Health Experts Call on Plastics Treaty Delegates to Protect Children and Families from Toxic Plastic Chemicals

An editorial published today in the World Health Organization (WHO) Bulletin co-authored by IPEN with leading health experts underscores threats to human health from chemicals in plastics, including PFAS ‘forever chemicals,’ bisphenols, phthalates, and many other hazardous substances. Exposure to these endocrine disrupting chemicals in plastics can interfere with our bodies’ natural hormone systems and increase the risk of numerous chronic diseases, including cancer, neurodevelopmental harm, and infertility, all of which are increasing.

The experts’ editorial also notes the growing evidence showing that microplastics may increase the risk of respiratory, reproductive, and gastrointestinal harm and calls on delegates to the Plastics Treaty negotiations, which resume in Geneva this August, to center protections for human health and the environment in the international agreement.  They also warn that projections suggest that plastic production could grow 300 percent by 2060.

“The litmus test for the Plastics Treaty is whether it will protect human health and the environment from toxic plastic chemicals, like phthalates, which are called “the everywhere and everyone chemicals” because they contaminate our bodies and the environment so pervasively,” said Bjorn Beeler, IPEN International Coordinator and a co-author of the editorial. “More plastic production means more pollution. That’s why the Treaty also needs to include provisions to cap and reduce plastic production, and not rely on false promises about failed solutions, like plastic recycling.”

“Safeguarding the human rights of present and future generations, particularly the rights of Indigenous Peoples who are most directly harmed by the plastics crisis, demands that the international community take strong, meaningful action. We need a human rights and human health focused Plastics Treaty to end the threats plastics pose to the Arctic and to healthy environments around the world,” said Pamela Miller, IPEN Co-chair and Executive Director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics (ACAT). “Decades of experience show that very little plastic is ever recycled, and plastic recycling simply spreads toxic chemicals. We need real solutions that put our health first.”

“We are already seeing the impacts of plastic pollution on our health and our children’s health. The science shows that chemicals used in plastic can contribute to a range of adverse health effects that impact our most susceptible populations, including children and high exposed communities, and with the rise in chronic health conditions, the solution is to cap and reduce plastic production,” said Tracey Woodruff, Professor and Director of the Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, University of California, San Francisco.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that approximately one quarter of all global deaths are attributable to environmental harm including chemicals, pollution and waste. Much of this pollution is linked to plastic production, use and disposal, and disproportionately affects low- and middle-income countries. 

Plastic production is a key driver of unhealthy environments, with negative environmental and human health impacts at every stage of the plastics life cycle, from production, to use, recycling and disposal. The issue was raised by 194 member states of the World Health Assembly (WHA) in 2023, with a Resolution adopted urging Member States and WHO to increase work to address pollution from chemicals and plastics, including through the Plastics Treaty process.

Dr Nicholas Chartres, Senior Research Fellow in the University of Sydney School of Pharmacy stated, “The United Nations Environment Assembly resolved in March 2022 to negotiate a plastics treaty that would obligate member states to end plastic production because of its danger to human health. Yet, despite the importance of health in driving efforts to manage plastics pollution, the current proposed treaty text has major gaps that put human health at risk from hazardous chemicals and plastics.”

IPEN contributed to the UNEA 2022 meeting that concluded with a mandate for nations to develop a Plastics Treaty and dozens of IPEN leaders from around the world have participated at every Treaty negotiating session. A recent IPEN briefing outlines the gaps in the latest text proposed by the Treaty negotiations chair and calls for global controls on toxic plastic chemicals, a global mechanism to reduce plastic production, and a dedicated fund to implement the Treaty, based on the polluters pay principle to ensure that the fossil fuels, petrochemicals, and plastics industry bears the environmental and health costs of its activities.

The editorial argues the Plastics Treaty needs to:

1. Protect health and the environment as core treaty objectives
2. Mandate consideration of health risks and impacts in all relevant treaty obligations and decisions; 
3. Focus on capping and reducing plastic production and incentivise alternatives; 
4. End production and use of toxic chemicals in all plastics and ensure safe, toxics-free alternatives while preventing substitution of similar hazardous chemicals;
5. Remove toxic releases and emissions at all stages of the lifecycle of plastics, including banning recycling of plastics that contain toxic chemicals;
6. Require reporting, transparency and accountability on plastic production and wastes, imports and exports (including their associated chemicals);
7. Use all financing mechanisms to implement the treaty, including extended producer responsibility and the ‘polluter pays’ principle;
8. Reject blanket exemptions, including plastics for health care, while ensuring essential  medicines and health products remain accessible and affordable to those who need them.

Read the editorial in the WHO Bulletin.