Plastics and human health: Ramesh Shrestha

Known unknown

Plastics, the evidence shows, are a threat to human health from womb to grave – The Lancet

In our daily conversations regarding our health, we focus on good nutrition, regular exercise, avoid smoking and (excessive) drinking and basic hygienic practices to remain healthy. In the same vein, our discussion on pollution focuses on air quality, pollution of rivers and oceans. We seem oblivious to the contamination and pollution of our household environment and our own bodies with exposure to numerous varieties of chemicals and nanoparticles of plastics which are impacting our health irrespective of age, gender or location. Since living beings cannot be subjected to laboratory experiments the health impacts of these chemicals and nanoparticles of plastics on human health remains obscure at best.

Nature (or God if you like) as a structural engineer, designed the human body to be able to resist toxins to a certain extent and devised a physiology to excrete harmful substances through sweat, urine and faeces. But this system created thousands of years ago seems unable to adapt to our modern lifestyle hugely different from the original. As a result, some of the harmful substances we ingest remain in our body, the impacts of which are not fully understood. Chemicals and nanoparticles of plastics are some of those substances which we continue to ingest unknowingly are absorbed by blood vessels and deposited in tissues of internal organs. Questions such as, does nanoparticles of plastics deposited in the brain induce dementia? Does dense deposit of nanoparticles of plastics in the liver or kidney cause liver and kidney failures? There are no straight answers to these significant questions. When death a certificate is issued the cause of death is attributed to a disease or an organ failure. Exactly what causes organ failure remains a mystery. There are no records of autopsies of cadavers to study the presence of nanoparticles of plastics among patients who died of liver failure or kidney failure or any other organ for that matter. Clinical investigation and knowledge in this field is scanty.

Need for public education

A meta-analysis conducted by the University of Newcastle based on 50 studies on ingestion of microplastics by people reported that on average people could be ingesting as much as 2,000 µg of plastics daily. The sources of microplastics include consuming food and beverages that come in contact with plastics such as single use plastic cups, paper cups coated with plastics, foods heated on plastic trays, foods wrapped with plastics, teabags, plastic water bottles, virtually anything made of plastics. Plastic has also been found in beer, salt, shellfish, mussels, fish, canned foods, etc. According to experts any food that comes in contact with plastics during processing and packaging can be contaminated with plastics. All such plastics carry molecules of a wide range of chemicals used to produce the desired type of plastics.

Researchers have identified more than 16,000 chemicals used in production of various grades of plastics. Of them at least 4,200 chemicals are considered hazardous to human health. Just about 6% of such chemicals are regulated under international environmental agreement and about 1,000 more are regulated by a small number of countries voluntarily at the national level (Norwegian University of Science and Technology, 2025). The chemicals that are accompanying the plastics are known to be toxic, and can cause dysfunction of endocrine glands disrupting hormone activities leading to impaired reproductive and cognitive functions depending on organs involved. According to Minderoo-Monaco Commission, foetus, infants and young children are at special risk to exposure to plastic pollution as it impacts on stillbirths, low birthweight, birth defects, impairment in neurodevelopment, lung growth, and development of multiple non-communicable diseases later in life. This conclusion was based on a study of people exposed to plastic contamination (Annals of Global Health. 2023; 89(1): 23, 1–215.).

Several governments have banned certain kinds of plastic products such as straws, single use bags, etc. with a view to controlling environmental pollution, not repeat not from the perspective of plastic pollution in the human body. The current level of regulations and public health knowledge people have on plastic pollution is too little to stop or in controlling the invasion of the human body by nanoparticles of plastics. As almost all industrial products which contain plastics will have a permanent presence in our homes, it is essential to find a way of coexisting with plastics to save human health. The biggest question is how?

What can be done?

The first initiative to address this issue was by WHO in 2008 under the banner 'Climate and Health'. A legally binding UN resolution participated by 180 countries was adopted on 2 March 2022 after several conferences, which largely focused on production, consumption and waste management to reduce plastics pollution from the environmental perspective. However, there was no mention of the health consequences of plastic pollution. There have been follow up meetings with the last one being in August 2025. Despite the availability of evidence of plastics pollution in the human body, the possibility of a strong health-oriented treaty still seems farfetched. 

Like in most businesses, plastics industry lobbyists are in the shadows of all international consultations on plastics as in the annual COP conferences flooded with fossil fuel lobbyists. The plastics lobbyists have been pushing that plastics are essential for human health with posters displays such as incubators for neonates, foods wrapped in plastics to prevent from rotting, water bottles for convenience, etc. The plastics industry need not worry, as plastics have become an integral part of modern industry which has contributed to many aspects of our economy and lifestyle. The issue is not the plastics but finding ways to prevent infiltration of the human body by nanoparticles of plastics.

Discovery of nanoparticles of plastics in internal organs of humans such as brain, liver, heart, placenta, spleen, digestive track, kidney, lymph nodes, bone marrow, blood, urine, breastmilk, follicles of ovary, semen and faeces should be of serious concern to everyone. Needless to say, there is a wide knowledge gap in explaining how the plastic and its associated chemicals are polluting the human body. But based on available scientific information from various studies there is clear indication of negative impacts on human beings such as inflammation of organs, interruption in proper functioning of organs, development of cysts, and organ failure. Such health data collected from workers exposed to the plastics such as, people working in garbage disposal, garbage processing works, nanoparticles of plastics found in lung surgery patients, etc. should be good examples to raise awareness among the general public on dangers of plastic pollution. Limited number of scientific studies also indicate its impact on disabilities and premature deaths at an early stage of life.

It is time for the policy makers in governments to talk about plastics beyond environmental pollution. Public education should include advocacy to avoid heating food in plastic containers, avoid plastic water bottles, minimise use of plastic for wrapping foods, avoid drinking hot beverages from plastic cups, etc. These are not difficult habits to change but people must be convinced to take action.

The civil society organisations are possibly the best suited candidates to launch education campaigns globally and locally on how to prevent our bodies from plastic pollution. Schools would be the best place to start such an education campaign. There is enough information to garner public support for such a campaign. The campaign is not to ban the production of plastics but to educate on how to use plastics products to prevent its adverse effects on human health.

Read more articles by Ramesh here.