How Plastic Can Harm Your Health. Plastic is everywhere, yet it often contains chemicals linked to reproductive harm, cancer risk, metabolic disease, and other issues. Consumer Reports Kevin Loria Senior Health & Food Reporter Jan 18, 2024 Plastic is everywhere—even in the foods we eat and the beverages we drink. CR’s recent tests of nearly 100 foods found two types of chemicals used in plastic, bisphenols and phthalates, in a wide variety of packaged foods.
These findings are concerning because there’s clear evidence linking exposure to these particular chemicals to a number of health effects, including disruptions of the endocrine or hormone system. Such disruption has been linked to neurodevelopmental problems, metabolic disorders, and reproductive issues. According to one new study, diseases that have been linked to exposure to plastic-related chemicals cost the U.S. approximately $250 billion in healthcare costs in 2018. As plastic production has increased, so has the incidence of chronic disease, according to Woodruff. And while several interrelated factors are likely at play, many expert groups including the American Academy of Pediatrics and the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics say that at least some of that increase is likely due to chemical exposure.The Evidence Gets Clearer.....It’s hard to quantify the exact impact of every chemical that people are exposed to through day-to-day life. But there’s a growing body of research about plastic chemicals that has followed populations over time to look at patterns of disease and examined how these chemicals directly affect animals and in some cases, people. All this has helped clarify how certain chemicals cause disease, and provided evidence for concerns researchers have raised for many years. After decades of study, the health effects of exposure to some chemicals in plastic—such as bisphenols and phthalates—are better understood. But based on what we know about those chemicals, and the number of similar chemicals and other additives used in plastic, experts suspect that the list of potentially worrisome plastic chemicals is long.Researchers say that we know less about the health effects microplastics, but there are reasons to be concerned. “They may function as Trojan horses that carry toxic chemicals into the human body,” Landrigan says.Plus, according to Woodruff, researchers have found that microplastic exposure is linked to issues with male fertility, biomarkers of colon and gut cancer, and to potential respiratory problems. The mechanism for these effects is not yet clear. But in addition to the risk of these particles carrying toxic chemicals, it’s also possible that as they end up in various tissues, these particles serve as an irritant, causing inflammation that leads to further health effects.
Plastic Everywhere...There are at least two mechanisms through which researchers say exposure to plastic can affect human health: exposure to chemicals in plastic, and then the ingestion or absorption of micro- and nanoplastics. And human exposure to plastics—and to the chemicals that make up and are added to plastic materials—occurs at every stage of the product life cycle, from production to use to disposal.
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