Chemicals in Plastic Cost Us Billions in Health Care

$249B a year, a new study estimates
By Gina Carey,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 21, 2024 5:00 PM CST
Cost of Plastic to Public Health: $249B a Year
Empty water bottles are gathered in a plastic bag.   (AP Photo/Matilde Campodonico, File)

Plastic has been found in the deepest parts of the ocean, the air, and our brains—and now researchers have put a number to how much its prevalence is costing us in health care. A group of physicians, epidemiologists, and endocrinologists worked together to itemize the "disease burden" that chemical additives in plastics cause— and they estimate $249 billion in 2018 alone is a conservative number, reports the Los Angeles Times. While research into micro- and nanoplastics is nascent, years of studies have connected these chemical additives to different types of cancers, diabetes, obesity, decreased fertility, and issues with child brain development, per CNN.

"Fundamentally, we're talking about effects that run the entire lifespan study, from brain development in young children, to cancer," says Leo Trasande, an author on the study. He calls the findings "a bright, bold line underneath" plastic's role in human health issues. The study, published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society, makes note of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs—which can confuse hormone signaling) used in plastics. These include the usual suspects in health warnings: BPAs, phthalates, PFOAs (also known as forever chemicals), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (or PBDEs, which are a class of flame retardants). PBDEs comprised most of the cost burden, writes the Endocrine Society, and are linked to increased risks of cancer.

Experts say this financial estimate does not begin to show the full story of plastic's impact on human health. "In addition to the costs associated with the chemicals and plastics," says Avi Kar of the Natural Resource Defense Council's Health and Food, People & Communities Program, "there are health costs associated with exposures to the macro- and microplastics, as well as the pollution associated with their production and disposal." The findings put a new perspective on recent research that showed hundreds of thousands of nanoplastics shed into bottled water. Trasande likens those fragments of plastic to "a passenger pigeon" for the chemicals, allowing them direct access to vital organs like the brain. (A tide of plastic "nurdles" washed up in Spain.)

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