The 8 billion tons of plastic waste that have amassed on Earth pose a grave and growing danger to human health, according to a new report published in the leading medical journal The Lancet.
The 8 billion tons of plastic waste that have amassed on Earth pose a grave and growing danger to human health, according to a new report published in the leading medical journal The Lancet. Ahead of a U.N. conference on plastic pollution, authors warn that countries urgently need to cut production.
The world churns out more than 200 times as much plastic today as it did in 1950, and production is only rising. Microscopic bits of plastic waste have been found nearly everywhere, from the bottom of the sea to the clouds over Mount Fuji, as well as in the food we eat, water we drink, and air we breathe. Scientists have found microplastics in human lungs, brains, and bone marrow, among other organs, as well as in blood, semen, and breast milk.
The Lancet report warns that plastics pose a threat at every stage of their lifecycle, from the extraction of fossil fuels used to make plastic, to the production, use, and disposal of plastic goods. Many of the more than 16,000 chemicals used in plastics — flame retardants, fillers, dyes — can harm human health, and fetuses, infants, and young children are particularly vulnerable.
Read More at: Yale Environment 360
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