A collaborative new report has detailed the wide-ranging health impacts of plastics, right from their production all the way to their use and eventual disposal.
An analysis released Tuesday by the (WHOI) in Cape Code, Mass., found that along with contributing to climate change, "plastics cause disease, impairment and premature mortality at every stage of their life cycle."
This includes the health and occupational hazards of plastic production, the ingestion and inhalation of microplastic and nanoplastic particles, and their ability to transmit pathogenic microorganisms.
Toxic chemicals added to plastics are also known to increase the risk of miscarriage, obesity, cardiovascular disease and cancer, the researchers say.
But while the potential harms from plastics to human health may be news to some, the researchers say scientists have been aware of the negative environmental impacts for decades.
"It's only been a little over 50 years since we've been aware of the presence of plastics throughout the ocean," said John Stegeman, a senior scientist in the Department of Biology at WHOI and one of the lead authors on a section in the report about the impact of plastics on oceans.
Scientists at the Minderoo Foundation, Centre Scientifique de Monaco and Boston College led the report, called .
The researchers say current plastic production, use and disposal are both unsustainable and responsible for "significant harm to human health, the economy and the environment — especially the ocean — as well as deep societal injustices."
Plastics make up approximately four to five per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions across their life cycle, the report says, about the same as all emissions from Russia.
As part of the study, the researchers estimated the cost of plastic production on health to be approximately US$250 billion over a 12-month period, based on data from 2015. The researchers say this is greater than the GDPs of either New Zealand or Finland for that year.
The issue of plastics disproportionately affects vulnerable, low-income minority communities, particularly children, the researchers say.
Along with hundreds of billions dollars more in health-care costs caused by the chemicals in plastics, they say poorer communities, where fast food and discount stores are more common, are exposed to more plastic packaging, products and associated chemicals.
The scientists recommend better monitoring of the effects of plastics and their associated chemicals on marine species, as well as more information on the concentrations of the smallest plastic particles in marine environments.
With a in the works at the United Nations, the researchers say its focus should extend beyond marine litter to include the entire life cycle of plastics.
