Plastics contain 3,000 more substances than previously known – 03/15/2024 – Environment

At least 3,000 more chemicals are present in plastics — from food packaging to toys and medical devices — than previously estimated by environmental agencies, according to a report published this Thursday (14). The document raises questions about pollution and consumer safety.

Although UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme) previously identified around 13,000 chemicals in plastics, the report by a team of European scientists found more than 16,000 chemicals in plastics.

A quarter of them were considered dangerous to human health and the environment.

The report, funded by the Norwegian Research Council, comes as government negotiators seek to draft the world’s first treaty to combat growing plastic pollution, as around 400 million tonnes of plastic waste are produced every year.

“To robustly address plastic pollution, we need to analyze the full life cycle of plastics and address the issue of chemicals,” said report co-author Jane Muncke, managing director of the Food Packaging Forum, a Swiss non-profit organization.

This is because plastic chemicals can contaminate water and food.

“We are finding hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic chemicals in people and some of them have been linked to adverse health outcomes,” Muncke said.

These impacts include fertility problems and cardiovascular disease.

“When we analyze the products we use every day, we often find hundreds, if not thousands, of chemicals in a single plastic product,” said Martin Wagner, lead author of the study and an environmental toxicologist at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

While the plastics industry says any global treaty should promote the recycling and reuse of plastics, addressing plastic waste alone is not enough to protect people, the report’s authors said.

Scientists have highlighted the need for greater transparency about which chemicals are being used in plastics — including recycled products.

A quarter of the identified chemicals lack basic information about their basic chemical identity, according to the report.

“At the heart of the problem is the chemical complexity of plastics,” said Wagner, who is also on the board of the Coalition of Scientists for an Effective Plastics Treaty.

“Producers often don’t really know what kind of chemicals are in their products and this comes from very complex value chains.”