Plastic Research : Oversight and regulation of toxic chemicals in plastic lacking, report says
In 2010, 275 million tons of plastic waste was generated in 192 countries. By 2025, this figure could increase to 100-250 million tons.
To date, research into the impact of plastic on human health has been limited, often focusing on select hazardous chemicals.
According to a paper published by researchers at ETH Zurich in the journal ‘Environmental Science and Technology’, chemicals to be studied are chosen for their already well-documented negative impact with research focusing on substances expected to be found in the plastic matrix.
It is important to note, however, that the polymer production process also sees non-intentionally added substances added to the mix such as contaminants, by products and breakdown products, their synergetic effects on human health being often poorly understood.
Ruthan Rudel, Director of Research at Silent Spring Institute, argued that the low price point of plastic obscured its potentially disastrous effects on human society. In response to a 2019 Center of Environmental Law Report (‘Plastic and Health’), she wrote: “Plastics are made of a complex mix of chemicals, many of them are endocrine disruptors or are of concern for other health effects. A recent National Academy of Sciences report found that the important vinyl ingredient DEHP is ‘a presumed hazard to human reproduction’ at current exposures, and that’s just one plastics ingredient!”.
Yet so far, a comprehensive database outlining all plastic related substances has been missing.
Scientists at ETH Zurich have now identified and documented 10,500 plastic monomers, additives and processing aids found in products such as food packaging, face masks and toys.
This ‘plastic framework’ found that 2400 of 10,500 or 24% of identified substances currently in use for plastic production pose a risk to human health.
These numbers are still considered estimates, as national and regional chemical inventories are less than transparent when it comes to the make-up of plastic products while non-standardized terminology renders proper identification of chemicals complex.
Deeply worrisome is the fact that the lack of uniform classification can lead to the inclusion of toxic plastics in food-grade applications. One example would be dibutyl phthalate, generally found in flexible plastics, which requires authorization in the EU for use in food packaging but can be used freely for such purposes in the US and Japan. The report finds that 901 of these contentious substances were cleared for use.
For risk assessment procedures to take hold, further transparency on chemicals and plastic production processes is needed as well as more research on the cumulative impact of thousands of chemicals used in blended plastic consumer goods such as food packaging.
The ETH research team suggest the building of a centralized database drawing both on their work as well as the work of existing public databases, with stakeholders (ex. chemical and material producers, product designers, retailers and waste managers) tasked to provide relevant information. Funding for a large-scale project such as this one could be resolved either by public-private partnerships or by companies themselves, the scientists conclude in their investigation.