Plastic Life Cycles and Human Consequences

A study, reported in Annals of Global Health, analyses the hazards, associated with plastics, across their entire life cycles. This life cycle can be from extraction of hydrocarbons, through manufacture, to their dumping in landfill and oceans. Plastics are responsible for wide-ranging health impacts in humans, including cancers, lung disease and birth defects (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/mar/29/plastics-cause-wide-ranging-health-issues-from-cancer-to-birth-defects-landmark-study-finds). The study notes the existence of deep societal injustices associated with plastics-generated hazards. Poorer people are more exposed to these hazards than richer folk. Plastic waste has low global rates of recovery and recycling. Such waste also persists in the environment for extended periods. Coal miners, oil workers and gas field operatives extract the fossil fuels, used in the manufacture of plastics. They, along with plastics production workers, are especially at risk of the health hazards associated with these ubiquitous materials. One might also add the folk associated with recycling, to this list, especially if it involves chemical processes.