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The Lancet Countdown on health and plastics

 Plastics are a grave, growing, and under-recognised danger to human and
planetary health. Plastics cause disease and death from infancy to old age
and are responsible for health-related economic losses exceeding US$1·5
trillion annually. These impacts fall disproportionately upon low-income
and at-risk populations. The principal driver of this crisis is
accelerating growth in plastic production—from 2 megatonnes (Mt) in 1950,
to 475 Mt in 2022 that is projected to be 1200 Mt by 2060. Plastic
pollution has also worsened, and 8000 Mt of plastic waste now pollute the
planet.

 Less than 10% of plastic is recycled. Yet, continued worsening of
plastics’ harms is not inevitable. Similar to air pollution and lead,
plastics’ harms can be mitigated cost-effectively by evidence-based,
transparently tracked, effectively implemented, and adequately financed
laws and policies. To address plastics’ harms globally, UN member states
unanimously resolved in 2022 to develop a comprehensive, legally binding
instrument on plastic pollution, namely the Global Plastics Treaty covering
the full lifecycle of plastic. Coincident with the expected finalisation of
this treaty, we are launching an independent, indicator-based global
monitoring system: the Lancet Countdown on health and plastics. This
Countdown will identify, track, and regularly report on a suite of
geographically and temporally representative indicators that monitor
progress toward reducing plastic exposures and mitigating plastics’ harms
to human and planetary health.

 The Lancet 3rd Aug 2025,
https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(25)01447-3/abstract

August 6, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | health