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“Danger” under-authorized “and” serious and growing “of omnipresent World plastic pollution is a threat to human health throughout our lives, a group of international researchers warned in a report published on Monday.
With production On the right track until almost triple by 2060Plastic pollution is responsible for disease and death and should cost the United States $ 1.5 billion of dollars per year in economic losses related to health, they have explained, with 8,000 metric tonnes of plastic waste invading our land, our sources of water, and Even our own hearts and our brains.
In the environment, this waste can provide a habitat so that mosquitoes lay eggs, distributing deadly infections such as malaria and dengue. In our oceans, it can transport bacteria that sick, stifling and killing animals looking for food.
In addition, airborne emissions from plastic production in the fossil fuels industry are climate change engines And expose people to dangerous chemicals.
Certain quarters of plastic chemicals have never been tested for safety, the authors said, even if 57% of plastic waste is burned in the open air, leaving populations with low income and at risk in a disproportionate manner.
“There is no subcontractor of the magnitude of the climate crisis and the plastic crisis,” said Dr. Philip Landrigan, pediatrician and epidemiologist at Boston College statement. “They both cause the disease, death and disability today in tens of thousands of people, and these damage will become more serious in the years to come, because the planet continues to warm up and plastic production continues to increase.”
Landrigan and the other authors of the report called for greater public awareness of the question – as well as a policy aimed at preventing the continuous aggravation of the crisis of plastic pollution.
Their results were published in the British Medical Journal Lancet Before the United Nations talks in Switzerland this week, which aim to finalize the first world treaty for plastic pollution after previous missed attempts.
“”Plastics are made from fossil fuelsContaminate food and water are linked to many human diseases and impose high costs for medical care and environmental damage, “said Landrigan, the main report.
To follow them and reduce exhibitions, the researchers announced that they had launched an independent and global surveillance system.
They said aggravation is not inevitable with action.
“We know a lot about the range and severity of health and environmental impacts of plastic pollution throughout the plastic life cycle”, ” said Landrigan. “These impacts are most strongly falling on vulnerable populations, especially infants and children. They result in enormous economic costs for society. It is the responsibility of acting in response. “
