

As plastics break down over time, they act like heavy metal magnets, attracting heavy metals, many of which are known carcinogens. This makes microplastics doubly harmful, essentially “forever chemicals,” in which Contains other “forever chemicals” – and all in tiny sizes that may last 1,000 years.

With cancer rates rising among young people, could constant exposure to chemicals in plastic in our bloodstream be one of the reasons?

This disturbing pattern is nothing new. Environmental and health history is replete with egregious examples of industries that have long engaged in purposeful deception, deceiving the public into believing that their products are safe.

The tobacco industry knew in the 1950s that their product was addictive and caused cancer, but they created a sophisticated and confusing disinformation campaign to deceive the public and governments. With the help of whistleblowers and others, the industry was eventually busted in a civil racketeering case for “zealous for deceptively marketing and selling their deadly products.”

ExxonMobil recognized that burning fossil fuels causes climate change at least as early as the 1970s and borrowed a page from tobacco, spending decades and decades led by scientists, mathematicians and others on its payroll. Millions of dollars to “create doubt.” The oil industry’s strategy has delayed actions around the world that could cost hundreds of millions of lives over the next 30 years. They’re still doing it.

Likewise, the petrochemical and plastics industries deceptively conspire to “normalize” the idea that their products can be recycled, even though they know they absolutely cannot. Given the industry’s history of lying to us about recycling, it’s fair to ask them to hide something else.

The world currently generates nearly five trillion tons of plastic waste every year, not counting the trillions of cigarette butts made from plastic and other toxic materials that litter our streets and pollute our water. If these trends continue, by 2050 we will have generated 26 billion tonnes of plastic waste, the vast majority of which has and will continue to have nowhere to go but into our environment, wildlife and our bodies.

If history is any indication, these industries are likely aware of some of the human health impacts and have been for decades. That’s why my organization and a growing global coalition are calling on the plastics industry to tell us what they know. If they continue to hide and ignore the dangers plastic poses to health and the environment, we are at risk as well as they are.

The history of corporate deception regarding environmental and health hazards is well known. While the industry’s standard approach is to wait for the evidence to mount and then drag it out to reap profits, the health impacts of plastics already affect us all and may continue to do so for thousands of years.

This is not a future threat. It exists now and we need to know what they know.

Katherine Rogers is president Earth Day Website.