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Plastic Pollution is a Human Health Issue

• Jan. 29, 2023

Plastic Pollution is a Human Health Issue

We are surrounded by plastics. Much of our furniture, clothing, electronics, and food packaging is made from it. Over the past decades, natural materials used in manufacturing such as paper, glass, and cotton, have been replaced by plastic. We know that this ubiquitous use of plastics has led to extreme plastic pollution of our environment.

Plastics may affect our health via three pathways:


We eat, drink and breathe microplastics every day. These small plastic particles may harm our health once they have entered our bodies.
Plastic products contain chemical additives. A number of these chemicals have been associated with serious health problems such as hormone-related cancers, infertility and neurodevelopment disorders like ADHD and autism.
When plastics and microplastics end up in the environment, they attract micro-organisms, such as harmful bacteria (pathogens). If microplastics containing these pathogens enter our body, they may increase the risk of infection.

Microplastics are plastic particles that are 5 millimetres or less in size. Some forms of plastic are even a million times smaller than a millimetre: these are nanoplastics. Microplastics have been found everywhere in our environment, from the deepest ocean trenches, to both poles, and on top of the Himalayas. However, microplastics can also be found much closer to home. As microplastics are released from our sofas, carpets, curtains, and other synthetic textiles, they are omnipresent in virtually every household. Microplastics have also been found in many consumer products such as seafood, honey, beer, water, salt, fruits and vegetables.

Moreover, plastic does not biodegrade and can consequently travel long distances in the aquatic environment. So we have to ask: does plastic litter contribute to the spread of pathogens? Particularly in areas with poor sanitation facilities and high plastic pollution, it is hypothesized that plastic could be contributing to the spread of diseases.

With more and more alarm bells ringing about the suspected health risks that plastic poses, new scientific research is needed now more than ever.